Article link: http://www.smallgovtimes.com/story/08jul04.cheeseburgers.subsidized/

Post your comments

#1 - From farmer on 2008-07-04
Okay so you want to import food from poor countries into the United States. Who pays for the infrastructure to ship it the opposite way? Who oversees that the food is safe from restricted chemicals and that other pests aren't transported to our country in that food? Why should we be worried about minimum wage in the U.S. if we can get food from other countries who pay laborers about as much a day as we pay per hour? Why should the U.S. be worried about emissions from trucks, tractors, and factories when we can get our food from countries that don't worry about that kind of regulation?

What are you talking about 10-15 year contracts to do nothing? Are you talking about CRP? If so then the land must have a stand of grass that may include legumes, trees, shrubs, and other things in the many areas of our country to improve wildlife habitat. Wildlife thrive in the CRP across the country. The CRP stands also hold the soil in place reducing wind and water erosion. Skies are clearer and rivers are cleaner which benefits the fish in the rivers. CRP costs $100 per acre or even a lot more depending on what the CRP contract calls for. The fields must be maintained to keep free of weeds.

The farmer continues to work from dawn to dusk but now you say they are doing nothing. I say return to the farm for a week and see how it really is.

Input costs have gone up with the higher prices so that is why the subsidy levels have gone up. Fertilizer, fuel, seed, and chemical costs have soared. Don't even try to tell me you haven't noticed how much fuel has gone up. Everything else has gone up at the same percentages also as much is based on petroleum so a higher safety net is also required.

Reply to this post | Report this post as spam/abuse