Kill the Farm Bill

Farm subsidies in the United States go to just a handful of crops, corn, wheat, cotton, soybeans, and rice.  Most fruits and vegetables are not subsidized, at least not directly but don’t forget opportunity cost!

David Zetland has the dirt:

In this op/ed,
a Minnesota farmer complains that he cannot increase production of
garden crops by growing them on former-program crop land because these
acres will lose their corn subsidy forever if non-program crops are
grown on the land for a year.

Why? Because national
fruit and vegetable growers based in California, Florida and Texas fear
competition from regional producers like myself. Through their control
of Congressional delegations from those states, they have been able to
virtually monopolize the country’s fresh produce markets.

…In
other words, it seems that non-program crop states have been willing to
support continued subsidies for program crop states because they are
facing less competition in return. Less competition, higher prices and
more money. Voila!