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by raybb 3 days ago
New Zealand and Australia have very minimal subsidies.

I do wonder what it would be like if our system was designed to feed people rather than to make money.

It's baffling that in Florida the land of oranges you see little cups of pealed that say product of Spain and packaged in Thailand. I know supply chains are complex and labor costs are a big factor but still.
2 comments
eitally 3 days ago
Just FYI, the orange industry in Florida is almost at zero now, due mostly to citrus greening. https://www.npr.org/2026/05/10/nx-s1-5771748/florida-farmers...
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raybb 3 days ago
I grew up in Florida and that's been a rough situation for a while. Crazy that they haven't been able to figure anything out over the decades it's been going on. I grew up with many citrus trees just around the neighborhood. I wonder if those have got it too.
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jerojero 3 days ago
Its natural for companies to push boundaries for better and better profits. It's sort of their nature.

Things might be fine in Australia and NZ right now, but as the hydric crisis deepens we might see a need for government to step up.

I think a problem is that, if you have a market-first approach you run the risk of the businesses growing so large and powerful that when you do need to intervene, it has become an impossible task. This happened with banking, it is happening with consulting in the UK and big tech in the US. Not to mention big pharma pretty much everywhere.

So I think its a very careful balance of carrot and stick that the government needs to have over its industries.

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sillyfluke 3 days ago
>if you have a market-first approach you run the risk of the businesses growing so large and powerful that when you do need to intervene, it has become an impossible task.

It's also said that four companies control 85% beef market in the US, which normally should make people rather queasy I would think.

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