Subsidies of crops such as corn and products such as milk
for decades has supported those large producers and landowners of agribusiness inc. by
giving them guaranteed incomes and insulation against crop losses or the low prices
associated with overproduction. This allowed them to grow much larger without fear of
overextending themselves.
At the same time, these larger
companies were then able to offer lower prices for their subsidized products than the
small family farmer, often living from harvest to harvest. As the small family farms
did not benefit as much from the subsidies that favored large agribusiness, they often
went bankrupt or were forced to sell to those same larger
companies.
So we have a stable food supply, with stable
prices for the most part, but the small farmer has been hurt in the long run and is a
dying breed.
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