Comment by verisimi

Fair enough... but its not like these numbers are actually that clear.

The EWG say:

> The Department of Agriculture has spent almost $50 billion in subsidies for livestock operators since 1995, according to an EWG analysis.

Analysis is akin to interpretation... and we can read that their mission is an environmental one:

> Since 1993, the Environmental Working Group has shined a spotlight on outdated legislation, harmful agricultural practices and industry loopholes that pose a risk to our health and the health of our environment.

So their analysis would say livestock is over-subsidised, as that is aligned their mission. It doesn't mean that my analysis would be in agreement with theirs.

I also looked at one of pdfs they link to:

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/AMS%20Pur...

I would need to go through all these numbers, check the sources, check how each was subsidised, work out what counts as "livestock" - eg is butter purchasing livestock, is bison, is farmed fish, etc. A long boring thankless task.