The crops that people like me think of as food (fruits and veggies) are not what the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg are talking about when they note the dramatic decline in farm income, down 38% this year, according to the USDA as reported in Huffington Post.

The big drops in income are among dairy farmers, cattle and beef producers and the growers of commodity crops such as corn and soybeans. The organic farmer who sells shares of a CSA is not the farmer who is hurting, but they are a small percentage of the overall whole.

Both articles note that competitive factors play a role. Bloomberg remarks that the “swine flu” moniker reduced pork consumption and thereby cost hog farmers significant income. WSJ notes that sugar beet producers, in contrast, did great because producers in India fared poorly. However, compounding the woes of traditional farmers is that, as land prices drop, their ability to borrow against that land in a tight credit market declines.

What many of us who want to major changes in the way food is raised in the United States would like to see if a simple change in the rules regarding farm subsidies. As it stands, farmers who collect subsidies for commodity crops such as corn and soybeans are precluded from raising fruits and veggies, that is “specialty crops.” Commodity farmers who violate the rule lose their government paycheck.

At a time when we want to encourage local food, a simple rule change would allow these growers to devote a portion of their acreage to growing fruits and vegetables for neighboring consumers. I, for one, would rather see them do this to boost their income than to invent another farm subsidy that will only further distort the market.