Comments Brad Wilson has made

Commodity Dumping and Food Crisis

This article, Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part I and Part II
Supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers, by Aimee Witteman, contains no anti dumping provisions.  That means that it offers no provisions to address the concern that market prices in the U.S. for most program commoditites have been below cost for a quarter century, 1981-2006 (see USDA ERS full cost data at: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/CostsAndReturns/testpick.htm ...).  This makes it tough for beginning farmers!  

On the question "why public policies are needed," the key issue here is that these farm commodities lack "price responsiveness" on both supply and demand sides.  

These policies also destroy rural economies world wide fostering widespread poverty, hunger and starvation, and destroying potential markets.  Now, after decades of such policies, the poor can't even afford below cost food.  

So now the price spike has caused this "food crisis" and has led to calls for a return to dumping, even though it caused the food crisis long term.

The long term impact of these policies is for more highly capitalized older farmers to survive by allowing value added (livestock) infrastructure to deteriorate.  They quit livestock and don't account for the losses in maintenance.  Lacking adequate fences and buildings, new farmers trying to use their labor (rather than old man capital) to get started  face huge start up costs.  Additionally, below cost policies for a quarter century have massively subsidized unsustainable livestock feedlots and animal factories, destroying fair markets for beginning farmers, as Aimee Witteman's own previous research at Tufts University clearly shows.  So not only exporters and processors (ie. Cargill, ADM) but also those directly competing with beginning farmers (Tyson, Smithfield) are massively (if covertly, since it's rarely mentioned in media or by progressive orgs) subsidized.

The Sustainable Agriculture has offered no policies to address my concerns, as Aimee Witteman is well aware.  Many or most U.S. sustainable agriculture and hunger groups have misguidedly endorsed pro dumping policies such as tinkering with subsidies (greening, capping).  All commodity subsidy policies are pro dumping, as the subsidies substitute for market prices in the U.S.  

The National Family Farm Coalition and its members and partners are the leaders against dumping and the ill informed or corporate dominated pro dumping groups.    They offer (as SAC and many others do not,) actual anti dumping policies as well as real solutions to the food crisis,  price floors with supply management, and on the top side, price ceilings with strategic grain reserves.  They're working for international implementation as well as in the Commodity Title.On Supporting the next generation of farmers and ranchers posted 1 year, 2 months ago 1 Response