We're subsidizing the corn industry. In the 60's we put in a system to even out price fluctuations in corn. The thought being no American would go hungry because of dips in corn prices which would turn farmers away for more profitable crops. Corn for eating and corn to feed the things we eat. Naturally, like all good government plans, it backfired. Big farms bought smaller ones. Those farms created co-ops that are now multi billion dollar operations like ADM. Anyways someone eventually had the bright idea to add ethanol to fuel which means these mega co ops that had yet another customer to supply, big oil. Big oil says cheap ethanol can dilute expensive gas by 10% which means more profit per gallon.
The subsidizing was supposed to help the little man ensure he would survive an off year. It instead killed the little man and ensured only deep pockets to fund large operations could profit.
Good news is, our livestock is fed and our coke is full of corn syrup. So that's something
