Hooray for gridlock.

One of the most egregious examples of out-of-control government spending has stalled in Congress. The federal farm bill would spend at least $286 billion over five years. It would cost a family of four $6,240.

We won't say it's a waste of tax money. That's because it's worse: the nation would be better off burying the money in a field somewhere.

Ominously, news reports hint that both parties are conniving to push the bill out of Congress. In the past, both Utah senators have voted against this measure, as have both Republican congressmen. Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson has voted for it. We urge them all to fight this swindle if it comes up for a vote again.

According to the Environmental Working Group and news reports, federal farm programs help the biggest agribusinesses. For example, from 1995 to 2005, Riceland Foods Inc. received federal payments totaling more than $540 million.

Wealthy farmers rake in subsidies. In the same decade, the top 10 percent of recipients pocketed 73 percent of all subsidies -- $120 billion.

Wealthy non-farmers also cashed in. Government agricultural funding has ended up in the pockets of more than 50 billionaires, including businessman Ted Turner, banker David Rockefeller Sr., hotel mogul William Barron Hilton and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Your tax dollars went to plenty of other folks you'll never see driving a tractor, including David Letterman and Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller.

We don't mean to imply that millions are paid out only to the rich. Sometimes taxpayer money is funneled to the dead. A Government Accountability Office report found that $1.1 billion flowed over seven years to the estates or companies of farmers who had died, including more than 32,000 people who had been dead more than seven years.

Average farmers -- the little guys -- see little since they produce relatively little compared to the big outfits. The bottom 80 percent of farmers receive an average of $704 per year. Meanwhile, agricultural policies raise the cost of land while helping the biggest players in the market. In short, federal programs drive genuine family farms out of business.

The programs mainly support only five crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton. Hundreds of other crops get little or no aid, and, by the way, do just fine.

The subsidies raise food costs. Bolstering what farmers earn obviously increases prices at supermarkets. And they support the wrong kinds of food. Federal supports do little for fruit and vegetable growers, including many of Utah's farmers.

Indeed, the policies encourage the production of the least healthy foods. The federal government provides $50 billion for corn, much of which goes into high-fructose corn syrup, or pork and beef. Soy subsidies support soybean oil, an artery-hardening trans-fat. Dairy subsidies go into high-fat products such as cheese.

Federal farm policies even support smoking. Tobacco subsidies totaled $530 million over the decade. And they support the ruin of soil. Farm subsidies take some land out of production, and that encourages overproduction and overuse of fertilizer on other acreage.

Farm subsidies and tariffs also cause international disputes by blocking imports. On Tuesday, Brazil and Canada demanded that the World Trade Organization investigate U.S. farm subsidies as violations of free-trade rules.

In short, our agricultural policies are if anything a parody of blundering by big government and greed by special-interest groups. The bill before Congress would only perpetuate this travesty. It would fund 75 new projects, many of doubtful usefulness, such as a National Sheep and Goat Industry Improvement Center. To help farmers hit by bad weather, it would create a $5 billion program, but it's been called a slush fund that likely will be paid out no matter how bad or good the weather is.

American farmers are the most successful and productive in the world. They don't need subsidies. Some minor "reforms" are included in the measure, but they are mere fig leaves. The only meaningful reform is to end the giveaways.

We urge you to call your congressman and both Utah senators and tell them you don't want to give your money to billionaires, profitable corporations or affluent farmers so they can ruin the soil, run small farmers off and help provide cheap junk food and cigarettes.

Kill farm subsidies once and for all. All of us, even most farmers, will be better off for it.

Do you agree?