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[Plane]

Rural people would rather there were fewer subsidies.

Ethanol is an issue mostly for big agribusiness, and decisions for big agribusiness happen at corporate headquarters. This is the city slickers hiring lobbyists, not really an issue for asking the country folk about.

Small scale farmers get very little subsidy, middle scale takes some , but the biggest subsidies are a species of corporate welfare.

[Xavier_Onassis]

This does not explain why every candidate that goes to Iowa makes a specific point about telling farmers there that they support ethanol.
I do not think you have a clue about who gets what.

[Plane]

http://www.isidewith.com/map/ed8/support-for-hillary-clinton

[Plane]

This does not explain why every candidate that goes to Iowa makes a specific point about telling farmers there that they support ethanol.
I do not think you have a clue about who gets what.

It is possible that you are closer to farming than I am , but till you point to a source, I can value my opinion uncorrected.

How much corn do you think gets raised small scale?

Agribusiness has money and lobbyists.

Small farmers are unfortunately not that organized.

[Xavier_Onassis]

A lot of corn is raised on middle sized family farms. In any case, Iowans are as protective of corn ethanol as Kentuckians are of their nasty coal. Coal for wethanol keepsthe prices unreasonably high, and of course, that results in a lot of Mexicans not being able to afford their usual number of tortillas.

[Plane]

The facts are out there , but the situation is complex and government shaped.

It is far more easy for a large agribusiness to qualify for subsidies than a small farmer , and middle sized farms are getting squeezed out having not the advantage of size nor government help.


Corn price is down, production is up.
http://ethanolproducer.com/articles/11343/usda-projects-corn-yield-at-record-167-4-bushels-per-acre

(roughly 40 percent of U.S. corn is used for ethanol) and as animal feed (roughly 36 percent of U.S. corn, plus distillers grains left over from ethanol production, is fed to cattle, pigs and chickens).Much of the rest is exported.  Only a tiny fraction of the national corn crop is directly used for food for Americans, much of that for high-fructose corn syrup. ....In short, the corn crop is highly productive, but the corn system is aligned to feed cars and animals instead of feeding people....the resources devoted to growing corn are increasing dramatically. Between 2006 and 2011, the amount of cropland devoted to growing corn in America increased by more than 13 million acres, mainly in response to rising corn prices and the increasing demand for ethanol. Most of these new corn acres came from farms, including those that were growing wheat (which lost 2.9 million acres), oats (1.7 million acres lost), sorghum (1 million acres lost), barley, alfalfa, sunflower and other crops. That leaves us with a less diverse American agricultural landscape, with..........
..............The corn system operates at a big cost to taxpayers. Finally, the corn system receives more subsides from the U.S. government than any other crop, including direct payments, crop insurance payments and mandates to produce ethanol. In all, U.S. crop subsidies to corn totaled roughly $90 billion between 1995 and 2010—not including ethanol subsidies and mandates, which helped drive up the price of corn.

Today, one of the biggest corn subsidies come in the form of federally supported crop insurance. In fact, for the 2012 season U.S. crop insurance programs will likely pay out an estimated $20 billion or more—shattering all previous records. Amazingly, these record subsidies are being paid as corn just had one of the most lucrative years in history. Even with the 2012 drought, high prices meant that U.S. corn broke record sales figures. Do record subsidies make sense during a year of record sales?
...................It is important to note that these criticisms of the larger corn system—a behemoth largely created by lobbyists, trade associations, big businesses and the government—are not aimed at farmers. Farmers are the hardest working people in America, and are pillars of their communities. It would be simply wrong to blame them for any of these issues. In this economic and political landscape, they would be crazy not to grow corn; farmers are simply delivering what markets and policies are demanding. What needs to change here is the system, not the farmers.........

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/time-to-rethink-corn/

Ah!
Here is the answer to your question.

•Iowa produces 25% of the country’s supply of ethanol, twice as much as any other state. •The average size of an Iowa farm is around 333 acres (as of 2008).

  Iowa is peculiar this way.
http://www.iowafarmbureau.com/public/167/ag-in-your-life/ag-facts

Forty-one percent of U.S. total land area is farmland (938.28 million acres). In 1900, the average farm size was 147 acres, compared to 441 acres today.

http://www.agday.org/media/factsheet.php


And yet...

Even while the average size of farms is going up, there are more small farms than ever, especially in small states with farmland preservation programs like Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Community-supported agriculture, plus the local and organic food movement, are starting to show up in the numbers. It's the mid-sized farm, between 100 and 500 acres, that's disappearing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/08/11/farms-are-gigantic-now-even-the-family-owned-ones/