SC - Re: Saffron

[Decker, Terry D.]

><< (In Australia we are told that every US 
> farmer gets about a zilliojn dollars a week to keep the prices down, and 
> our farmers are all poor 'battlers' -  >>

There is a certain amount of truth to that, but the reality is much more
complex.  First, there are the land bank subsidies, these are paid to
keep land out of production, artificially raising certain prices.  These
have their origins in the Great Depression and Dust Bowl period.

Then there are the stockpiles.  The US government purchased storable
surpluses at above market rates to keep farmers afloat when the market
was glutted and sold them at below market when shortages started raising
consumer prices.  Keynesian economics in action.

If you want to be really enlightened look at sugar and wine.  The US
sugar industry is controlled by about 3 corporations who diligently work
to keep out imports and keep sugar prices high.  The wine industry has a
different problem.  Alcohol is regulated primarily by the states, so
large winemakers like Gallo contribute a lot of money to local political
campaigns and support the winners as they gravitate toward Washington.

I don't know about the "poor 'battlers'" in Australia, but the family
farmer here is having a hard time.  To be successful, you need to be
both a farmer and a businessman and be ready to take advantage of every
tax angle.  We have had a lot of losers over the last decade.  The most
successful family farmers are actually family held corporations with
lots of resources.  The unsuccessful farmer cusses the government and
joins the Militia Movement.  The successful one spends winter on Padre
Island (a lot of Minnesota seems to follow the geese south every winter.
 Being on Interstate 35, I get to observe the migrating snow birds :-)
).  The days of making a living with 160 acres and a mule are long gone.

The big winners in the farming game are the big corporations in
industrial agriculture.  They can hire lobbyists and lawyers and two bad
years won't put them on the ropes.  They work land by the square mile.
And they are vertically integrated, own everything it takes to produce,
process and distrubute food.  This level of efficiency makes it real
hard to compete on a smaller scale.  Guess who gets the lion's share of
the subsidies?

Bear

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