system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why are farmers politically powerful enough to get large subsidies despite being a very small part of the population?

E.g. in the US and EU there are large subsidies for farmers.
gpt
There are various reasons, but one part of the explanation comes from the dependence of society on the resources provided by farmers. According to resource dependence theory, the power of social actors over others increases based on a) the value of the resources for the other and b) the exclusivity with which they are able to offer these resources to the other. Farmers provide society with an extremely valuable resource, namely food. Moreover, they (as a group) are the only ones 3ho can provide it.

Of course, there's more to it since farmers are not (always) a unified group. But this is definitely a factor contributing to their political power.

Source RDT: Pfeffer, J. & Salancik, G. R. (2003). The external control of organizations. A resource dependence perspective. Stanford Business Books, Stanford.