The agriculture slump is getting so bad in the U.S. that farmers are about to get more government aid than at any time in the past decade, signaling the rising public cost of crop surpluses and cheap food. About $13.9 billion of net farm income this year will be federal payments, or about 25 percent of total profit estimated at $54.8 billion, according to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's the biggest payout and highest ratio since 2006, as programs authorized by Congress two years ago cost more than originally forecast. Farmers will earn less than half what they did just three years ago, before global surpluses sent commodity prices plunging. Corn and soybeans, the biggest U.S. crops, are so cheap that farmers are expecting to lose money on every acre they plant this season. That's putting a bigger strain on government safety nets for agriculture. "This is a sign of a weak farm economy that is much weaker than even a couple years ago," said Patrick Westhoff, director of the Food & Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details. Source - nwaonline.com