Farm Bill

[widefat]

Taking a chance by posting this here instead of the politics forum, but I am hoping it stays civil.
For those of you that earn your living by farming, what do you think of the failure of the farm bill?
Was the bill a bad bill for farms? What next?


PS - I dont earn my living by farming. Just want to know who I should get mad and yell at.

 

[smstonypoint]

Taking a chance by posting this here instead of the politics forum, but I am hoping it stays civil.
For those of you that earn your living by farming, what do you think of the failure of the farm bill?
Was the bill a bad bill for farms? What next?


PS - I dont earn my living by farming. Just want to know who I should get mad and yell at.

Good luck with that.


Steve

 

[M5farms]

its a crutch IMO . I am not a big time farmer but I do enough that the ASCS office continuously sends me info on this program or that program and its as simple as filling out the forms. Im against welfare in any fashion. The farmer is the only ones that pay retail for everything and sells at wholesale prices. I wish there was a way for the country to survive without it but people would not or could not pay the prices that the goods would require to be free of this program. the vast majority of it is SNAP which i think should be scraped also.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I never thought about the farmer paying retail. Yes, I guess that's true. I just wouldn't know if in any given situation there might be other financial advantages for a farmer.

 

[M5farms]

I never thought about the farmer paying retail. Yes, I guess that's true. I just wouldn't know if in any given situation there might be other financial advantages for a farmer.

the cost of doing business is enormous. the farmer does pay retail for everything even when factoring in discounts for bulk its still a retail price point. the price of the commodities has remained relatively unchanged over the last 30 years but look at equipment prices ,fuel price and seed prices , They have increased nearly 10 fold. That why more and more acreage is required and you have to lower inputs with no till and herbicides because the population has increased so the demand for food has increased and this has to be done with fewer farmers because of cost, I AM NOT A PROPONENT of the farm bill I think the farmers should get paid for the commodity they produce what its worth in relative dollars the inflation but then again no one wants to pay 10 bucks for a loaf of bread or 30 bucks for a pound of burger. Every other business in agriculture has profited from the increase of goods and materials except the farmer. I understand why some feel the need to take the money. Personally I can't because WELFARE IS WELFARE and I would works 20hrs a day flipping burgers than to depend on anyone else to take care of my family.

 

[bigtiller]

Here is a pie chart for programs in the farm bill.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2014/01/chart_1.png

 

[Industrial Toys]

I run a small business for thirty years or so. I become very agitated when I cannot purchase almost everything at some wholesale level. It denies me the opportunity to MAKE MONEY!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Taking a chance by posting this here instead of the politics forum, but I am hoping it stays civil.
For those of you that earn your living by farming, what do you think of the failure of the farm bill?
Was the bill a bad bill for farms? What next?


PS - I dont earn my living by farming. Just want to know who I should get mad and yell at.

Oh Snap! Farm bill, what a misnomer.

 

[Groo]

The thing is if we don't suport farmers, what will happen? US unsubsidised farmers will have to compete with forign farmers that recieve subsidies. Do we then slap on tarrifs? NAFTA makes that dificult to hit the canadian and mexican farmers. We would probably end up having less farm capoacity, then when things go bad in the future, we are more sensative to price hike due to constricted suply.

I am not sure what to do about it. One thing is that the farm bill should just be about farming and not SNAP.

 

[MickeyDBC]

Snap is an indirect farm subsidy - it pays people to buy farm products vs. the old way of the government buying up the overproduction (remember the government cheese?) and then sitting on it until it spoiled. Snap indirectly supports crop and meat prices. Over 60% of SNAP benefits go to those 17 and under (kids) and 60 and older. A fair number of the others are disabled vets, the handicapped, and people on short term assistance from a job loss. Sure there is fraud and freeloaders, but it is better than starving kids and old people in the streets.