|
SE Arkansas | In the beginning, most of the US population lived on the farm. So they were the strongest voting block and politicians reacted to their needs. Over time, with technological changes, more and more farm labor moved to cities and took up manufacturing jobs. So one might ask, with only 3 percent of the US population still on the farm, why do farmers have so much political clout. I have seen this statement on Agtalk many times: "A hungry mob is an angry mob". Shortages of food stuffs and/or high food inflation is a sure way for a politician to get sent home. But there is lot more to it than just politics. For centuries, farming has been the only industry that fit the definition of "pure economics". We have another industry now that fits that definition and its Oil and Gas Fracturing. Under pure economics, no competitor has enough market share to influence the selling price. Also, No competitor is large enough to influence the cost of inputs. And to add insult to injury, a group of Oligopolies control the input side of US farming. So without government support or some type of price stabilization, every competitor could get wiped out in one year. Then, in the following year, there would be commodity shortages leading to shortages in stores of finished protein products and sky high prices. When I was a kid 40 years ago, the government paid you to lay out 25 percent of your land. This kept supply somewhat limited and prices were adequate for farmers to be profitable. With the growing world population, this scheme was dropped and a price floor was put in instead. This has worked fairly well, but profit margins have fallen significantly since I was young. Most farmers have gone out of business since the 1960s and the farms have gotten larger and larger with tighter an tighter profit margins. Most of the farmers on this site "risk it all" every year with multi-million dollar loans to harvest a very large crop with a very small profit margin. Without government support, the banks would not make these loans and you would have to pay $20 for a 3 pound broiler in the grocery store. | |
|
When did the American Farmer become an entitled "welfare mom"?
