Missed Opportunity in Agricultural Subsidies

Dr Barnett comments on the damage created by our ag subsidies.

Our ag subsidies are destroying agriculture in Africa, scattering farm families. The myth that ag subsidies protect the “family farm” here in America is absurd beyond words. Those farms, to the extent they still exist, receive only a tiny fraction of such subsidies, the vast bulk of which go to huge farms and ag corps.

The family farms we destroy systematically are found overwhelmingly in the Gap. As the president of Ghana’s Peasant Farmers Association says, “Our family are scattering. It’s not surprising people are getting angry against the West.”

Our rice costs $240per ton. We subsidize the cost internationally down to $205. It costs $230 in Ghana to raise the same ton, but they lost out on the market shares as a result of our trade distortion. One American business consultant puts it this way:

U.S. farmers have gotten too greedy. Until there is some change in this, you’ll have a huge part of the population in poor countries trying to leave and raising hell.”

This is why the Doha round matters so much. We can Sun Tzu ‘em today, or Clausewitz ‘em years from now.

If we want to thwart the spread of Islamic Radicalism and promote peaceful economic growth then not undermining the poor throughout the world would yield a terrific return on our investment.