New Holland and the Ag Equipment Group Message Board

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Non-Tech : New Holland and the Ag Equipment Group

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To: Shane M who wrote (34)	12/28/1998 10:04:00 PM
From: TobaccoMan	Read Replies (1) of 113

Mr. Milburn, I could stand on my soap-box for days, but I will not bore you with preaching. In an attempt to sum: The past farm programs (gov subsidies) were a meaningful attempt at levelizing supply/demand through planting restrictions and land conservation. In reality, the subsidies were passed onto the end consumer in the form of lower food prices through overproduction, with the food conglomerates and processors receiving the better end of the deal through higher margins. The attempt to control sup/dem through the subsidies helped speed rise of the large or corp. farm as the larger producers received larger gov. payments and thus expanded to gain economies of scale on slimmer margins. Then the young Republicans came along and decided to trim the budget through USDA and passed the Freedom to Farm Bill which increases payments over a short term before ending all subsidies in a few years. Many of the farmers who cheared Freedom were tired of the bureaucracy of the subsidies. Many of these same farmers are the ones crying for help now. If you think things are volatile now, just wait about 5 years. The farmer has always been a price taker as lead by gov. policies to provide abundant and cheap food and as lead by big business which enjoys paying little for commodities. In the end, it will always be cheaper to the end consumer for the gov. to subsidize/levelize ag production. If the commodity market were free of production constraints the consumer would experience great volatility for even the basic foods. In the end the consumer would pay a greater price in the open market than they would through limited taxation to support subsidies. What we as farmers need is a fair and just attempt at controlling production. Diversity is key for the consumer. Pure economics would state that very large monoculture would be best for the consumer. However, one MidWest drought would destroy this theory. In a holistic approach, small to mid-sized farms, producing a diverse and abundant range of products is what subsidies should be about. This would keep end food prices stable and guard against regional calamities like we have seen this year. In the end, we really don't need DRAM, but we do need to eat. I apologize for the lengthy post. Regards, Tobaccoman PS> GO CATS What a sad duke game :~{

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