AGRICULTURE: WELFARE AND TRADE

First off this morning we'll talk a bit more about deficit reduction and prosperity in relation to the US Dept. of Agriculture. Every time deficit reduction comes up in the mainstream press, sooner or later they bring up dropping farm subsidies. The truth is, according to their own figures, 68 to 74% of the USDA budget is spent on social welfare nutrition programs. That is food stamps, school lunches, and others. Do you realize that America is the ONLY country in the world where the poor are obese??? Another 9% is spent on conservation programs, ie: erosion control, storm water runoff, etc. See this from the USDA's own site: (Thanks, John)

http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/November08/DataFeature/

10% goes to crop insurance. Farmers pay for crop insurance. While the cost is subsidized, it's not a government giveaway. 12% is spent on propping up commodities prices, which farmers do benefit directly from. So, why is it they only talk about cutting farm subsidies and never mention cutting the welfare portions????

Now lets tie this in to our prosperity: First off, the survivability of every farmer is extremely dependant on weather. While any particular individual farmer MAY be able to survive one bad year, not many can without some support when they have 2 or 3 bad years back to back. I was a part time farmer. Many of my neighbors and friends were full time farmers. I do not know a single rich farmer. Most barely scratch by, with the majority struggling with repairing and occasional replacement of 10 to 20 year old equipment. Americans spend far less percentage of their income on food than any other country. What do you think will happen to food prices when all the family farmers are forced into selling out to large agribusiness? That's right, you can bet your life when big business controls all our food supply, prices will skyrocket.

And on to deficit reduction: America is blessed with tremendously fertile soils, a climate generally favorable to crop production, and farmers willing to work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. American agriculture is the most productive and cost efficient in the world. The population of China as of 2008 was 1.3 billion. The world, 6.7 billion and increasing daily. We control a resource that will soon become as valuable as oil is today. Agricultural products are already the single largest category of American exports. Government funds to farmers are not giveaways, they are price support subsidies. As the price of commodities goes up, the amount of government funds spent decreases. While there are no figures available yet for the last 2 years, given rising crop/grain prices I can just about guarantee you that the $ amount of farm subsidies has declined drastically.

Dumb Farmer