I highly doubt the government's core stance is "Heavens no, we can't intervene in the free market!" when the market is not even a literal "free market" to begin

I highly doubt the government's core stance is "Heavens no, we can't intervene in the free market!" when the market is not even a literal "free market" to begin with. That's more a theoretical concept than a practical implementation. To the government: i) they get a ton of John Deere lobbying dollars, ii) John Deere can always loom the potential of lost jobs over politicians' heads, iii) Farmers are not happy yet still begrudgingly using the system so things are not totally falling apart.... and, of course, iv) this matter doesn't really effect politicians personally.