Comment on Question

Responses (3) to "Will USFRA affiliated organizations' members disclose the amount of governm"

1. Rex Peterson, September 28, 2011

   Denise, we could duplicate the Environmental Working Groups stuff. And maybe we should since it can be misleading.
   
   Until we discovered ethanol was much safer than MBT as a means to oxyginate gas to reduce air pollution and could be competitive with gas from petroleum, the government subsidies have dramatically changed.
   IT used to be that most of the money went to commodity price support to keep farmers in business. There have been no commodity payments for many years.
   The most money goes to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) which the EWG really likes.
   Some of the money goes to subsidize crop insurance...which most farmers never see and thus cannot tell you about. We pay 10% of the value of our crop in insurance premiums...It's a risky business.
   Be careful when you look at the Farm Bill, the last one was 70% food stamps.
   
   Hope this helps.

2. zitiboat, October 01, 2011

   Denise, I tried to make sense of the answer that Rex provided. It struck me that he raised many more questions while avoiding the topic.
   
   I think you should start at amazon and watch a few movies like "King Corn" and "Food Inc." to get a perspective on subsidies. Pay close attention to the special features. More facts are divulged without having to make it entertaining to sell the film. Nobody is going to admit that the food system in America is corrupt but too many coincidences keep showing up.
   
   1. Corn that people can eat is not subsidized.
   2. Corn that poisons cows if fed to them after 18 months and makes them unnaturally fat and ready for harvest before costs for raising them become an issue is subsidized.
   3. That corn that is subsidized is not for human consumption because it is genetically modified and is not accepted for import to Europe or much of the rest of the world.
   4. That GMO corn is produced by corporations that own the copyrights and the seeds cannot be kept by farmers to grow next years crop. New seeds must be purchased.
   5. The cheap corn we subsidize has displaced Mexican labor intensive corn and put Mexican farmers out of work.
   6. Meat packing companies send busses to Mexico and recruit out of work farmers to cut beef and pork in the US and are housed in company owned housing.
   7. Mexican meat cutters replace citizens and get deported during midnight raids after a few years of low wages and dangerous conditions before they can apply for citizenship.
   8. Feed lots that use subsidized corn can prosecute anyone that photographs their operations.
   9. Mexico cannot compete with US corn prices and must import from us.
   10. If you grow corn for human consumption without subsidies your fields might become contaminated with GMO pollen and you may lose your farm because you are responsible for keeping pollen out of your field instead of the GMO corporation being responsible for keeping their product out of your field.

3. Rex Peterson, March 09, 2012

   Item 1 above is no longer correct. Organic sweet corn producers can now qualify for the Conservation Stewardship Program.
   Item 2 is no longer correct since corn prices exceed the ldp levels.
   Item 3 is no longer correct, GMO corns have been approved in the EU.
   Item 4 is correct.
   Item 5 has more to do with drought than the ecomomics of corn, but may be true.
   Item 6, I have no idea.
   Item 7, with a visa, they would not get busted.
   Item 8, Ziti is making that up, he leaves out the malicious intent etc. he may be prone to be part of.
   Gotta keep it under 1000 characters.