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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (108929)	5/1/2000 6:50:00 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577228

OT I have nothing against farmers. I believe the same thing about any job field includeing my own. The government should not be in the business of trying to keep employment or business oportunities in a particular field high. As less people are needed to preform a particular function, includeing farming; their labor and inteligence can go to produce other goods and services. If the small farmer can compete with big agribusiness more power to him. If the big business is more efficant then it will slowly take over the market and unless it engages in illegal practices the government should not try to stop this transition. Besides most government subsidies do not go to the small farmer but rather to big agribusiness. Tim

To: tejek who wrote (108929)	5/1/2000 7:14:00 PM
From: Joe NYC	Respond to of 1577228

Ted, I suspect food prices are relatively stabile and low because we have so many small farmers who are still independent. I wonder what would happen if they all sell out to corporations? Even the biggest agro corporation is peanuts in the world market. What they sell is a commodity, so all you will ever get is commodity price. If I was a small farmer, I would try to enter a more profitable niche market, such as market for organicly grown food/meat/milk/eggs etc. This is where they may have an edge over a larger corporation. If they stay with producing commodities, they will be guaranteed losers, unless they are sufficiently big for increased efficiency. Do you know any farmers? Do you have any idea how hard they work? Even the best among them barely ekes out a middle class existence. My grandparents were farmers, until the communists confiscated their farm. I think my grandfather did very well, and every year, he bought more land with the profits from his farm. I think the key is to work smarter rather than harder. If you can't make any profit with your best effort, get out of the business and do something else. Joe