Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Farm subsidies database

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Farm subsidies database
  • Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:24:44 -0600


Of course that's our tax dollars diverted into their pockets. It was back in
the fifties I think, when Earl Butz was told to support big agribusiness for
export purposes - help the government's balance of payments or some such. And
... by sheer coincidence the Farm Bureau and corporate agriculture with big
$$$ lobbyists pushing it just happened to make out like bandits on the deal.
For the good of the country you know.

And today those subsidized crops - mainly corn, soy, grains - end up
processed into thousands of alleged food products on grocery shelves, at low
prices because those ingredients are subsidized up front.That's what we're up
against in costing and pricing our local (unsubsidized) produce, uphill at
every turn. It gets worse. Migrant labor cuts costs further for industrial
produce, labor below minimum wage with no legal protections, and some of it
undocumented workers living in subhuman conditions. It saves money and raises
profits.

All this concerns me because it means we won't have millions of local growers
supplying local food security. Because they can't make a living at it. We
know why. We may see a lot more part time growers selling locally, and some
will be marginally profitable.

We did three local markets in the last five days and noticed one odd thing: a
number of our customers were digging in their pockets and paying partly with
small change. These are three fairly upscale markets.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 8/22/2010 at 6:17 PM Ken Hargesheimer wrote:

>Here in Lubbock TX one farm gets over $100,000 per year.  It is called
>government welfare.  Vegetables farmers are not eligible.
> 
>Ken H
>
>--- On Sun, 8/22/10, Marty Kraft <martyk@allspecies.org> wrote:
>





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page