Are farm subsidies a form of welfare?
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answers:
Ronald 7 say: They are an important help for hard up Farmers7
They deserve it
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Fred say: Farm subsidies are generally paid in countries that struggle to be able to produce agricultural commodities as cheaply as other countries to help make it worth farmers still farming. In colder countries where freezing winters mean for several months a year animals must be kept shedded and fed harvested fodder, or grain harvesting must be done before the crop actually has time to finish drying out in the fields and must be expensively dried so it does not go mouldy in the silos adds large costs to farming compared to say Australia with a warmer climate where these things are not a problem. A country like Australia can produce Agricultural commodities cheaper than many countries, and if other countries where they cannot grow food as cheaply did not subsidise their Agriculture their agriculture would collapse. Some would say if it can be produced cheaper elsewhere then we should import the cheaper food and stop spending extra money here subsidising farmers, but that creates new problems. Firstly food is only cheap if their is no strong demand for it. As soon as you stop your own agriculture and import food the price goes up as you do not have your own agricultural products for foreigners to compete against so the importers can ask whatever they want. Increased demand for foreign food causes them to put their prices up and soon you are paying way higher prices for food than if you paid your own farmers subsidies to produce it in your own country. The other problem especially for countries like Britain is if there is a war and you have to import all your food then it is easy for the enemy to sink the ships bringing food to you as happened in WW1 and WW2 nearly starving Britain into submission. It is way better to pay subsidies as an insurance that your farmers will still be there in times of crisis such as in a war.
Do not underestimate the importance of farmers and agriculture as many city people do as without them you would be paying a lot more for your food.
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busterwasmycat say: You can look at it that way if you choose. It is a form of socialism, a contribution of the government to a targeted group of people. Sometimes, ironically, we give money to those who have tons of it already and pretend that is not a form of welfare, when it is.
Usually, the argument pretends that we are not giving money to the rich, but simply taking away less, but the part we (as government and through taxes) take is their share of the universal costs for maintaining the system of transport, communications, security, etc., so if we charge the rich less for what they receive the most, we are giving them free stuff.
And thus the argument: what is a fair price for what they get?
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Big One 0909 say: But when Farmers are producing Export goods along side of Domestic supply, and products with a finite shelf life are subject to the whims of trade agreements and other unforseeable influences, think of it more like a Safety net.
Like how we are supposed to think of Regular Welfare. A safety net, Not a Hammok.
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Bill say: Yes.
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kate say: Yes, and many wealthy farmers took advantage of this welfare.
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say: If they were, liberals would be getting them.
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