Agriculture Essay Example

The Illogic of Farm Subsidies, and Other Agricultural Truths

A.1
The effect of farm subsidies are different from consumers to producers. Farm subsidies’ role is to control the prices of agricultural products. It gave lower prices to grain products but higher in sugar and dairy products. It also gave an idea to Americans to monopolize the crops that they are planting in each state giving no variety in a certain state. Because of monopolizing the crops, cottons and sugarcanes are being ignored to cultivate in American soil, thus, Americans are importing the byproducts in other nation. Therefore, farm subsidy is helping the other developing countries to grow while some agricultural products’ price are being raised for Americans.
A.2
If the farm subsidies are being eliminated, all of the farmers might not cope with the sudden change. Some farmers will be happy because their crops will have higher price than before and some will not because their products will be lowered. Also, subsidies mean that government is paying farmers for their crops and farm products to provide lower price to consumers. Moreover, eliminating farm subsidies suggest state to be more self-sufficient meaning that the monopoly will be ended and variety of crops will be planted in one’s backyard. Therefore, it will end the import-export process from the outside nation like Africa for cotton and Brazil for sugar.

Q&A: Common Agricultural Policy

B.1
There is a crop-subsidy type in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) like sugar. At first, their sugar subsidies have higher price. However, because of the CAP reformation, imported sugars from developing countries had been cut by 36% but US have remained in high price sugar subsidy from developing countries.
B.2
The CAP is viewed differently than the US subsidies because of many little differences but in general the same. US subsidies always think the mutual beneficiaries, farmers and consumers, unlike EU because CAP’s main beneficiary is the farmers and landowners. Also, CAP’s distribution is not equal to new members and rural areas but US subsidiaries are equal in each state.

The $956 Billion Farm Bill, in One Graph

C.1
The bill will remove the 70-year-old practice of having the minimum price in dairy products and will give insurance to dairy farms. This is to sustain and protect themselves against falling milk prices. With the former subsidiary, milks are more expensive than the byproducts including cheese and butter.
C.2
The things being changed in Food Stamp program or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program are first, limiting it to some recipients like college students, illegal immigrants, lottery winners, and some federal heating program users; and second, encouraging the Food Stamp beneficiaries to find job for them to be self-reliant. Also, it limits the benefits to the old unemployed childless adults. These are done in order to focus the other funds in other areas.
C.3
Dairy products and Food Stamp are not the only field that have been change under the bill. Crop insurance has raised to $7 billion in the next ten years providing not only insurance to the loss of farmers due to crop failures and price change but also the deductibles if farmers will make direct payments to repair the damages. Also, trade has been changed a little bit to support other developing country and at the same time, introducing American crops.