The grass is always greener for “fairway farmers” – despite living next to golf courses instead of crop land, they’ve raked in $1.9 million in federal farm subsidies between 2018 and 2021.
The subsidies include some older payouts to members of the Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters golf tournament gets underway this week.
Under current law, residents of posh golf course developments can receive farm subsidies, though they clearly do not live and might not work on a farm.
EWG has found that five members of the exclusive, 300-member Augusta National Golf Club have gotten farm subsidies in the past:
- William S. Morris III, founder and chair of Morris Communications, took in just over a million dollars in commodity subsidies.
- Leroy H. Simkins Jr., founder and CEO of Simkins Land Company, got $34,000 in commodity subsidies.
- Harold W. Andersen, former reporter, CEO and publisher of Omaha World Herald, received over $185,000 in commodity and disaster subsidies.
- Stephen W. Brown Jr., former CEO of Brown Vizvary Land Forestry Company, took in $13,000 in commodity and disaster subsidies.
- William D. McKnight, president and senior project manager of McKnight Construction Company, collected $198,000 in commodity and disaster subsidies.
EWG even found one golf course that received payments intended for farmers, not golfers.
Farm subsidy recipients must be “actively engaged” in farming. But the guidelines are vague, and many subsidy recipients do not live or work on farms. The Government Accountability Office recently found that roughly one-fourth of farm subsidy recipients do not contribute personal labor to farms.
EWG has found that almost 29,000 people who received farm subsidies between 1995 and 2021 live in major U.S. cities. And we’ve found nearly 20,000 people who collected subsidies for 37 years consecutively, or every year between 1985 and 2021.
By contrast, programs to combat hunger subject recipients to much stricter income and asset tests than farm subsidy programs. People living on low incomes remain eligible for just 12 months, on average, for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, or SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps.
Rather than closing loopholes that allow city slickers to receive farm subsidies, the 2018 Farm Bill created new subsidy loopholes by allowing farmers’ cousins, nieces and nephews to take in payments, regardless of whether they live or work on the farm.
Here are the spreads of these fairway farmers. (All images courtesy of Google Street View.)
Arizona
1. Hoag Farm Trust, Oro Valley
The Hoag Farm Trust received $73,469 between 2018 and 2021 for a farm in Indiana, though the checks were mailed to this Arizona address.
1128 Titleist Drive
2. Fira Sue Stout, Tucson
Fira Sue Stout got $41,358 for a farm in Kansas between 2018 and 2021 at this address in Tucson.
37765 S. Terrace Park Drive
Florida
3. Lisa M. Walton Living Trust, Placida
The Lisa M. Walton Living Trust collected $16,167 in 2018 for a farm in much less beachy Ohio. This address is also home to the Darrel E. Walton Living Trust, which has taken in over $709,000 in farm subsidies since 1995.
500 Coral Creek Drive
4. Coral Creek Club, Placida
The Coral Creek Club took in $18,562 in 2019. The golf club is considered to be one of the best in southwest Florida and overlooks the water.
13111 Gasparilla Road
Georgia
5. Barbara S. Adkins, Augusta
Barbara received $8,840 between 2018 and 2021 – and can take a short walk to go see the Masters.
2213 Crestwood Drive
Kansas
6. Kere Noel, Wichita
This person took in $45,555 between 2018 and 2021 – his homeowners association surely knows about the livestock he must graze on the green.
Minnesota
7. Janet Trapp Reinecke Land Trust, Minneapolis
The Janet Trapp Reinecke Land Trust secured $47,525 between 2018 and 2021 for a farm in Illinois. The payments went to this address in suburban Minneapolis.
2373 Lehman Lane NE
Missouri
8. J. Perkins Farms, Parkville
J. Perkins Farms received $171,840 between 2018 and 2021 for a farm over an hour away, but the subsidies went to this address in a golf course community in a Kansas City suburb.
11900 Green Briar Cove
Nebraska
9. Adam T. Briese, Omaha
This resident of Omaha’s Tiburon Golf Club community got $31,670 between 2018 and 2021. He could schedule tee times with the next two subsidy recipients who live at the same club.
10004 South 176th Street
10. NJN Tri-Farm Family Limited Partnership, Omaha
We don’t know the name of the member of the NJN Tri-Farm Family Limited Partnership who lives at the same Tiburon Golf Club that’s home to bailout recipients Adam T. Briese and Jerry L. Deines. But he took in $39,171 between 2018 and 2021.
17437 Riviera Drive
11. Jerry L. Deines, Omaha
Jerry L. Deines, who also lives by the Tiburon Golf Course, got $33,216 between 2018 and 2021 for a farm in Kansas. Think the three recipients who live at Tiburon share tips on golf strokes as well as farm subsidy applications?
17118 Fairway Drive
12. Craig Athen, Omaha
Craig Athen received $381,126 between 2018 and 2021 for farms he is involved with in Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. Or maybe they’re keeping his pool nice and blue at his fairway-side mansion at the Shadow Ridge Country Club, in Omaha. Wonder whether his fellow recipients at Shadow Ridge (see next six spreads) know they aren’t keeping up with Athen, who has collected almost two to three times what his neighbors have?
2125 South 189th Circle
13. Mshields Farms, Omaha
The Shadow Ridge Country Club is also where an entity called Mshields Farms LLC received $54,504 between 2018 and 2021 for a farm in Iowa.
2240 South 186th Street
14. Packer Farms, Omaha
$259,424 between 2018 and 2021 for Packer Farms LLC was sent to a house at the Shadow Ridge Country Club.
1737 South 189th Street
15. Fremont Hogs, Omaha
Whoever the partner in Fremont Hogs LLC is who lives at the Shadow Ridge Country Club hogged $341,284 between 2018 and 2021.
1801 South 189th Street
16. Hahn Brothers Inc., Omaha
These brothers live at Shadow Ridge Country Club and received $64,626 between 2018 and 2021.
1133 South 185th Circle
17. Sandra D. Dose, Omaha
This resident of Shadow Ridge Country Club collected $30,168 between 2018 and 2021.
1331 South 184th Circle
18. Janet Campbell of Home Farms Inc., Omaha
Janet is the seventh resident on this list of Shadow Ridge Country Club. She collected $51,820 between 2018 and 2021. Perhaps Janet and Sandra D. Dose, from just up the way, know each other.
18222 Shadow Ridge Drive
Ohio
19. Richard M. Morgan, Columbus
We don’t know whether Richard M. Morgan has the “precise putt and steady hand” the Worthington Hills Country Club’s website says is needed to master its greens. But his hand was steady enough to apply for and take in $187,741 between 2018 and 2021.
1374 Clubview Boulevard South
Texas
20. Wilbur D. Egert Irrevocable Trust for the Benefit of Sandra E., Austin
This house on a hill in the River Place Country Club community, an oasis in the Austin exurbs, is where this trust took in $35,773 between 2018 and 2021. The website Realtor.com says it has “the most amazing-million dollar-panoramic view in River Place!”
4509 Golf Vista Drive
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