It was obvious that the the country, in many decades had been plagued with
wild whipsaw prices. Prices so wild that reasonable planning was
impossible.
The prices fluctuated in the extreme for the whole period, from the founding
of the country up until the moment, EXCEPT during periods when some kind of
a
Federal Ag policy was in effect.
The conclusion was that ANY National farm program, regardless of how poorly
thought out, or cantrary it was was to the country's hopes and best
interest,
It did have the effect of creating a drag of the whipsawing of farmgate
prices.
========================
F. W. Owen
Much of what farm programs exist today have their origins dating back to
FDR. Farm crop, milk and meat prices collapsed shortly after WW1. While
city folk didn't feel the Depression until after the 1929 Wall St. Crash,
farmers were already in trouble in the 1920's. One milk strike here in WI
prompted a National Guard call-up. Troops actually machine-gunned some
dairy farmers in one confrontation.
Those wildly fluctuating prices also created a financial climate forcing
farmers to plant fencerow to fencerow in an environmentally callous system,
which resulted in soil erosion, the most noted was the wind erosion Dust
Bowl storms. No difference today when NZ dairymen pour the N on their
over-stocked pastures, resulting in run-off in the Kiwi streams. Low
prices spur land abuse.
Apparently the proposed shift in world farm policy via WTO will be
conservation payments to farmers doing the enviro-friendly practices rather
than yield-related payments. Fine by me. But I doubt that the WTO will
force Red China to comply with any regulations. And China is the world's
worst polluter right now. According to the UN, Red China has 8 of the top
10 most polluted cities right now. Their farming practices allow for
massive nutrient and soil runoff. But then, socialist nation farming
never has had a good record. Russia practically ruined the Ukraine, the
best soils in the world.
Dave G.
