If anyone ever wanted to stop farm subsidies they could just start calling it “Farmers Socialism” and most small, rural farmers would give it up and have their farms collapse over accepting they need the government to survive.
This isn’t who gets farm subsidies.
or who pushed for them in the first place or who wants to keep them around today, but it sure does make protectionism more palatable to the voter if they can tell themselves it helps the small family farm. They don't actually care if it does or not.