"Washington lobbyists are working in Congress to block the rural reforms you (small farms) need," Obama said. "Rather than investing in rural opportunity, our government is handing out subsidies (money) to corporate mega-farms. Over the past decade, our government has handed out $1.3 billion in federal farm money to people who aren't even farmers. We've even got farm money going to Fortune 500 companies." Special interest groups often have impact on government policies. Why might small rural farmers wish to band together to create an interest group? To have a better shot at receiving the farm subsidies To compete with each other for funding In order to reduce the amount of government funds provided to farmers In order to put large companies out of business