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by vollmarj 2544 days ago
Can you provide references to the subsidies you mention? I think you will find that this is a common misconception with only some truth to it. I hear often that US agriculture is subsidized, but never hear specifics. I'm genuinely curious where people get this impression.

The majority of ag subsidies are not given to farmers for growing things. Crop insurance is subsidized, but that doesn't necessarily lead to overproduction as is only really kicks in when conditions are very poor. Conservation programs (to NOT farm land) are also subsidized. This again doesn't encourage over production.

There are many things that could be improved in modern agriculture, but my view is that subsidies have little to do with our largest problems.
4 comments
alasdair_ 2544 days ago
Crop insurance pays out at least five billion dollars a year in the US so it’s not solely “when conditions are very poor”

There are other hidden subsidied, such as tarriffs on sugarcane meaning most fructose in the us comes from corn. A tarriff on a competitor is economically the same as a subsidy.

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packet_nerd 2544 days ago
I'd always heard that dairy gets quite a lot of subsidies, including from advertising like the "Got milk?" ads. A quick search seems to support this. It'd be interesting to hear from someone who's dug into this a lot more.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/dairy-subsidie...

https://qz.com/944630/the-us-government-program-behind-the-g...

https://www.idausa.org/government-meat-dairy-advertising/

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18pfsmt 2544 days ago
How is the National Diary Council paying for advertising, which is a lobbyist group made up of dairies, a subsidy?

Their subsidies are in things like the farm bill where they are protected by tariffs and our weird obsession with pasteurization. Our dairy industry does a bunch of exporting milk powder to the 3rd world.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethkaiserman/2018/12/30/farm-b...

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jaredklewis 2544 days ago
Subsidizing crop insurance absolutely leads to lower food prices, which the parent argues is the problem.
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ciconia 2544 days ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy
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