Farm Subsidies Essay

Although a 2002 agriculture law superseded many parts of FAIRA, acreage was still increased because of the growing demand for corn in animal feed, the need for corn in ethanol manufacturing, and the increased possibility to make food with corn byproducts. These seem to be good and fair reasons to focus our efforts on increasing output, however, the same issue arises: the more corn that is made, the less stable a livelihood farming becomes, regardless of the subsidies that the federal government provides.

continuation in producing very high amounts of corn and different corn products which has only added to the corruption of the nitrogen cycle but also the agricultural system which has only negatively impacted the American diet. Pollan continues to support his claim of how the government supports and benefits farmers for their corn by bringing up that the US Department of Agriculture pays nineteen billion dollars to farmers each year for their continuation in the production of corn.

1. Railroads- Railroads in each area were often controlled by one company, enabling those railroads to charge what they wanted. Railroads were the only way for many western farmers to get their produce to market and high prices were always charged. Railroads controlled storage, elevators, and warehouses so the prices the farmers paid were very high.

America, the rules and regulations around the H-2A program, or lack thereof, have profound economic and social impact on the U.S. agricultural labor force as a whole.

Although farm subsidies all have their roots to one major piece of legislation, there are multiple variations that are common. One of such subsidy programs allows farmers to counter fluctuations in various aspects of their production. If prices for a crop take astounding hikes or fall dramatically, subsidies can provide in time of need. This is the most well-known farm subsidy program, but there are other aspects that get remarkably overlooked. Even insurance coverage, product marketing, research and conservation efforts are subsidized under the current Farm Bill. With the present situation, many Americans believe that the government carries too much control in the agricultural market. For a more detailed breakdown of where the funding in the Farm Bill goes to, see the pie chart below for a reference. These numbers are accurate as of the 2014 Farm Bill, per the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

The American farmer has consistently been ignored by past administrations much to their detriment. As President that will change, our nation will work hand in hand with the American farmer and we will ensure that there is a Secretary of Agriculture in place that is friendly to the needs of farmers across our country. In many ways the health of agriculture in the United States is a measure of the health of the country. And as we have allowed an influx of foreign goods into our markets it has created a competitive barrier that has made it difficult for farmers to compete. Foreign competition is of course a benefit to our economic progress as a nation and it is something that should be encouraged but in a sensible way that does not force our

-Mohair farmers have earned a subsidy from the federal government for decades because the mohair farmers can get large payments from the government without taxpayers ever really noticing because the farmers who get the subsidy care a lot about it, while the rest of us taxpayers (paying mere pennies extra in taxes) do not really care. And, “any politician with a preference for job security can calculate that a vote for the mohair subsidy will earn the strong support of the mohair farmers while costing nothing among other voters” (Wheelan 177).

In this day and age, less than 2% of people in the United States is involved in the production of food for the remaining 98% of citizens in the country. Among discussions occurring in the 2%, one common topic is a lack of education about agriculture in the general public. Prior to high school, I am ashamed to admit, but I was one of the people who would have answered that my milk came from a grocery store. As a project one year, I went to the grocery store and interviewed shoppers as to their knowledge about agriculture. Many of them had a similar belief as I once had, food starts at the grocery store. Upon my entrance into high school, I quickly became involved in the National FFA Organization. Many of my family members gave me crazy looks

The federal food stamp program (SNAP), makes up the largest portion of the budget for the US Department of Agriculture.1 In New York alone 15.3% of residents receive benefits from the SNAP program.2 The purpose of SNAP is to provide nutrition to low-income citizens, however SNAP beneficiaries experience higher rates of obesity compared non-reciepiants.3 According to a report published by the USDA, Americans use food stamps to buy more than $600 million worth of “sweetened beverages,” and bought hundreds of millions more of junk food and sugary snacks.4 Lack of regulation and reform to the SNAP program is causing harm to the public.

The broken and outdated farm subsidy bill is not helping small farms. 60% of small farmers do

For many countries, subsidies and the lobbying power behind them can have great effects on governmental policies and direction. By far, though, the agricultural subsidies advocates in the United States and, to a slightly lesser extent, the European Union have profound sway in government policies. Being dubbed the “breadbasket of the world” gives farmers and their lobbyists in the US immense power to ensure that the government subsidies continue to favor agriculture producers. By and large, this practice has tipped the scales in both the US and the EU when it comes to ensuring that subsidies remain non-distortionary towards world markets. With policies in place that position national farmer interests ahead of global interests, higher production is encouraged, world prices are driven lower, and the incentive for developing countries to invest in agriculture is limited. While the US employs essentially the most distortionary practices, the EU does attempt to limit these distortionary effects. Still, both country’s policies display long-term negative side effects on an international scale.

Additionally, big business controls the farmers by capitalizing on widely used commodities. For example, the company Monsanto which is based in St. Louis, Missouri protects its dominance over the genetically modified crops such as the soy bean with the use of a patent law. Because of this, Monsanto’s patented genes “account for 95 percent of all soy beans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S.,” (Associated Press). Although genetically modifying the soy bean crop has made it more readily available and more sustainable, this comes at a high price to farmers. Monsanto continues to raise their prices, which forces farmers to accrue even more debt, and there is no sign of the rise in the seed prices stopping. Since a lot of the farmers are under contract with Monsanto, there is nothing they can do about this unethical policy in fear of losing their job.

America — a land known for its ideals of freedom and new opportunities, a nation built under the idea that every man and women is created equal. However, the definition of what makes a person an American is entirely different from what it is that makes up America, itself. J.Hector St. John Crevecoeur, author of Letters from an American Farmer (1782), exposes what he believes makes an American. However, when compared to the standards of what makes an American in today’s world, it seems that becoming an American then was much simpler then, than it is today. The definition of an American is always evolving due to the influences of our changing nation. During a simpler time, Crevecoeur defined an American as someone of European

I woke up before my alarm. A distant square of eerie half-twilight from the window held the familiar outline of the locust tree. In the dark, I fumbled to dress without waking my parents. I slipped outside.

The Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) started as a simple price support policy in 1962, and has since been a controversial and widely debated topic with many critics questioning the fundamentals of its operations. Additionally, the CAP concerns and has an impact on an array of areas, not simply farming. The policy aims to tackle issues prevalent to the environment from, the effects on the environment and biodiversity to animal welfare and jobs. This report aims to; explain and analyse how and why the CAP was implemented, how it operates, and provide insight into how and why reforms have been carried out with an evaluation of these reforms.