Editor,
This letter is in response to the numerous articles concerning the U.S. Farm Bill.
The bill currently being considered by Congress is a multi-billion dollar farm-subsidy bill renewed every five years.
It is a continuation of the 2002 farm bill. The bill first became law in 1933 as a means of preventing farmers from taking a loss on their annual production of crops, including corn, wheat, cotton, rice and soy beans.
The government paid farmers the difference between what they sold and what it cost to produce. At the time, it was a brilliant means of priming the pump so that farmers could be temporarily shielded from the effects of the Great Depression.
Today's farm bill is a clear example of a government program being continued way beyond its original intention. Essentially, the government now pays farmers to underproduce crops in order to charge higher prices.
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Adding to the controversy is the fact that two-thirds of the subsidy go to the top 10 percent of
farmers.
As with most government programs, bureaucratic self-perpetuation has allowed for this subsidy to become corrupted. Not surprisingly, the government has it
backwards.
Why not let the farmers produce as much crops as possible, sell what they can on the world market and give their surplus to the poor?
Whatever they don't sell, the government should pay them for their surplus and distribute it among those in poverty.
In a world facing a food crisis never before seen in the history of humankind, we should never halt the production of food under any circumstances.
Joe Bialek
Daily Lobo reader
