> commodity crops that require [...] government subsidies in order to be profitably cultivated Wait, what?! Why would governments need to subsidize such crops?

> commodity crops that require [...] government subsidies in order to be profitably cultivated Wait, what?! Why would governments need to subsidize such crops? Can't the price be left to increase a bit, and have the market sort this out more "organically"? Only reason I'd see for the US government subsidizing such crops would be to make your food exports more competitive, a pretty "dirty" tactic in a globalized economy, but at leas it would make sense...