Should agricultural subsidies be banned?

Question

Should agricultural subsidies be banned?

Answer 1

NO, Who said it is banned ?

Answer 2

We can stop direct cash subsidies to farmers and increase indirect subsidies like lowered subsidised price of fertilizer, pesticide, seeds etc. Instead of subsidies, promote Agriculture by market intervention, bulk procurement etc.

Answer 3

I wish it were that simple. We do need to get rid of the subsides, but if they were all withdrawn at once thousands of farmers would go out of business and your food prices would really go through the roof. The subsidies are going to have to come of gradually until the supply and demand can correct things. Farm subsides came in with Roosevelt's New Deal policies the same thing that gave us welfare payments to the poor. Both were a good thing at the time, it kept our farms in business and fed thousands of hungary people. Today, both systems have grown completely out of control. You know that we couldn't just suddenly cut of all welfare because hundreds of thousands of people would starve. Both systems are going to have to be drawn down gradually until hopefully, they can be done away with altogether without harm to people and our country.

I think that the trade policies are in pretty good shape. We are still in a positive export situation in the US. Our increasing food prices are mostly due to the high prices of oil. Some increase because we are using corn for ethanol, but that comes from corn that would be exported so it is not taking away the feed for stock or food. Export less corn and import less oil.

The relief we need for high prices must come from getting free from foreign oil. Alternate energy sources are the long term answer, but meanwhile we need to be allowed to drill our own oil and build new refineries. I'm all for conservation, but we are allowing environmental extremists ruin our country and cause the high prices you are wanting relief from right now.

Answer 4

There are some kind of subsidies or the other for farmers around the world, so banning them here is not going to improve the plight of the farmers in this country.

Answer 5

Most agricultural subsidies are geared to help big agri-biz corporations keep their production costs low, which means they can sell their crops for less money and still make a profit. This is great for the agri-biz people and it keeps the cost of food down for the consumer... However, in general agri-biz corporations use farming methods that depend largely on petroleum based products. These methods are not sustainable in the long term, they tend to produce mediocre nutritional qualities in the crops that are grown, and they also tend to deplete the fertility of soils where they are practiced. In addition, small farmers, are forced off the land because they cannot produce crops as inexpensively as agri-biz corporation produces the the same subsidized crops. The small farmer cannot command a higher price for his produce than the subsidized produce fetches. The small farmer's profit margin is reduced, by his inability to match his production costs, to the artificially lowered costs of substidized agri-biz crop prodution costs. The small farmer all to often, fails to reach the break even point or falls below... he is forced to sell out because he cannot make a living as a small farmer.

I am a small independent farmer myself, who does not receive any subsidies, I am not large enough to qualify for them. I would like to see a shift in the way subsidies are handed out, that would help small farmers using sustainable farming practices to make a decent living off of the land. This would tend to encourage more diversity of crops, "better" (in the sense of more sustainable) use of farm land, and higher quality of products available to the consumer.

Answer 6

Why ?

Villages living only through agricultural means.

We have to concentrate much more on agricultural sector.

Still INDIA is living , only because the morality is still  living in villages .

Answer 7

No because those subsidies help large and small farms to reduce the amount of there crops lost or to increase the amount grown.