You are absolutely 100% correct about a lack of statesmen around now in the United States. One problem is career politicians in Washington, and that can be fixed easily enough with term limits if somehow they can be passed for everyone. The other problem is far deeper and is generational. There are very few Ronald Reagans around. George W. Bush certainly isn’t and is closer to Jimmy Carter as president than he has been to Reagan despite him owing much to Reagan. The dollar wasn’t nearly this weak under Carter and the federal deficit wasn’t at nine trillion dollars either. In fact, during Clinton’s last years in office there was a surplus. Bush has tried to blame the deficit on 9-11 but in reality he is a very big spender. Now, Bush is trying to go against Israel along with the most anti-Israel secretary of state in American history. If not for Bush’s Supreme Court appointments and federal appointments to the judiciary, he might be the worst president in U. S. history. Who else was there to support for president in 2000, however, outside of John Kasich who was a sitting congressman and therefore a long shot at best? Again, the problem is a lack of Ronald Reagans around.

I can certainly agree with you that subsidies have negative effects. As an agronomist living in the center of the Corn Belt I see that it has been subsidies that have driven the family farm into the past and made many large landowners and businesses wealthy at the taxpayers expense. In addition it has reduced diversity in the crops we grow and has negative effects on the environment as well.

I work with farmers and I don’t know of a single one who likes having to take subsidies. However, it is analogous to Social Security: the system has been set up so that you pretty much have to participate.

Is it is a matter of food security as Romney suggested? The prevailing view within the ag community is that world markets could potentially drive the price of food staples and commodities so low that our farmers could not compete. And it is not just foreign subsidies, but also the value of the currencies, labor rates, subsidized inputs, and abuse of the land that make foreign products less expensive. The analogy I could use would be to compare it to the electronics industry; although the United States can produce a sufficient quantity of high quality electronic products for domestic use we have lost the largest share of this market to Asian manufacturers. As a result we have also lost the domestic electronic manufacturing capacity.

Similarly, if we remove our subsidies we might find that our farmers would be unable to compete with China, Argentina, Brazil, and others who can produce those commodities at much lower cost. No, it wouldn’t happen all at once. But over time, as growing conditions, capital and loan expenses, and consumer demand varies, the financial risk would encourage an exodus from farming (for all except some of the largest corporate farms who could endure the risk), and would result in a loss of the agricultural infrastructure. (Storage facilities, equipment and fertilizer manufacturers, grower knowledge, research, food quality protection, etc). Outsourcing our food puts us in a position of relying on foreign markets for many food staples. We can see how reliance on China for toy production has recently resulted in a loss of faith in toys produced in that country. Are Americans willing to trust their food production to the Chinese as well? Are you? This, to me, it what food security means; good quality food, supplied year after year, from reliable domestic sources.

Yes, we are capable of producing far more food than we currently consume. The food we export goes to alleviate some of the imbalance in foreign trade. However, it is the agricultural infrastructure that is at risk, not the ability of the land to produce.

At least this is how I see it. Although most of us would love to see the demise of subsidies, we are awaiting a more practical solution, which we have not seen. I would be very much interested in your response, or in hearing what an economist such as Walter Williams would have to say on this issue.

David Pike

Champaign, Illinois

PS. Did you ever take a look at what it costs to run a farm currently. I just paid 3.35 for tractor fuel yesterday in order to
move a hay crop out of the field with my small 26,000 dollar tractor. The man that bailed my hay paid 30,000 for his hay baler and 70,000 for his tractor and hay rake. We cultivate, sow and hope for rain; and sometimes it does not come for years. Feast to famine. Other businesses may be able to deal with the weather, but the seeds that we plant are rather demanding when it comes to recieving moisture at the appropriate time. Our children are seeing the futility of it all and are leaving for, what they perceive to be, more certain circumstances. Even the family farms are experiencing labor shortages as the children move on. Corporate farms are moving operations to Mexico for labor. One day I will sell it all; probably to a corporate farm or to a developer who will chop the farm into pieces in order to grow houses. Pass the ketchup, please.

I did not mean to be disrespectful to the family farmer. Columnists are always up against a word limit. Small businesses — that includes farms — are the backbone of America. Unfortunately, a good part of the money that goes to big agribusiness hurts the small farmer.

My husband’s family ran a small grocery store in a farm community. OK, so the grocery and hardware store isn’t just like a farm. Every business is different. What about real estate and construction? Home builders often have to sell their homes in down markets for less. In fact, today, some are unloading them for less than it cost them to build just to get rid of debt. There are good years and bad years. The free market isn’t perfect but works best.

As for price supports and subsidies keeping prices low — tell me about the price of peanut butter? Anybody got a peanut quota they would like to unload?

Perhaps I overreacted on the USDA but not by much. I would keep the part that guarantees us that our food is safe but that could be rolled into HHS.

I agree with you about school lunches. We already give the poor free food. To think they can’t pack lunches for their kids is crazy.

The best way to help the family farmer and others with small businesses is to eliminate the death tax and cut regulation.

Keith,

Thanks for turning me on to Mr. Salatin. Joseph Farah and Richard Pombo wrote a great book, “This Land is Our Land” that I think you will appreciate. Ron Paul is right on this and many other issues.

You wrote that farm subsidies cost Americans $25 billion in taxes each year and another $12 billion in higher food prices. The combined $37 billion divided among 300 million people at theee meals per day is 11 cents per meal. For decades Americans have spent less per capita for food than any nation in the world. Another nation is not even close.

I am reminded of a bumper sticker I saw about 30 years ago - “Don’t complain about food prices with your mouth full.”

The government school lunch program which is a part of the USDA costs more than $8 billion per year. Personally, I don’t think taxpayers should not pay for anyone’s lunch.

Just because we have cheap food doesn’t mean we should be wasteful, but the USDA does have some value because much of America’s success has been made possible by programs in this department. I’m sure it is severely bloated like most every government program.

Family farms are very important in this country. Farmers are the ultimate environmentalists. Farmers, regardless of age are always looking to the future with their conservation practices. Part of my farm is timber. I am presently harvesting hardwood trees that are 18 inches and larger, leaving the smaller for the future. At 66 years of age, that doesn’t include me. Hardwoods can only be harvested once in one’s lifetime, or about every 50 - 60 years. My dad owned the land before I did. He harvested only once in his 86 years. I farmed here 25 years before I harvested any timber. My logger told me yesterday that the Red Oak trees on my property would have sold for about 3-4 times the current price had I harvested them five years ago. Too bad, I have to take the price at the going market. (and that’s fine with me)

The point is, farming as a business is not like a hardware store, so to equate a farm business to any other small business is not legitimate.