Big agricultural pushed it as solution to high gas prices. We went from peak oil to peak demand within a decade. Producing something not needed anymore is essentially digging holes and filling them. Worse, it’s terrible for the environment and wastes some of the most productive, continuous farmland in the world.
Since I've moved to MN I've learned a lot more about the farm economy than I ever expected. Yes there is a lot of government support, "socialism" if you will and that's been a mixed bag. That said without some sort of government support independent family farms might disappear altogether. As is consolidation and big agribusiness are continuing to wipe out smaller farms while lack of other job opportunities are gradually destroying rural communities. Besides the issues that have been discussed regarding food resources as a national security issue there are many other issues with farms that effect the rest of the country. The climate and water quality are affected by farming and one reason why what happens in MN and the Dakotas has a direct effect on the Gulf Coast. There is a lot of work done addressing that through programs that set aside farmland and encourage farmers to grow cover crops that help to enrich the soil and stabilize erosion. Many farming practices can help to sequester carbon also. A lot of this takes money and political will but this is one of the reasons why I bring up the importance of our federal system granting power to "flyover land" even if it is disproportionate to their populations.
It's ironic conservatives criticize Clinton and Obama as Commies. Clinton had a budget surplus and Obama even though representing Illinois started backing off ethanol
As arrogant and stupid as "filling holes" is farming is a lot more than that. I didn't start this thread to back ethanol, I talked about ethanol as my first experience with farming co-ops co-ops which are still necessary and a great example of our American ambition. The co-ops are still a system allowing family owned farms to compete American innovation has been in part driven by farming and necessity to produce on a larger level. A farmer can't just call the Geek Squad when running into problems. American farms have driven ingenuity in conserving and maximizing land productivity. Ethanol isn't the fault of the family farm
Food security and food production capability is a key component of national security. Nothing causes civil unrest and rebellion more than people starving. The issue is that the bureaucrats and lobbyists have been screwing it all up by being lazy and greedy by maintaining corn as the only crop to maintain this security. We need to allow market forces to dictate things that we grow. We also need to regulate farm lending because farmers are leveraged to the hilt which allows financial institutions to pray on them.
If someone criticized you and were not a contributing member Then it doesn’t count because they’re opinion is worth as much as their contributions 0
Well sure, but it's gotten very bloated. Sure. But the innovation was drive by government funding and direction. Great episode of Freakonomics podcast, based on a great book: How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Ep. 386)
The corn lobby is out of control. No argument. I saw a 20/20 episode about 20 years ago that showed these guys in the early 70's warning our corn subsidies were gonna make the country unhealthy
