Michael Grunwald, who authored this fine piece about farm-bill politics for a recent issue of TIME, e-mails to add the following point about farmers’ dependency on the federal government:

Incidentally, [farmers are] going to demand more subsidies–and the cycle will continue–whether they’re making a profit or not. Farm income this year is at an all-time high. Have you heard any of the farm groups suggest that they don’t need any help this year?

Nope.