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You will not have agriculture then. It'll be like not having any industry, only much worse.

by avip 8y ago

thebooktocome 8y ago
We had agriculture before the subsidies.
- textor 8y ago
  It was more profitable back then.
- tedivm 8y ago
  Agriculture, at least in the US, has always been subsidized. As a country we used slave labor (free labor) to subsidize agriculture, and then over time we gave away an epic amount of land to white farmers (via the Land Act of 1820, the Homestead Act, and the Morrill Act of 1862).
- pixl97 8y ago
  We also had lots of starvation before subsidies too.
CydeWeys 8y ago
Food has pretty much the most inelastic demand curve imaginable. There's no way that agriculture will disappear without subsidies. Prices might increase, sure. But anyone who has any money will pay whatever prices are necessary when the alternative is literally starving to death. If you're referring to agriculture disappearing from the US, that definitely wouldn't happen either. Some of it might, but not the majority. Most countries don't heavily subsidize farming to the extent that we do, and transportation costs are non-trivial, especially for fresh produce or anything that needs freezing.
ricw 8y ago
The EU has successfully tested this and removed any subsidies to the sugar agricultural sector. The sugar industry in Europe has not imploded. In fact, it’s just adjusted to the new reality of not being subsidised. Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual.
PinkMilkshake 8y ago
Not always true. In New Zealand we had subsidies for farmers (about 40%) and then they were taken away. The removal forced the farmers to innovate and now we have very efficient farming methods that have far less environmental impact. 2/3 of NZ's exports are agricultural. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_New_Zealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_New_Zealand Edit: The thing I found most interesting about this is agriculture was deregulated by the left wing government in what is a very socialist leaning country. Kiwi's are very pragmatic.

You will not have agriculture then. It'll be like not having any industry, only much worse.

by avip 8y ago

You will not have agriculture then. It'll be like not having any industry, only much worse.

thebooktocome 8y ago

We had agriculture before the subsidies.

textor 8y ago
It was more profitable back then.
tedivm 8y ago
Agriculture, at least in the US, has always been subsidized. As a country we used slave labor (free labor) to subsidize agriculture, and then over time we gave away an epic amount of land to white farmers (via the Land Act of 1820, the Homestead Act, and the Morrill Act of 1862).
pixl97 8y ago
We also had lots of starvation before subsidies too.

CydeWeys 8y ago

Food has pretty much the most inelastic demand curve imaginable. There's no way that agriculture will disappear without subsidies. Prices might increase, sure. But anyone who has any money will pay whatever prices are necessary when the alternative is literally starving to death. If you're referring to agriculture disappearing from the US, that definitely wouldn't happen either. Some of it might, but not the majority. Most countries don't heavily subsidize farming to the extent that we do, and transportation costs are non-trivial, especially for fresh produce or anything that needs freezing.

ricw 8y ago

The EU has successfully tested this and removed any subsidies to the sugar agricultural sector. The sugar industry in Europe has not imploded. In fact, it’s just adjusted to the new reality of not being subsidised. Other than that, it’s pretty much business as usual.

PinkMilkshake 8y ago

Not always true. In New Zealand we had subsidies for farmers (about 40%) and then they were taken away. The removal forced the farmers to innovate and now we have very efficient farming methods that have far less environmental impact. 2/3 of NZ's exports are agricultural. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_New_Zealand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_New_Zealand Edit: The thing I found most interesting about this is agriculture was deregulated by the left wing government in what is a very socialist leaning country. Kiwi's are very pragmatic.