Farmers get a bad rap. A few years back, a friend of mine who is a Stanford University grad was ranting about how all farmers got federal crop subsidies as well as subsidized federal water. That’s not even close to the truth, especially in the Manteca, Ripon, and Escalon area. There are no subsidized crops here. And unlike most other irrigation districts not a penny of state or federal money financed any of the South San Joaquin Irrigation District’s reservoirs or canals.