But what really caught my eye were subsidies because I got into this economic research from an agricultural approach, agriculture being the foundation of our economy, and since we emerged into sedentary civilizations, the foundation of our existence. Subsidies are a complex thing to figure out – to provide federal monetary support to our farmers or not to? Coming from a farm, I say yes, please because we are not making enough to even break-even. The input costs far exceed the market price and without subsidies, the cost of food would go through the roof, denying poor people the right to….life? Not fair. On the same line, how can we treat the producers of our sustenance in such a way that denies them the ability to take a vacation from such exhausting labor? They deserve to make a buck if we are going to continue living in this deranged form of capitalism (and I’m not a ‘socialist,’ nor am I a ‘capitalist,’ rather I am a moralist that believes any system will work if we think and act in more collective ways). So, the government provides subsidies to support farmers, which is where the real problem lies: how those subsidies are allocated. They go to the largest land-holders and agribusinesses that produce cheaply, cutting corners on proper animal treatment and environmental conservation. The higher the yield, the greater the subsidy payment, leaving all those smaller more sustainable farms to suffer out of existence. What I think we need is a better system of monetary allocation, providing incentives for sustainable practices, and not encouraging growth as the sole purpose of the economy, rather an economic system that will naturally generate an equilibrium.

But what really caught my eye were subsidies because I got into this economic research from an agricultural approach, agriculture being the foundation of our economy, and since we emerged into sedentary civilizations, the foundation of our existence. Subsidies are a complex thing to figure out – to provide federal monetary support to our farmers or not to? Coming from a farm, I say yes, please because we are not making enough to even break-even. The input costs far exceed the market price and without subsidies, the cost of food would go through the roof, denying poor people the right to….life? Not fair. On the same line, how can we treat the producers of our sustenance in such a way that denies them the ability to take a vacation from such exhausting labor? They deserve to make a buck if we are going to continue living in this deranged form of capitalism (and I’m not a ‘socialist,’ nor am I a ‘capitalist,’ rather I am a moralist that believes any system will work if we think and act in more collective ways). So, the government provides subsidies to support farmers, which is where the real problem lies: how those subsidies are allocated. They go to the largest land-holders and agribusinesses that produce cheaply, cutting corners on proper animal treatment and environmental conservation. The higher the yield, the greater the subsidy payment, leaving all those smaller more sustainable farms to suffer out of existence. What I think we need is a better system of monetary allocation, providing incentives for sustainable practices, and not encouraging growth as the sole purpose of the economy, rather an economic system that will naturally generate an equilibrium.