How much have FARMING-listed donors given federally?

LobbyVault attributes $14,879,078 to the FARMING employer string, from 48,394 contributions and 1,157 donors. These are itemized individual receipts, not a NAICS agriculture total and not USDA farm-bill spending. Unitemized gifts are omitted. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Is FARMING the same as FARMER in FEC data?

No. FARMER is a separate grouped string with its own page. A receipt stamped FARMING is counted only in the $14,879,078 here. LobbyVault does not merge the gerund and the job title into one agriculture industry. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.

Does this include ranchers?

Only if a receipt’s grouped employer text is FARMING. RANCHER is a separate string. People who wrote a ranch name or RANCHER are on those other pages. The 1,157 donors are unique contributors in the FARMING string, not a USDA operator census.

Why are there 48,394 contributions from 1,157 donors?

Each itemized gift is a line. Repeat donations from the same 1,157 people produce the 48,394 receipt count — on the order of 42 lines per donor. Recurring itemized programs raise that ratio. The FEC field is transactional, not a once-per-farm census.

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FARMING

Total Donated

$14,879,078

Contributions

48,394

Unique Donors

1,157

Top Employer

FARMING

Contributors who listed FARMING on federal itemized receipts account for $14,879,078, according to FEC.gov aggregates on LobbyVault. The cluster is 48,394 contributions from 1,157 donors. FARMING is a self-reported activity word stored in the employer grouping, not a NAICS crop-or-animal-production total, and not the same row as FARMER or RANCHER. The 1,157 unique donors and 48,394 lines describe the gerund only; unitemized gifts stay outside the $14,879,078.

Key figures

FARMING as FEC employer text totals $14,879,078 from 1,157 donors.
48,394 contribution lines sit under that activity word.
FARMER and RANCHER are separate FEC keys.
The label is self-reported form text, not a NAICS agriculture industry.

An activity gerund, not USDA farm-count

FEC forms store FARMING when that is what the filer typed. They do not apply NAICS 111 or 112. The $14,879,078 total is itemized individual gifts whose grouped employer text matches the gerund. It is not farm-bill outlays, not commodity-checkoff assessments, and not a Census of Agriculture farm count. Those 1,157 people and 48,394 lines are the FARMING grouping only.

People who typed FARMER, RANCHER, a ranch LLC name, or SELF-EMPLOYED sit in other rows. A grain operator who wrote the farm’s legal name instead of FARMING is not in these 1,157 donors.

1,157 donors and 48,394 lines

1,157 unique donors produced 48,394 FARMING contribution lines totaling $14,879,078. That is on the order of 42 itemized receipts per person — a repeat-heavy pattern. The packet does not publish a mean gift or a split among crops, livestock, and timber.

Party share is not on the industry headline. Unitemized gifts never appear. Agricultural PACs that do not carry this individual-employer string are outside the $14,879,078.

Full analysis: FARMING as FEC employer text: $14.9 million →

Questions

How much have FARMING-listed donors given federally?: LobbyVault attributes $14,879,078 to the FARMING employer string, from 48,394 contributions and 1,157 donors. These are itemized individual receipts, not a NAICS agriculture total and not USDA farm-bill spending. Unitemized gifts are omitted. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
Is FARMING the same as FARMER in FEC data?: No. FARMER is a separate grouped string with its own page. A receipt stamped FARMING is counted only in the $14,879,078 here. LobbyVault does not merge the gerund and the job title into one agriculture industry. Figures on this answer are limited to that FEC employer string as indexed on LobbyVault; unitemized gifts and non-federal filings are omitted.
Does this include ranchers?: Only if a receipt’s grouped employer text is FARMING. RANCHER is a separate string. People who wrote a ranch name or RANCHER are on those other pages. The 1,157 donors are unique contributors in the FARMING string, not a USDA operator census.
Why are there 48,394 contributions from 1,157 donors?: Each itemized gift is a line. Repeat donations from the same 1,157 people produce the 48,394 receipt count — on the order of 42 lines per donor. Recurring itemized programs raise that ratio. The FEC field is transactional, not a once-per-farm census.

Industry labels come from FEC employer/occupation self-reports, not NAICS. Data from FEC.gov via LobbyVault.

Industry ties

All data ties →

Cycle-over-Cycle Trend

1980 · $47,456 2014 · $46,248 1992 · $44,126 1996 · $41,685 1984 · $39,810 1982 · $37,850 1998 · $30,835 2012 · $29,640 1988 · $26,925 2004 · $23,300

FARMING political contributions by election cycle.
Cycle	Total	Contributions	Donors
1980	$47,456	76	34
1982	$37,850	27	15
1984	$39,810	41	15
1986	$16,049	23	12
1988	$26,925	34	12
1990	$9,950	23	8
1992	$44,126	65	11
1994	$16,993	41	7
1996	$41,685	77	12
1998	$30,835	76	14
2000	$22,250	51	11
2002	$20,775	49	12
2004	$23,300	29	10
2006	$7,973	11	4
2008	$14,951	14	7
2010	$9,800	17	8
2012	$29,640	17	5
2014	$46,248	28	7

Top Donors

Top FARMING donors ranked by total donated.
#	Name	Total	Contributions	City / State	Occupation	History
1	ELMORE, STEPHEN H	$9,150	12	BRAWLEY, CA	—	1980
2	BROCK, DONALD E	$3,400	6	EL CENTRO, CA	—	1980
3	DUHE, PRESTON	$2,950	8	NEW IBERIA, LA	—	1980
4	KOHLMEYER, CHARLES R	$2,500	4	CHATFIELD, MN	—	1980
5	LEWIS, EDGAR S	$2,500	2	SEWICKLEY, PA	—	1980
6	ANDERSON, MERLE	$2,000	2	CLIMAX, MN	—	1980
7	HOWE, CEIL SR	$1,500	2	STRATFORD, CA	—	1980
8	BISHOP, BARBARA	$1,500	2	WINONA, KS	—	1980
9	LAWRENCE, JIM	$1,500	1	DELANO, CA	—	1980
10	LEENERTS, ROGER	$1,350	2	LAPRAIRIE, IL	—	1980
11	CARBERRY, TOM J	$1,325	2	FRESNO, CA	—	1980
12	BYRD, G I MR	$1,200	4	WEST MEMPHIS, AR	—	1980
13	DUDA, JOHN	$1,077	1	OVIEDO, FL	—	1980
14	DUDA, ANDREW JR	$1,077	1	OVIEDO, FL	—	1980
15	DUDA, FERDINAND	$1,077	1	OVIEDO, FL	—	1980
16	MORGAN, MIKE MR	$1,000	1	BRAWLEY, CA	—	1980
17	DUHE, PRESTON MR	$1,000	3	NEW IBERIA, LA	—	1980
18	HANCOCK, J E	$1,000	1	LUBBOCK, TX	—	1980
19	LAWRENCE, G M	$1,000	2	POPLAR BLUFF, MO	—	1980
20	DIENER, FRANK	$1,000	1	FIVE POINTS, CA	—	1980
21	CLAY, CATESBY W	$1,000	1	PARIS, KY	—	1980
22	MILLER, C EARLE	$1,000	1	DOWNINGTON, PA	—	1980
23	BENJAMIN, JOHN T	$1,000	1	OXFORD, MD	—	1980
24	KUBLER, JOHN	$950	3	CALEXICO, CA	—	1980
25	BROCK, DONALD F MR	$750	1	EL CENTROI, CA	—	1980
26	GWIN, WILLIAM L MR	$635	2	TERRE HAUTE, IN	—	1980
27	MARSHALL, J	$500	1	JEROME, ID	—	1980
28	MATHIAS, EMERSON	$500	2	BETHANY, IL	—	1980
29	MCGOWIN, E M JR	$500	1	POINT CLEAR, AL	—	1980
30	LEE, HERMAN	$500	1	BORUP, MN	—	1980
31	MITANI, JOHN	$500	1	JEROME, ID	—	1980
32	MITCHELL, KEITH MR	$500	2	GREENVILLE, MS	—	1980
33	KEELER, R B	$500	1	OMAHA, NE	—	1980
34	HANSEN, HARRIET	$500	1	CORCORAN, CA	—	1980
35	JURGENSMEYER, JOE C	$500	1	TIPTON, MO	—	1980
36	BASKETT, RALPH JR MR	$500	1	PEORIA, AZ	—	1980
37	COPPLE, MICHAEL MRS	$500	1	BLYTHE, CA	—	1980
38	DELIA, GILKEY FARMS	$500	1	CORCORAN, CA	—	1980
39	HARLAN, BURCH	$500	1	TERRE HAUTE, IN	—	1980
40	DUENNE, DESALES	$500	1	CHARLESTON, MO	—	1980
41	DUME, PRESTON	$500	1	NEW IBERIA, LA	—	1980
42	LEWIS, EDGAR S MR	$450	2	SEWICKLEY, PA	—	1980
43	BYRD, G T	$400	1	WEST MEMPHIS, AR	—	1980
44	HILLMAN, MARVIN	$300	1	TULARE, CA	—	1980
45	LEENERTS, JOHN L	$300	1	GOLDEN, IL	—	1980
46	ISAACS, LEO L	$250	1	SCRANTON, KS	—	1980
47	BROWN, ORVILLE MR	$250	1	MUNICH, ND	—	1980
48	FULLER, A T	$250	1	OCILLA, GA	—	1980
49	ANDERSON, E L JR	$250	1	CLARKSDALE, MS	—	1980
50	HENDERSON, MARY MOSS	$250	1	SHREVEPORT, LA	—	1980

Top Recipients

Top political committees that received FARMING donations.
#	Committee	Total	Contributions
1	NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS *C00091009	$43,557	25
2	REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE - CONTRIBUTIONS (AKA REPUBLICAN NATIONAL FINANCE COMMITTEEC00003376	$41,700	35
3	NRSCC00027466	$37,026	8
4	ACTBLUEC00401224	$34,923	8
5	MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR PARTYC00025254	$15,250	3
6	JOSH FOR JERSEYC00573949	$13,500	1
7	ANDY BARR FOR SENATE, INC.C00467571	$12,850	1
8	FLORIDA SUGAR CANE LEAGUE PACC00012328	$11,481	3
9	JIM GRAVES FOR CONGRESSC00517300	$10,300	1
10	NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE CONTRIBUTIONSC00002931	$10,200	24
11	WIN MINNESOTA FEDERAL PACC00540450	$10,000	1
12	MONTANA DEMOCRATIC PARTYC00010033	$10,000	1
13	NORTH DAKOTA DEMOCRATIC-NONPARTISAN LEAGUE PARTYC00013748	$10,000	1
14	CHIP PASHAYAN FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEEC00086116	$9,150	17
15	REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEEC00003418	$8,501	20
16	UNITED STATES TELECOM ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (TELECOMPAC)C00000984	$7,400	1
17	REPUBLICAN PARTY OF KENTUCKYC00156810	$7,050	1
18	CONSERVATIVE VICTORY FUNDC00009704	$6,550	4
19	CALIFORNIA BEET GROWERS ASSOCIATION LTD POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (CAL SUGAR BEET PAC)C00129742	$5,938	12
20	AMERICA'S FOUNDATIONC00305797	$5,700	4
21	CALIFORNIANS FOR SENATOR PETE WILSONC00165720	$5,500	19
22	DORNAN FOR CONGRESSC00235721	$5,200	8
23	OBAMA VICTORY FUNDC00451393	$5,000	1
24	FOLLOW THE NORTH STAR FUNDC00431874	$5,000	1
25	BILL MCCOLLUM FOR US SENATEC00166041	$4,500	1