President Barack Obama will make his second State of the Union address Tuesday. Against a backdrop of prominent issues, ranging from the war in Afghanistan to foreign affairs, President Obama has decided to focus on deficit reduction and government spending targeted to boost the economy. On the chopping block for budget cuts is the long-debated issue of agricultural subsidies.

Agricultural subsidies, a practice dating back to the days of the Great Depression, are currently awarded to farmers as a form of insurance and as an attempt to lower food prices. Potential goals are to protect the rural farmers of America, providing them monetary incentives to farm without being crippled by economic shortcomings.

Recently, however, commodity prices are rising, and crop yields have been overwhelmingly positive. Farmers are headed for a potential record year in farm income.       

Critics of the practice argue that the time is ripe to bring about cuts to agricultural subsidies, a sentiment that President Obama reflects.

President Obama stated in his 2010 State of the Union Address, “We will continue to go through the budget, line by line, page by page, to eliminate programs that we can't afford and don't work.”

Opponents of government funding farmers contend that the funds, some of which are directly supplied to farmers, are not being properly distributed. Funds which are supposed to sponsor rural American family farms are instead benefiting large farm companies, regardless of whether or not production actually occurs.

The World Trade Organization contends that giving agricultural subsidies to large businesses violates international trade deals and handicaps farmers in third world countries.

Craig Cox, senior vice president of Environmental Working Group, states that “we're gonna have to make larger changes to our farm policy in order for it to continue to work for farmers and the environment.”

In 2008, the Farm Bill provided farmers with $284 billion, which Sen. John Mcain considers “outrageous”, and a number which will be targeted by President Obama during his address Tuesday.