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It was designed to boost prices in the recession of the 1930's. It's not really needed today as commodities are traded on the public market.
In a recession, people have less money right? That means less money for food which is essential only second to water and air for survival.
Why not just give the money to the consumers? They can then go buy the food. That should raise demand, and help feed the consumer, which is the whole point.
I wonder how many people hear have heard of the Agriculture Adjustment Act, which allows the government to pay farmers to not produce on their lands. This in turn keeps production low and demand high, which in turn causes prices to rise for food.
This has been going on since the 1930's.
Plus we have millions and milions more illegals coming here and they have to eat. This will definitely push food prices even higher. Food stamps got a 25% increase in last month in Oct. A family of 4 gets almost Nine hundred dollars of free food a month.
It's been going on forever. I used to visit my dad in NC and he would tell me where the piles of sweet potatoes or vidalia onions were- crops not taken to market for various reasons with a subsidy going to the farmer.
Farmers are one of the largest if not the largest takers of government subsidies. Want to rail about socialism? Yeah you can start here.
The US school lunch came about as a value-added way of doing something good with surplus crops the USDA purchased from farmers.
And the ‘government cheese’ of the 1970s and 1980s came about as another time when the USDA was propping up dairy farmers by buying up supply before it hit the open market.
Only the government would literally set fire to money this way.
Heads need to roll.
Regardless of which party is in the White House, the USDA has a lot more power in a lot more areas than people realize. They also hugely subsidize many home mortgage programs in rural and exurban places.
I wonder how many people hear have heard of the Agriculture Adjustment Act, which allows the government to pay farmers to not produce on their lands. This in turn keeps production low and demand high, which in turn causes prices to rise for food.
Yes, but there's an issue in that it gives a major boost to large (corporate) farms; increases competition and the elimination of small farms ...
In most instances, a "corporate farm" is simply a father and his sons who have "incorporated" and farm larger areas. It is not like Cargil or Monstanto owns and farms the land. This is a misconception about the term "corporate farm".
It does not give a "major boost" to anyone. The CRP acreage is allocated differently to different counties, based on the quality of the soil (poorer gets more acres), terrain, and adjacent waterways. The counties then determine how many acres the applying farmers CAN enter into the program. You apply for the enrollment, but sometimes are not given any acres. The contracts require that the land had been farmed continuously for three years prior to application to prevent people from just enrolling crappy pasture land that was not farmed anyone.
The feds check the land to make sure the proper grasses are planted (for wildlife) and that it is free of weeds. So it is not like it is just left alone- there is maintaining the CRP land that is required. Wetlands are paid about 50% more than regular dry land to provide areas for migrating birds.
By no means is the program a windfall for "corporate farms"- they are given no advantage at all over smaller farmers and the allocations are made by the county ag board based on the above criteria.
I wonder how many people hear have heard of the Agriculture Adjustment Act, which allows the government to pay farmers to not produce on their lands. This in turn keeps production low and demand high, which in turn causes prices to rise for food.
This has been going on since the 1930's.
yes, it has been going on since the 30's and part of the reason is price controls. Today, it is being done to increase our reliance on foreign produce and grains. Tried to buy lettuce this year?
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