by Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n
Tribune Media Services<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he European Union says it’s now considering reducing agricultural subsidies for farmers (if the United States does as well), and our government, to its credit, is calling the E.U.’s bluff. The U.S. has proposed cutting farm subsidies here by 60 percent if Europe makes its own significant cuts.<\/p>\n It is an embarrassing issue for the E.U. Usually idealistic Europeans may lobby for the poor of the Third World, chastising the United States for its insensitivity to the “other” on issues ranging from global warming to the use of military force in Iraq.<\/p>\n Yet Europe’s state-subsidized agriculture makes the exporting of targeted Western food to poorer nations easy – and the importing of produce from these countries hard. Since agriculture is the most basic of industries in developing nations, the barriers caused by state subsidies are especially ruinous to these countries’ fragile economies. Europe spends more public tax money on the daily feeding of its cows than Third World nations do on their own people.<\/p>\n Even if Europe backs down and chooses not to trim its bloated farm subsidies, as originally agreed upon, in principle, four years ago, the United States should nevertheless end our own altogether for a variety of reasons.<\/p>\n First, at a time of record budget deficits, we are borrowing money to subsidize agribusinesses that are not poor. Current market prices for cotton, grains and other targeted crops are improving. They will probably only get better as the dynamic new economies of India and China continue to create hundreds of millions of affluent consumers. The future of food – like oil and other key minerals – is radically changing, as a growing global population becomes ever more voracious and capitalist.<\/p>\n Second, there is no logic to the present support system. Wheat, for example, is subsidized, but fresh vegetables are not. Soybeans get federal money, but not peaches. Sugar is richly endowed, but why not nuts or grapes?<\/p>\n It gets more ludicrous: Federal water projects in the West often supply irrigation for agribusiness at well below the real cost. When the resulting harvests are additionally subsidized, the result is Orwellian: The public provides money to water crops that it must pay out even more government cash to harvest.<\/p>\n Third, subsidies have not succeeded in their two prime goals: preserving the family farmer and ensuring American self-sufficiency in food production. Less than 1 percent of the population are now genuine family farmers – a romantic label that’s also extended, disingenuously, to original family businesses that long ago evolved into multimillion-dollar consortia.<\/p>\n And in lean years, true family farmers usually must subsidize their money-losing crops by working for wages in town. Meanwhile, next year, the United States will likely become a net food importer for the first time in our history.<\/p>\n Fourth, there is the issue of hypocrisy. Conservatives believe entitlements have an enervating effect on the self-reliance and responsibility of the individual: The more the government gives you, the less you are likely to be self-supporting. If businessmen often argue that ill-conceived welfare programs hurt the poor, what can they say about largesse for the mostly wealthy? Why did David Rockefeller, Ken Lay and Ted Turner need our tax dollars to farm?<\/p>\n In 1996, the so-called “Freedom to Farm” legislation was supposed to phase out gradually all farm subsidies in exchange for giving more direct cash to farmers without government telling them what to plant or when to sell. Instead, the deal was quickly reneged on, as both Republican and Democratic legislators pandered to a small but influential population in a few key swing farm states.<\/p>\n Fifth, we forget the history of farm subsidies. They began in earnest as a New Deal program aimed at artificially controlling the market, insulating our farmers from imports and creating foreign markets in hopes of keeping alive millions of Americans suffering from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. But we should have learned that subsidies and distorting the market usually result in the opposite of what is intended – in this case large corporations on welfare masquerading as family farmers.<\/p>\n After an initial shock, the United States would thrive without subsidies. The Treasury would curtail the federal deficit by $20 billion per year. We would once again show the Europeans that morality consists of action, not utopian rhetoric. Our current dwindling number of actual family farmers who don’t receive government money at last might compete on a more level playing field with those who do. Meanwhile the market could determine, far better than the government, what, how and why particular crops are grown.<\/p>\n We should learn the lesson of the 1990s when globalization threatened to undermine the American economy. Despite real discomfort, we kept our markets open and stressed fluidity, as businesses and jobs disappeared and reappeared in a constantly changing market-driven cycle. The result was that American business leaders learned to be sensitive to fluctuations in taste and demand – and thrived in a tough global market.<\/p>\n Today, unlike a stagnant, protected Europe of high joblessness, the United States enjoys real growth, low inflation, low interest rates and low unemployment. If the government gets out of the food business, farmers themselves will prove far more adept at market decisions. Indeed, we may end up with more family farmers and once again become a net-food exporting nation – ironically the original purposes of the now-failed federal program of agricultural subsidies.<\/p>\n \u00a92005 Victor Davis Hanson<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why the government should stop subsidizing agri-business. by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The European Union says it’s now considering reducing agricultural subsidies for farmers (if the United States does as well), and our government, to its credit, is calling the E.U.’s bluff. The U.S. has proposed cutting farm subsidies here by 60 percent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[783],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-15T","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2723,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-department-of-food-subsidies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4209,"position":0},"title":"The Department of Food Subsidies","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services The Department of Agriculture no longer serves as a lifeline to millions of struggling homestead farmers. Instead, it is a vast, self-perpetuating postmodern bureaucracy with an amorphous budget of some $130 billion \u2014 a sum far greater than the nation's net farm income\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Debt and Deficits"","block_context":{"text":"Debt and Deficits","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/debt-and-deficits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4532,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-secretary-for-farmland-security\/","url_meta":{"origin":4209,"position":1},"title":"A Secretary for Farmland Security","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 9, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson The New York Times President Bush's selection of a new secretary of agriculture, Gov. Mike Johanns of Nebraska, comes as American agriculture is at a dangerous crossroads. Despite government subsidies and technological advancements, the United States could soon become a net importer of food for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "December 2004"","block_context":{"text":"December 2004","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2004\/december-2004\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3820,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/pruning-farm-subsidies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4209,"position":2},"title":"Pruning Farm Subsidies","author":"victorhanson","date":"February 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services In times of massive deficits, why are we borrowing millions to subsidize profitable agribusiness? Lots of presidents have asked that question. George H. W. Bush tried to cut farm subsidies. Bill Clinton did, too. George W. Bush wanted them ended as well. All\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Debt and Deficits"","block_context":{"text":"Debt and Deficits","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/politics\/debt-and-deficits\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5138,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/q-is-american-farm-reform-headed-in-the-right-direction\/","url_meta":{"origin":4209,"position":3},"title":"Q: Is American Farm Reform Headed in the Right Direction?","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 13, 1996","format":false,"excerpt":"(Two differing opinions) Pat Roberts; Victor Davis Hanson News World\u00a0Communications Abstract:\u00a0The Republican Chmn of the House Agriculture Committee is sanguine about the direction farm policy is taking, but a fifth-generation farmer believes that the new law favors big agribusiness and hurts family farmers. Subsidies and federal payments are discussed. Yes:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1999"","block_context":{"text":"1999","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/1999\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4456,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/a-world-gone-by\/","url_meta":{"origin":4209,"position":4},"title":"A World Gone By","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 14, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson Tribune Media Services America was created by rural people. Perhaps 95 percent of its first citizens were farmers when Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Now, despite all the talk of a \"rural renaissance,\" less than 1 percent are\u2014even as we are awash in food\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "March 2005"","block_context":{"text":"March 2005","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/archives\/2005\/march-2005\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4400,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/anti-anti-americanism-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4209,"position":5},"title":"Anti Anti-Americanism","author":"victorhanson","date":"March 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson American Enterprise Online An entire industry has arisen to account for the recent anti-Americanism. In the case of the Europeans, the end of the Cold War lessened the need for subsidized American protection, emboldening them to caricature Americans as fat and materialistic. 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