brief unedited thoughts about farm subsidies

[quietann]

Summary: To me, at least, there is something very disturbing about turning one's food production over to another nation.

Iceland, the UK, and other European countries are constantly debating the utility of farming subsidies. Some people feel that if European farming "real" costs are *that* high, let the market do its work and kill off the largely unprofitable farms. Let production go to the places where it's "cheap" to farm. I say "cheap" because things like leveling tropical rainforest to make it pastureland to satisfy wealthy countries' taste for beef has huge hidden costs in the form of environmental degradation (and is also a very short-term use of that land, as the soil etc. are not right for grasslands.)

But on a gut level, it really bothers me to let the farmers we have just fade away. It's not just the crops they grow; it's also a huge body of knowledge they have.

Please note that I don't support farm subsidies to massive agri-business like ADM (whose profits come from farm subsidies, e.g. from our taxes), especially since they're dumping their main product, corn, into our food supply chain faster than we'd otherwise absorb it -- hence, our "beloved" high fructose corn syrup. But I have no idea where to draw the line between family farms and agri-business. (BTW, the UK just does not use it as a sweetener at all. They are more inclined to use artificial sweeteners, which I know some people think are worse, usually in combination with sugar, which is expensive here as it is everywhere else.)

Comments

[prezzey.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure in Eastern and Central Europe high quality farming is possible for much lower costs than in Western Europe... better land, more land (!!), a larger percentage of the population working as farmers and intending on doing so, etc. However, the collapse of the agricultural industry was very thorough after the fall of the Iron Curtain (heck everything collapsed, not just agriculture, but industry, ...etc. everything). But there is plenty of historical precedent for countries like Hungary and Ukraine to produce high-quality food cheaply... in fact, Hungarian heavy industry was severely delayed in development in the 19th century especially because of this; the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy wanted the Hungarians to keep on producing agricultural products.

So the new EU member states (OK, Ukraine is not an EU member state, but you get the idea), especially Poland and Hungary, could supply the EU with high-quality agricultural products at real market rates in the long term, I'm fairly sure. But in the long term means 15+ years. And a thorough change of mindset, which I am very skeptical about (and is the reason why I'm not planning on staying in Hungary).

[castiron.livejournal.com]

This is one of the reasons I subscribe to a CSA and am trying to visit the local farmer's market (local small farmers only) more often. While most of what my son and I eat comes from big agriculture (I don't expect to see wheat flour or rice at the farmer's market anytime soon), I'm at least doing something to support small farmers.

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

There are other reasons to be uneasy about trusting other countries to supply our food. Some have lax standards of quality and safety - look at the recent pet food kerfuffle, which was caused by wheat gluten from China containing nasty chemicals.

Also, do we want other countries to have that kind of hold over us? What if a new leader gets PO'd with the US and decides to withhold food supplies? We'd be idiotic to put ourselves in that kind of position, and yet I'm afraid that's exactly what we're doing, in the name of cheap convenience (i.e. short-sightedness).

[dianec42.livejournal.com]

also also, I worry on a regular basis that the US is turning into a nation of people who don't actually *do* anything of value. We're spending all our effort just puffing up our own artificial creations and luxuries bigger and bigger, and eventually the whole house of cards will come down on our heads. (And yes, I am very much part of the problem.)

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Farm subsidies as they currently exist in the US are a mind-bogglingly horrendous concoction of corporate welfare; the programs we had thirty years ago were much closer to sane and useful. I highly recommend the Michael Pollan's analysis of this in Omnivore's Dilemma if you haven't already seen it. (And, really, the rest of the book.)

[3diff.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure there is a line to be drawn between "family farms" and "agro-business" - family farms ARE agro-business, or else they are hobby gardens. It may be that there is some security interest served by having a nation's food, or a large percentage of it, grown within its borders; if so, the US has little to worry about (although without the rest of the world we might get real tired of corn and grain and go short on vegetables).