AIG probably has a big AGI
 During the farm bill debate, critics of farm policy were quick to accuse the men and women who feed and clothe the country of preferential treatment.
Farm bill opponents pushed for a restrictive cap—based on a farmer's adjusted gross income or AGI—to limit who can receive benefits from the farm safety net.
They succeeded, and a means test was put into place to exclude wealthy Americans from farm payments. Still, the opponents want more and are looking for any opportunity to cut farm supports and make further reductions to the AGI cap.
The events of this week make one wonder, what's AIG's AGI?
And isn't it strange that many of these same stone-cold zealots haven't had much to say amid the flurry of massive corporate bailouts?
Let's take them one by one.
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The Rebirth of Rural America
 Want to take a cooking class from the founder of the Viking Range Corporation? You don’t have to shell out for a trendy culinary school in Manhattan; you simply need to head to a small town of 20,000 in the Mississippi Delta.
Fred Carl, Jr., Viking’s founder, has joined the ranks of other wealthy investors in reenergizing rural America. He’s even brought a high-end boutique hotel to an area once best known for its high poverty rates.
But it’s not just Viking stoves that are cooking in rural America - things are heating up all over the heartland.
Sweetwater, Texas, has built wind farms - lots of them. And those wind turbines have brought with them more than 1,000 jobs and an annual payroll of nearly $60 million...
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Farm Bill Breakdown: Energy Title
 The "farm bill" might sound like a piece of legislation that deals strictly with agricultural policy, but it is far from narrowly focused. Every month, Farm Policy Facts will dissect a title of the bill to illustrate its breadth and importance to people all over our country - not just farmers.
This month, Title IX, the Energy Title.
The first energy title found its way into the 2002 farm bill, and Title IX in the 2008 farm bill builds on the 2002 version. With more $1.112 billion in allocated and available discretionary funding, more than double that in the 2002 farm bill, Title IX creates new programs and provides additional federal funding for farm based energy initiatives. It's a robust, wide ranging title that has provisions for programs across the country; in the public, private, and non-profit sectors; and across several departments of the federal government.
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