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Interesting. We have relatively high rural suicide rates in the UK too, and a similar "paid to not farm" situation via the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, but
by mrec 8y ago
Interesting. We have relatively high rural suicide rates in the UK too, and a similar "paid to not farm" situation via the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, but the causal waters are muddied here by farmers being among the very few people with access to firearms.
- DaiPlusPlus 8y agoFarmers under the CAP aren’t just paid “to not farm” but also paid to perform conservation work, and fields that aren’t being used to grow crops can be used as pasture for livestock (to my understanding, please correct me if I’m wrong) and it’s also integrated into crop rotation (where you need a fallow-field for a couple of years anyway) - so I mean the concept of “being paid not to farm” is a misrepresentation.
- mrec 8y agoI take your point, and I was mostly just pointing out the parallels with OP's description of the US (which also included "soil conservation"). For the CAP, my reading is that most of the payment really is just for "not farming" - the cross-compliance rules expect a bit more, yes, but the penalties for not doing so are pretty light - you only have a 1% chance of getting inspected per year, and even repeated and intentional noncompliance normally only knocks 20% off your payments. I'm looking at page 12 of https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/579836/Cross_Compliance_2017_rules_FINAL.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/... - I'm not involved with farming though, so take anything I say with a generous pinch of salt.