[Mase]

Farm subsidies are a price control on your food at the grocery store; that's all they've ever been.

Farm subsidies dramatically increase taxes and the cost of food for American consumers.

The Heritage Foundation on the 2001 Farm Security Act:

"The most expensive farm legislation in the history of any nation, the Farm Security Act would result in a total of $190 billion in taxes on American families and an additional burden of $271 billion in inflated food prices. Purportedly, this $461 billion expenditure would be incurred to help struggling farmers and stabilize food prices; in reality, however, it would accomplish neither of these goals."

The Cost of America's Farm Subsidy Binge

It works very well for the politicians: they can reward their big campaign contributors by artifically lowering the price of raw product; keep the price of food low

If we eliminated price supports and tariffs, the resulting competition would reduce the cost of food for American consumers. Price supports keep farmers profits high. They do not keep prices low.

From the same article:

"all of the farm policies that have been adopted to affect market prices--such as price supports and conservation payments to keep land idle--are designed only to raise prices above the market-clearing level; they cannot drop prices below it. Rather than experiencing the stabilization of prices and supplies, American consumers face only price increases. Consequently, there is no evidence that the few dozen subsidized and supported crops have had prices or supplies any less stable than the nearly 400 unsubsidized crops over the past century.

In truth, food prices and supplies do not require government stabilization any more than industries such as technology, energy, and telecommunications do."

..and have the completely obtuse population blaming the people who actually grow their food for "stealing" their money.

The obtuse population is made up of people who don't understand that 80% of all price supports go to the large farming cooperatives who would remain very profitable without the welfare.

One the other hand, we could rely on other countries for our food.

You really don't understand the issue, do you? We produce more food than at any other time in our history, with fewer people and on less land. By eliminating price supports, the American farmer will concentrate more on the products we can produce most efficiently; unlike growing sugar beets to produce sugar which, by the way, is the most inefficient method for producing sucrose.

[A. Pole]

We produce more food than at any other time in our history, with fewer people and on less land. By eliminating price supports [...]

If it ain't broke don't fix it! US produces a lot of food which is relatively cheap and good. Free market experiments might be costly and impossible to undo.

[garandgal]

You really don't understand the issue, do you? We produce more food than at any other time in our history, with fewer people and on less land. By eliminating price supports, the American farmer will concentrate more on the products we can produce most efficiently; unlike growing sugar beets to produce sugar which, by the way, is the most inefficient method for producing sucrose.

I understand the issue far better than you ever will...because I was FORCED to understand it. After spending years in the business world as sales management executive, I just yesterday finished a "Year End Cash Flow" statement for a moderately large farming operation (not sugar beets).

Many of the farm price support payments do go to very large cooperatives, absentee land owners, etc....fine...get rid of them! No problem there, whatsoever.

However, if you are interested in the actual life of the every day farmer; who, unlike other businesses, has minimal control over the prices paid for product, absolutely no ability to pass along increased input costs to the buyer; all while watching the "value-added" purchasers of his product raking in the millions...do get back to me.

We are talking about a rather low-debt, multi-million dollar operation, paying a couple of $20,000 per year salaries to two owners working 80 hrs/week (would YOU do that?). After figuring all input costs, and using a price for our grain that is completely manipulated by a system that should have been scrapped once everyone had phones, let alone the internet (the Board of Trade); we had a whopping 2% net profit! Whoo-hoo!

That is with the guaranteed government payments included.

If you still think that the price supports are not a gimme for the big campaign producers; if you still cannot understand that in a box of Corn Chex, you are paying for about $.20 worth of corn and $3.00 worth of everything else...do get back to me. If you get rid of the farm subsidies, then let us sell to anyone we want, at any time, anywhere...with no restrictions. WE cannot do that.

Since you are so knowledgeable, please do tell which "crops" Americans are supposed to focus on...we'll get right on it. I'll wait right here; as we need to make more money.