Farm Subsidies and You Health
Libertarians love pointing out unintended consequences. Earlier this month, I found an unintended solution. Ending a government program would not only solve a root problem, but it would actually solve a problem that seems to be unrelated. The government program I am talking about is farm subsidies.
In an attempt to save the family farmer, the federal government gives $25 billions a year to farmers to grow their crop, water and feed their crop, or to not grow anything. Yes, you can get money to do something, or to not do something. The farm lobbies have long argued that the nation’s food supply is just so important that without subsidies, the entire nation’s food supply would be in jeopardy and the family farm would be out of business.
Most of the food in our food supply is not subsidized, yet you never see of a shortage of apples, eggs, or chicken. New Zealand got rid of farm subsidies in the 1980’s, and they actually have seen an increase in food production
Most of the beneficiaries of farm subsidies are not family farmers, but rather large agribusinesses like ADM and Cargill. Other rich people to have received government handout include ABC news correspondent Sam Donaldson, media mogul and multi-billionaire Ted Turner, and disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay. Subsidies are paid per acre, so the big and most profitable players in farming get the biggest handouts.
But as far as the unintended solution to ending government farm subsidies, the prices of many fruits, vegetables, and poultry would be even with that of fattening meats like beef.
One day when I was in a McDonald’s, I noticed that the price of a double cheese burger was $1 (440 calories, 23 grams of fat as per McDonalds’ website). Then I saw the price of a fruit and walnut salad, $2.99 (210 calories, 1.5 grams of fat). The fruit requires no cooking, no animals to raise, no slaughtering, less risk of food borne illness, yet 3 double cheeseburgers costs as much as one fruit salad. This pricing makes no sense, except beef is so heavily subsidized that its price is much lower than healthier alternatives. This encourages people (especially those with low or fixed incomes, and students) to eat fattier foods, which makes for an even more obese nation.
Many people talk about how farm subsidies are not needed and actually harmful to farming, nobody ever seems to see how it will effect our nations health. If we ended farm subsidies, the government would encourage people to eat better. And this can be done without spending a single dime.
In an attempt to save the family farmer, the federal government gives $25 billions a year to farmers to grow their crop, water and feed their crop, or to not grow anything. Yes, you can get money to do something, or to not do something. The farm lobbies have long argued that the nation’s food supply is just so important that without subsidies, the entire nation’s food supply would be in jeopardy and the family farm would be out of business.
Most of the food in our food supply is not subsidized, yet you never see of a shortage of apples, eggs, or chicken. New Zealand got rid of farm subsidies in the 1980’s, and they actually have seen an increase in food production
Most of the beneficiaries of farm subsidies are not family farmers, but rather large agribusinesses like ADM and Cargill. Other rich people to have received government handout include ABC news correspondent Sam Donaldson, media mogul and multi-billionaire Ted Turner, and disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay. Subsidies are paid per acre, so the big and most profitable players in farming get the biggest handouts.
But as far as the unintended solution to ending government farm subsidies, the prices of many fruits, vegetables, and poultry would be even with that of fattening meats like beef.
One day when I was in a McDonald’s, I noticed that the price of a double cheese burger was $1 (440 calories, 23 grams of fat as per McDonalds’ website). Then I saw the price of a fruit and walnut salad, $2.99 (210 calories, 1.5 grams of fat). The fruit requires no cooking, no animals to raise, no slaughtering, less risk of food borne illness, yet 3 double cheeseburgers costs as much as one fruit salad. This pricing makes no sense, except beef is so heavily subsidized that its price is much lower than healthier alternatives. This encourages people (especially those with low or fixed incomes, and students) to eat fattier foods, which makes for an even more obese nation.
Many people talk about how farm subsidies are not needed and actually harmful to farming, nobody ever seems to see how it will effect our nations health. If we ended farm subsidies, the government would encourage people to eat better. And this can be done without spending a single dime.
posted by CincinnatiLibertarian at 11:57 AM
1 Comments:
ugh
I have one of those small family farms.
The amount of the subsidies and when they kick in is about as useless as the $250 "death benefit" your family gets when you die.
But, regarding McDonalds - do they even serve American beef ?
Post a Comment
<< Home