4 ms·

Food security is the reason governments stick their noses in an otherwise free market.

by dgemm 12y ago

bradleyjg 12y ago
Even if we accept that argument, which I think is a little far-fetched given the countries that would need to get on board for a hypothetical food embargo against the US to be effective, there's no national security implications to almonds and there are good substitutes for rice and cotton. In a real pinch the agricultural production dedicated to ethanol can be redirected to food, and perhaps most importantly even a small shift in the meat/plant balance towards plants creates a huge calorie surplus. In short, food security looks more like a post hoc rationalization than a good justification for our terrible policy landscape when it comes to agriculture.
- lkbm 12y ago
  > and there are good substitutes for rice American culture can replace it with wheat, yes, but if you ever want a case study on government fiddling with a crop for national security reasons, rice is it. Not in the US, but Asia? It's probably on par with oil.
otakucode 12y ago
I think it has more to do with straightforward nationalism. Yes, we could all be sweetening our products with cane sugar and equatorial sugar farmers could be making a great deal of money. But instead we have high tarriffs on sugar cane and subsidies for corn farmers. Why? Because the corn farmers are Americans, and the equatorial farmers are not.
- ethanbond 12y ago
  Which can also be phrased as "unemployed Americans farmers are burdens on American systems, unemployed equatorial farmers are not." Not that I don't think the sugar subsidies specifically are nonsense, the structural reasons that food subsidies exist is sound.
- canvia 12y ago
  Could it possibly have anything to do with 85% of corn being produced coming from Monsanto seeds? http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/can-we-feed-our-world-without-monsanto http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/can-we-feed-our-world-without-mon... They do spend millions of dollars lobbying the government every year. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000055 https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00000005... Soy seems to be in a similar situation to corn.

Food security is the reason governments stick their noses in an otherwise free market.

by dgemm 12y ago

Food security is the reason governments stick their noses in an otherwise free market.

Even if we accept that argument, which I think is a little far-fetched given the countries that would need to get on board for a hypothetical food embargo against the US to be effective, there's no national security implications to almonds and there are good substitutes for rice and cotton. In a real pinch the agricultural production dedicated to ethanol can be redirected to food, and perhaps most importantly even a small shift in the meat/plant balance towards plants creates a huge calorie surplus. In short, food security looks more like a post hoc rationalization than a good justification for our terrible policy landscape when it comes to agriculture.

lkbm 12y ago
> and there are good substitutes for rice American culture can replace it with wheat, yes, but if you ever want a case study on government fiddling with a crop for national security reasons, rice is it. Not in the US, but Asia? It's probably on par with oil.

otakucode 12y ago

I think it has more to do with straightforward nationalism. Yes, we could all be sweetening our products with cane sugar and equatorial sugar farmers could be making a great deal of money. But instead we have high tarriffs on sugar cane and subsidies for corn farmers. Why? Because the corn farmers are Americans, and the equatorial farmers are not.

ethanbond 12y ago
Which can also be phrased as "unemployed Americans farmers are burdens on American systems, unemployed equatorial farmers are not." Not that I don't think the sugar subsidies specifically are nonsense, the structural reasons that food subsidies exist is sound.
canvia 12y ago
Could it possibly have anything to do with 85% of corn being produced coming from Monsanto seeds? http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/can-we-feed-our-world-without-monsanto http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/can-we-feed-our-world-without-mon... They do spend millions of dollars lobbying the government every year. https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000000055 https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D00000005... Soy seems to be in a similar situation to corn.