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High food prices, while detrimental to the urban poor, may be the best opportunity to pull subsistence farmers out of poverty and integrate them into the global
by sdurkin 19y ago
High food prices, while detrimental to the urban poor, may be the best opportunity to pull subsistence farmers out of poverty and integrate them into the global economy.
That said, biofuel subsidies are really just an excuse for corn belt politicians to score votes at the expense of everybody else. Its corporate welfare that's good for nobody.
- Goladus 19y agoHow do you mean? Not that I don't believe you, but I don't follow your logic. (About the subsistence farmers, I mean)
- sdurkin 19y agoSubsistence farmers grow crops using traditional methods mostly. They're insulated from the fuel costs etc. that generally drive up the cost of production for the big producers. Subsistence farmers also tend to bring to market a small portion of their crop. The hope is that as food prices rise, the amount each farmer receives for the crop sold will go up to the point where he can start to invest in his equipment to improve the efficiency of his methods, grow more and sell it, and integrate himself into the global economy. Eventually, this turns poor subsistence farmers into wealthier cash crop farmers.
- Goladus 19y agoAh, ok. I missed the assumption that they'd still be farming. I thought you meant they'd go work in factories or something.