Dig Deeper Texas

“Car manufacturers left hanging as bill grinds to halt”

Can you imagine such a headline? Detroit is unable to decide which cars to build, where to sell them, or what regulations to follow because of a bill stalled in Congress? Should such a situation ever occur, even with all our inclinations to protect the automobile industry, most people would think that there is probably a bit too much government involvement here.

But what if the headline was the following?

“Farm industry left hanging as bill grinds to halt”

Now the only concern seems to be how to get the bill through rather than focus on government subsidies. Of course we need food security and of course there are cases when government regulation can make or break a deal but this has become a way of life.

MySA.com: Business

That’s abundantly clear to El Campo rice farmer L.G. Raun and other South Texas producers who count on support from the farm bill in making planting decisions, bolstering loan applications and surviving years when crops failed.

We are indignant when French farmers protest prices. We happily sign free trade agreements with other countries to ensure access to their markets. But mention the possibility of opening up our borders to cheaper food imports, we get bombarded with images of the poor, American, family farmer–not corporate agriculture giants.

Even if a country’s principle trade commodity is agriculture, it doesn’t seem to be making an impact in all of these free trade agreements we sign. Does anyone know why corn seems to be the crop of choice for biofuels rather than sugar cane which is cheaper and generates more energy per mass? Probably because the corn farmers in Iowa have a much more effective lobby than sugar growers in Brazil. What do you expect, the corn lobby can eventually deliver the votes in Iowa. If the sugar growers tried it, it would be called bribery?

Anyway, it seems to me that there has got to be a more rational system to protect farmers from the extremes of crop production without providing corporate welfare to the agriculture industry. But I seriously doubt that we’re going to come up with it in a presidential election year with Iowa starting off the primary season.

Technorati Tags: farm bill, corporate welfare, production controls, subsidy reform

Filed under: Corporate Welfare, farm bill, production controls, subsidy reform