American Agriculture Needs a Free-Market System Essay -- Argumentative

American Agriculture Needs a Free-Market SystemThe words to the famous old childrens song Old MacDonald Had a Farm atomic number 18 due for a revision. The new lines should read Old MacDonald had a farm . . . with a lawyer here, and an accountant there, and everywhere a new federal programme and regulation. Not quite as poetic, but definitely more appropriate. The current state of agribusiness consists of an incredibly complex mix of subsidies, price supports, and bureaucratic regulations that could shame the most knowledgeable business minds. Underlying this tangled web of rules and regulations are political battles that pit normally allied groups against each other, and bring normally adversarial groups into allegiance. superstar bizarre outcome of federal farm policy is that consumers and tax-payers (usually one and the same) are set at cross-purposes. In this paper, I will highlight some of the unique policies that exist today and will try to present some rational alternativ es to alleviate the nightmare that is U.S. agribusiness. E...I...E...I...Ohhhhhhh..... The United States Government and agriculture have had a running(a) relationship for most of the twentieth century. In 1916, Congress established the Federal Land Bank to provide farmers with easier access to credit. Then, during the Great Depression, many New divide programs came to the aid of the farmer (Rapp, 1988). A system of price supports and production quotas was established to ensure price stability. For the first time, farmers were being told not to grow as a lot as they could. After World War II, the government found that prices were a very difficult thing to stabilize, so it focused its attention on income supports. That is, it act to guarantee a farmer ... ... prosper, while those who are marginal will not continue to be a drain on the economy. We cannot continually sanction free trade around the world (the GATT talks) while protecting our farm industry at home. I believ e that when the government gets out of the food-growing business, farming capability will increase, consumers will benefit, and the economy will be better for it. And after the shakeout, Old MacDonalds son or daughter will have a chance for greater prosperity. References Rapp, David. How the U.S. Got Into Agriculture and Why it Cant Get Out. Washington, D.C. Congressional Quarterly, 1988. Rawlins, N. Omri. Introduction to Agribusiness. Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, 1980 Robbins, William. The American Food Scandal. New York William Morrow, 1974. Tweeten, Luther. The Economics of Small Farms, skill 219 (4 March 1983) 1037-41.