4 ms·

Farmers seem underrepresented in general economic planning, except when handing out subsidies to keep their votes. I've for instance thought that UBI would be

by mihaic 3y ago

Farmers seem underrepresented in general economic planning, except when handing out subsidies to keep their votes. I've for instance thought that UBI would be unavoidable in a few decades, but how would we keep farmers to grow food? The only answer I have is that their income has to be at leat 3-5x that of the UBI.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Farmers seem underrepresented in general economic planning Wat. The USDA is a $181 to 500bn agency [1][2]. Every state has an agricultural agency. Alongside defence, another must-pass recurring bill is the farm bill [3][4]. > except when handing out subsidies to keep their votes This is democracy. If you're getting subsidies to buy your votes, you are by definition well represented. [1] https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024-usda-budget-summary.pdf https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024-usda... page 1 [4] https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-agriculture?fy=2023 https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-agriculture... [3] https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/farm-bill https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/farm-bill [4] https://www.farmaid.org/issues/farm-policy/whats-going-on-with-the-2023-farm-bill/ https://www.farmaid.org/issues/farm-policy/whats-going-on-wi...
- Iulioh 3y ago
  And to add, 33% of the European budget is farn subsidies (and that's one big reason why ukraine is unlikely to enter the EU)
- mihaic 3y ago
  I wasn't denying that a lot of money is being spent, it's how it's spent. What I meant was that subsidies for producing various crops/animal products dwarf all the other spending on rural programs, and not a lot of effort is put into actually figuring out how to improve those communities, many of which are bleeding young people. There is no plan to maintain agricultural communities, and what's worse, that doesn't seem to be a desire for such a plan.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > not a lot of effort is put into actually figuring out how to improve those communities Fair enough. We focus on farmers’ production, not their communities. If the farmers don’t care about their communities, they deteriorate. Maybe we’re betting on automation.
deltarholamda 3y ago
The people in the concentrated urban areas call farming areas "fly-over country," and love to point out that the urban areas contribute 70% to the national GDP. In the past 10-20 years they started making noises about eliminating the Electoral College system. The fact that farmers have a say in anything is astonishing, and people are hard at work trying to prevent them from having any voice at all on a national stage. I find it all very short-sighted, but that's politics for you.
asdff 3y ago
The entire form of modern day california is because of a small cabal of entrenched farming interests.

by mihaic 3y ago

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> Farmers seem underrepresented in general economic planning Wat. The USDA is a $181 to 500bn agency [1][2]. Every state has an agricultural agency. Alongside defence, another must-pass recurring bill is the farm bill [3][4]. > except when handing out subsidies to keep their votes This is democracy. If you're getting subsidies to buy your votes, you are by definition well represented. [1] https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024-usda-budget-summary.pdf https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2024-usda... page 1 [4] https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-agriculture?fy=2023 https://www.usaspending.gov/agency/department-of-agriculture... [3] https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/farm-bill https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/farm-bill [4] https://www.farmaid.org/issues/farm-policy/whats-going-on-with-the-2023-farm-bill/ https://www.farmaid.org/issues/farm-policy/whats-going-on-wi...

Iulioh 3y ago
And to add, 33% of the European budget is farn subsidies (and that's one big reason why ukraine is unlikely to enter the EU)
mihaic 3y ago
I wasn't denying that a lot of money is being spent, it's how it's spent. What I meant was that subsidies for producing various crops/animal products dwarf all the other spending on rural programs, and not a lot of effort is put into actually figuring out how to improve those communities, many of which are bleeding young people. There is no plan to maintain agricultural communities, and what's worse, that doesn't seem to be a desire for such a plan.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > not a lot of effort is put into actually figuring out how to improve those communities Fair enough. We focus on farmers’ production, not their communities. If the farmers don’t care about their communities, they deteriorate. Maybe we’re betting on automation.

deltarholamda 3y ago

The people in the concentrated urban areas call farming areas "fly-over country," and love to point out that the urban areas contribute 70% to the national GDP. In the past 10-20 years they started making noises about eliminating the Electoral College system. The fact that farmers have a say in anything is astonishing, and people are hard at work trying to prevent them from having any voice at all on a national stage. I find it all very short-sighted, but that's politics for you.

asdff 3y ago

The entire form of modern day california is because of a small cabal of entrenched farming interests.