[em-bee]

my understanding about this is that milk production is not subsidized so that poor people can afford it, but so that farmers can afford to continue producing it. in some places milk production is not profitable and farmers would go out of business without government support.

the price they get paid for their milk does not depend on what the consumers would be willing to pay, but on the large milk production companies who buy all their milk and dictate what they are willing to pay, and without subsidies they would simply buy their milk elsewhere.

[Mikeb85]

> milk production is not subsidized so that poor people can afford it, but so that farmers can afford to continue producing it.

Yes, because poor people can't afford to pay the prices required to sustain enough production. And because dairy is a staple, especially in rough times, it's in governments' interest to maintain production.

[jyounker]

Depends upon where you are in the world. In rich countries local producers are outcompeted by producers in lower cost regions. Without price supports the local industry would collapse.

If a country's food supply becomes completely dependent upon imports, then this gives the exporter political power over the importer, and also reduces the importer's resilience to disasters.

[em-bee]

according to some sources we have overproduction of milk worldwide. so stopping subsidies will not raise the price of milk on the market. it will only put those farmers out of business that don't have a profitable milk production.

the choice is between subsidizing farmers to produce milk or paying them welfare checks.

the EU is doing this, and they don't exactly have a problem with lots of poor people not being able to afford higher milk prices. more likely higher prices would lead to less consumption even among those that could afford it.

[Mikeb85]

I mean, keep in mind milk = cheese as well. Cream. Yogurt. All the derivative products like infant formula. Tons of canned and dry goods.

[em-bee]

yes of course. that doesn't change anything. infant formula is already very expensive. poor people can't afford anything but their own breast milk for their babies.