Posted on 12/19/2005 4:29:37 PM PST by george76
It was 1985, and the government of New Zealand had made a momentous decision -- to abolish farm subsidies in a country where farming had been king ever since Britain colonized the islands in 1840.
Twenty years later, as the World Trade Organization heads toward an apparent stalemate at its summit in Hong Kong over plans to reduce agriculture subsidies, the message from New Zealand's farmers to their counterparts in the United States and the European Union is:
There's life -- in fact a better life -- after subsidies.
The evidence is there, its farmers say: Since the government's momentous decision to abolish all 30 agricultural subsidies, their productivity has grown, farming's share of gross domestic product has risen as has the rural population, and family farms have survived and are thriving.
Farming today is 16.6 percent of total gross domestic product, up from 14.2 percent in the late 1980s, and...more than half of all New Zealand exports.
The farmers have learned to diversify.
During the subsidy era New Zealand had 72 million sheep -- 18 for every human. By last year the number was just 39 million, but more efficient methods mean the islands still produce the same amount of meat, and meanwhile freed-up land is being turned over to growing grapes for wine and other exotic crops.
There are even niche markets of deer, goats, ostriches and llamas.
Farming began recovering within five years of the subsidy flow being turned off, and within 10 years the Pedersens and the Raineys were buying more land...
His message to subsidy-rich farmers in the Northern Hemisphere if they lose their supports: "Agriculture will become a net contributor to their economies, farming will become more vibrant and farmers will be doing a real job again."
"Now, they're peasants."
(Excerpt) Read more at nctimes.com ...
Astonishing, isn't it? A free agricultural market works. Who'da thunkit?
a much better life being free.
No surprise there, either.
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