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deepsunyesterday at 7:19 PM3 repliesview on HN

Every country subsidies their agriculture for national security purpose. You don't want an enemy to starve you in case of a big war.


Replies

croteyesterday at 7:33 PM

Name one country which is fully self-sustaining.

Agricultural subsidies exist primarily due to lobbying, the "we don't want to starve" argument is nothing more than an excuse used to justify the fortunes handed out to corporate-scale farmers.

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Matticus_Rexyesterday at 7:22 PM

Even if one grants this, it does not make the case that any particular set of subsidies is justified by that reasoning.

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AngryDatayesterday at 11:45 PM

It is also the only alternative to a granary system to smooth out the variability of yields each year that might not average out for anything less than 10-15 year spans.

And the granary system regularly still resulted in shortages and famine. While crop subsidization has a bullet proof record of surplus.