Those Pesky Ag Subsidies

This nugget is about all you need to know unless you are a wonk. I knew the cotton part, probably from some TV doc on Link TV or Bill Moyers or something, the rest was just sort of assumed. This skewed system is the fault of both parties for decades of corrupt response to lobbying and horse trading in the cloakrooms of Congress. Let's see how things work out now, if they do.
Okay, they probably won't but then, I wouldn't put them at the top of the list either.

Consider these facts. Ninety percent of all subsidies go to just five crops: corn, rice, cotton, wheat, and soybeans. Two thirds of all farm products—including perishable fruits and vegetables—receive almost no subsidies. And just 10 percent of recipients receive 75 percent of all subsidies. A program intended to be a “temporary solution” has become one of our government’s most glaring examples of corporate welfare.
U.S. taxpayers aren’t the only ones who pay the price. Cotton subsidies, for example, encourage overproduction which lowers the world price of cotton. That’s great for people who buy cotton, but it’s disastrous for already impoverished cotton farmers in places such as West Africa.