Subsidy creep: pork and produce.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Brief article

NOT EVERY American farmer relies on federal subsidies. Watermelon, potato, garlic, berry, and other produce farmers have stuck it out on their own and done well; their crops bring in $52 billion a year, about half the agricultural value of the United States. But increased foreign competition has them scared, so now they're pleading for special treatment in the next agriculture bill. Among other favors, they want federal money for advertising overseas and land conservation.

Their main problem? Other farmers. Any help they might get is likely to come out of the same pot of money now given to growers of staple food. Corn and wheat farmers have enjoyed federal support since the Great Depression, and they...