4 ms·

Another control on this is the Overall Allotment Quantity of sugar, which is the USDA-regulated quantity of sugar which can be sold in any year. If you have too

Another control on this is the Overall Allotment Quantity of sugar, which is the USDA-regulated quantity of sugar which can be sold in any year. If you have too much sugar to sell, you'll have to store it or dump it. This is to keep sugar's price high. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overall_Allotment_Quantity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overall_Allotment_Quantity

Groxx 13y ago
That's an... interesting mechanism. I can't figure out what the goal is, aside from, as you said, keeping prices high (specifically for those two kinds of sugar, which seems extra weird) - is there another reasonable explanation?
- speeder 13y ago
  Moorcock this is the official purpose, they never even feigned it being something'.else.
- yajoe 13y ago
  It's extremely complicated. One reason for keeping prices high this season is to prevent loan defaults from the farmers/producers in the fall. So one part of the federal government may spend another $40mil affecting the sugar market (high prices this season) to prevent a loan default of $100mil to different parts of same federal government and all of the fallout to those small businesses. Bankruptcy threatens families keeping their farms... as big of a deal as foreclosures for suburbanites. The loans are based on a variety of factors and have a variety of goals from ensuring that family farms exist (and don't get gobbled by mega-farm corps) to ensuring that we grow certain kinds of crops in this country to ensuring we build better combines. It's very complicated and any 'narrative' that has a single cause or explanation is likely incorrect.
  - newbie12 13y ago
    The "family farm" defense of agricultural subsidies is dead wrong. In fact, most programs are price subsidies, so the more you produce, the more you benefit, and as a result most of the subsidies go to the largest producers-- we actually subsidize agribusiness over family farmers, relatively speaking. Further, the value of the subsidies gets capitalized into the land and makes it impossible for young farmers to get started in the business.

Groxx 13y ago

That's an... interesting mechanism. I can't figure out what the goal is, aside from, as you said, keeping prices high (specifically for those two kinds of sugar, which seems extra weird) - is there another reasonable explanation?

speeder 13y ago
Moorcock this is the official purpose, they never even feigned it being something'.else.
yajoe 13y ago
It's extremely complicated. One reason for keeping prices high this season is to prevent loan defaults from the farmers/producers in the fall. So one part of the federal government may spend another $40mil affecting the sugar market (high prices this season) to prevent a loan default of $100mil to different parts of same federal government and all of the fallout to those small businesses. Bankruptcy threatens families keeping their farms... as big of a deal as foreclosures for suburbanites. The loans are based on a variety of factors and have a variety of goals from ensuring that family farms exist (and don't get gobbled by mega-farm corps) to ensuring that we grow certain kinds of crops in this country to ensuring we build better combines. It's very complicated and any 'narrative' that has a single cause or explanation is likely incorrect.
- newbie12 13y ago
  The "family farm" defense of agricultural subsidies is dead wrong. In fact, most programs are price subsidies, so the more you produce, the more you benefit, and as a result most of the subsidies go to the largest producers-- we actually subsidize agribusiness over family farmers, relatively speaking. Further, the value of the subsidies gets capitalized into the land and makes it impossible for young farmers to get started in the business.