Posted on 12/06/2007 4:53:18 AM PST by Bodhi1
The United States produces a great deal of food each year. Actually, it overproduces food. This is the result of federal farm policies that pay farmers by the amount of crop they produce each year. This results in lower prices for grains, not only in America, but around the world. And the rest of the world isn’t happy about it. So why should I care what the rest of the world thinks? The main reason is national security. It takes a while to get there, but stick with me.
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“The United States produces a great deal of food each year. Actually, it overproduces food. This is the result of federal farm policies that pay farmers by the amount of crop they produce each year.”
Gee I keep on hearing from the anti ethanol nuts that if we switch from a percentage of food crops to growing crops for ethanol production....we’re all gonna staaaaarrrvvveeee and
Corn will be $3000.00 a bushel.
Ok. I will come out and say it. Wolfowitz is an idiot. On Iraq and everything else.
Don’t think that a thriving agriculture community is important to national security? Just ask the Soviets.
Think cheap corn is starving the world? Just ask anyone in the Breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe.
This is just more of the same from those who have sent our major industries offshore & driven up consumer prices here.
Are you saying we wouldn’t have a thriving ag community without subsidies? Are you saying the American farmer can’t compete without being propped up by the government? Because that is what is seems like to me. I guess I have more confidence in the American farmer.
And as for Zimbabwe, they are experiencing like 10,000% inflation due to price controls and starvation due to the Mugabe government seizing farmland out of white hands and putting it in black hands. I’m not saying that black people can’t farm, but these black people were not farmers, but cronies who got the land for two reasons. One, they were black and two, they were Mugabe cronies. Now, the breadbasket is empty and we get to give them food. They are not buying cheap corn.
We only primarily subsidize 5 crops. Many crops, like citrus for example, is not subsidized at all.
Tell me, do you notice any problems with getting grapefruits and oranges in the markets ? No ?
Then there’s absolutely no reason to subsidize ANY crop.
Then there’s the double whammy, as the article notes, of paying taxpayer billions to our farmers and taxpayer billions in foreign aid. I don’t know about you, but it sounds like we could be paying a lot lower taxes if we’d cut out this type of crap.
What I am saying is that we need fair trade, or we will get exploited by the world community. Some subsidies are also not a bad idea. They have provided price stability throughout the years, enabling efficient farming to flourish here. I do not think that we would have a thriving ag community without subsidies. Nor do I think that the rest of the world would become fair with their tariffs & subsidies merely because we eliminate ours. Our system however could use some reform and better policing.
Most people in this forum only talk the abuses of the system by liberal celebrities. That is certainly powerful propaganda, but it is not typical of the farming industry. If all subsidies were gone, these politically connected liberal celebrities would merely be scamming money somewhere else. People here don’t talk about family subsistence farmers who would be wiped out if the price of their crops fluctuated dramatically. They don’t want to talk about how much on average it would add to a typical taxpayer’s grocery bill, or how a larger percentage of each family’s income is being sent overseas. They won’t talk about the job losses and sustainable agriculture. They won’t talk about the country’s dependency on foreign countries for food.
Do you remember in the 70s when we had grain embargoes against the soviets? What happens in 25 years after China has destroyed the farming industry here and then decides that it is their best interest to embargo us?
As for Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa, it sounds like you agree with me. Their problems don’t have anything to do with the price of corn in China. It has to do with bad government. Using Africa as a justification for eliminating subsidies here is nothing but spin.
The farm bill is a consumer subsidy. Who benefits from the increased production and lower prices.
Factor in the extra $190 a year for the next five years and ask yourself if the price is that cheap.
‘Do we actually have any significant number of “family subsistence farmers” left in this county?’
Yeah, they are still there. Significantly less than years ago, but they still exist. Just look anywhere in the forgotten parts of Ohio, PA, WV, etc. They are there. I am sure they are in the midwest too. Around here they mostly raise cattle, corn or hay. We just don’t have big corporate farms around here.
I was being somewhat sarcastic and focusing on the term “subsistence” as in raising food, animals and fiber mostly for one’s own use. With the exception of Native Americans, the Amish and some few other oddball examples there are not any. Family farms as a for profit business certainly exist they just follow many different models than in the past. I am not however in favor of farm subsidies just to smooth out the market for family farms.
“With the exception of Native Americans, the Amish and some few other oddball examples there are not any.”
You obviously need to get out more. I see them everywhere. Do you live in the city? Perhaps your definition is a little unrealistic and don’t take into account those folks who sell corn or cattle to pay their taxes, electric bills and living expenses.
Either way, destroy their industry and you will eventually starve.
Seesh, what a lie.
The government programs pay farmers NOT to grow crops.
I know, I've read it on FR a thousand times.
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