The devastation of the 1930s Dust Bowl triggered a host of government responses to help impoverished farmers. Among them: a program to insure crops against failure.

U.S. taxpayers in fiscal year 2012 spent about $14 billion protecting farmers against crop losses. Last year’s drought, the worst in almost 60 years, triggered a record payout, coming even as U.S. farm income is expected to top $128 billion.
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