joel, if i had to come up with a fair and equitable plan by the end of next week, boy that'd be tough.  as tmrand has explained, beings he is from one of the "super subsidized" areas. it's as much a ag area social program as much as anything.   probably not what it was meant to be, but that is what it has become, and far as social programs it's still pretty cheap.  

even in our area where crop insurance payouts traditionally have been pretty sparse, it sure is nice to see them when they have been implemented, and you can bet your bottom dollar most of the ag suppliers, machinery dealers, etc. are pretty well versed in crop insurance workings, in fact in some instances they know more than the people selling the policies.

then there is the point that mizzoufarmboy brought up, is it better to take the long view in regards to these so called fringe areas and keep them supported so they can continue to develop and maintain production and infrastructure.
even with the great drought of 2012, the great wet spring of 2013 for us and the great drowning of the southern crop areas in 2015.   we still didn't need to import much grain, not many other countries can say that. 

one thing is for certain there is going to be more mouths to feed 20 years from now.