© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This paper explores the role that agricultural subsidies have assumed in the lives and decisions of farmers in Hungary. It provides insights into farmer subjectivities within a rapidly transforming rural political economy where individuals are highly dependent on government transfers. Through ethnography, subsidies are shown to rework traditional notions of farm work and value, with consequences for labour and land use strategies. Subsidies are more than economic tools as the Hungarian state manipulates, rewards and disciplines rural actors. In consequence, new farmer subjectivities and habits comprise traits and labours that are synonymous with ‘new’ farmers who are frequently non-local and mobile.