Government officials have to fly over land and identify the various landowners property and ascertain that certain portions of it are not cultivated. Since 1973, the government has used target prices on some items. In the diagram it is 500 million bushels of corn per year. Consumers are then offered the entire crop. Demand determines the price that consumers will pay for the crop.
Economists think it is because corn farmers have so much to gain, they heavily lobby.
Each taxpayer bears a portion of the cost but, because the costs are not concentrated on as small a group as the benefits, the losers can t organize as easily to oppose it. Because the costs are spread out among all taxpayers, each one pays just a little toward the corn subsidy. But each farmer experiences a substantial gain. Economists point to the greater incentives for farmers to be politically active on this issue than taxpayers.