[paleorite]

—With a weak U.S. dollar and global demand so high,—

Duh! The answer is keep the grain at home; restrict exports. That will help drop the price of grain (and milk and eggs) at home. The ag lobby won’t like that, but tough darts.

[gusopol3]

ag lobby won’t like that

farmers won't much like it either.

[1rudeboy]

What do you think happens when the government artificially depresses prices for a commodity? How do the producers react?

[RKV]

Duh. And what explicit numerated power in the US Constitution allows the US government to do that? Answer: there is none. And don’t give me bs about the commerce power. Ditto for export restrictions on a number of other items. It just doesn’t exist. So many conservatives say they support the Constitution, but they really don’t.

[Mr. Lucky]

Are there any other American citizens who should have their property confiscated for the common good?

Jeez, the Hillary campaign seems to have infested even FreeRepublic.

[expat_panama]

The answer is keep the grain at home; restrict exports. That will help drop the price of grain (and milk and eggs) at home..."

--by taxing imports and using the revenue to subsidize food for the consumer.

...

Big government control; first higher taxes, next government control of the market, and finally a worker's paradise.

[Uncle Miltie]

"The answer is keep the grain at home; restrict exports."

Farmers are well armed and won't like your hijacking of their crops.

[Myrddin]

It wasn't too long ago that Hugo Chavez prevented the dairy farmers from selling milk to foreign cheese producers and slapped price controls on domestic dairy prices. The farmers responded by sending the dairy cows to market for meat. They couldn't make a profit with the price controls and their profitable foreign market was denied.

Be careful what you wish for...you might get it. The grain farmers have worked hard to find markets for their excess production.

The government is responsible for skewing the corn market by subsidizing ethanol production. Perhaps that needs some attention/curtailment.

[EBH]

updated 6:22 p.m. ET, Sun., Jan. 20, 2008 CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez threatened on Sunday to take over farms or milk plants if owners refuse to sell their milk for domestic consumption and instead seek higher profits abroad or from cheese-makers.

With the country recently facing milk shortages, Chavez said "it's treason" if farmers deny milk to Venezuelans while selling it across the border in Colombia or for gourmet cheeses.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22759138/

[Truthsearcher]

No, the answer is to raise prices, increase profits for farming, increased exports help the trade deficit, encourage more food production, which will in the long run help strengthen the dollar, keep food prices down and increase the buying power of Americans.

Protectionist policies will only hurt the economy in the long run because low profits will drive people away from farming, resulting in less food produced, which will raise both domestic and international food prices for everyone in the long run.

[tiki]

I tell you what, farmers won’t like it at all, we’ve (and most farmers) have been operating on the margins for years and this looks wonderful to me. We’ve been waiting for an upturn for years, we’ve remortgaged countless times to keep going and you get your way and if we can’t make the Cash Flow, flow, it would be better not to farm at all.

I don’t think we stand alone in this. Farmers could choose to cut back or not farm at all, I know a lot who have already made this decision. So beware of what you advocate and ask for. It is past time for the price of food to get more realistic.