dadmonson Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 (edited) "The free market has never worked in agriculture and it never will." That is what one farmer had to say about the free market's past relationships with agriculture. His name was George Naylor and he is president of the NFFC. The NFFC is an organization(according to their website) against big business, free trade, they are against GMO foods, and in favor of more gov. involvement so obviously George was biased. I was wondering though are their any concise papers, articles or books out there that argue in favor of the free market, addressing many of the statists arguments against free trade and denouncing government intervention in agriculture? What info do you know about this subject? Also has anybody here ever read The Omnivores Dillemma by Michael Pollan? Edited February 4, 2009 by dadmonson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
softwareNerd Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Read "Economics in One lesson" by Henry Hazlitt. I've recommended that book multiple times on the forum, so I apologize if the recommendation is redundant. I think it is probably the best book for a beginner to pick up and get a basic context from which to ask further questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khaight Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 "The free market has never worked in agriculture and it never will." That is what one farmer had to say about the free market's past relationships with agriculture. His name was George Naylor and he is president of the NFFC. The NFFC is an organization(according to their website) against big business, free trade, they are against GMO foods, and in favor of more gov. involvement so obviously George was biased. I was wondering though are their any concise papers, articles or books out there that argue in favor of the free market, addressing many of the statists arguments against free trade and denouncing government intervention in agriculture? You might want to take a look at FA/RM. It's a new activist organization founded by Monica Hughes, devoted to supporting freedom in agriculture. (The acronym stands for "Free Agriculture - Restore Markets".) They've only been around for a few months, but Monica in particular has been blogging up a storm over there. I'm sure she'd be glad to give you pointers to additional material. Check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zip Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 "The free market has never worked in agriculture and it never will." That is what one farmer had to say about the free market's past relationships with agriculture. His name was George Naylor and he is president of the NFFC. The NFFC is an organization(according to their website) against big business, free trade, they are against GMO foods, and in favor of more gov. involvement so obviously George was biased. I was wondering though are their any concise papers, articles or books out there that argue in favor of the free market, addressing many of the statists arguments against free trade and denouncing government intervention in agriculture? What info do you know about this subject? Also has anybody here ever read The Omnivores Dillemma by Michael Pollan? dadmonson, you might want to take a look at the actions of the Canadian Wheat Board, for an example of how bad government involvement in farming can be. Here is one example (PDF) http://www.wheatgrowers.ca/pdf/media_relea...led-farmers.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greebo Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Or ask yourself, if communal farming is so great, why did the USSR need to import so much food, and why did their very limited number of privately owned farms outproduce the state owned ones, regularly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott_Connery Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 His definition of "works" and yours might be different. He might mean free markets make it impossible for "the little guy" to be profitable using antiquated methods. It is entirely possible that this statement is true. However, that doesn't mean that consumers would find it impossible to buy food in a free market by any stretch of the imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dadmonson Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 His definition of "works" and yours might be different. He might mean free markets make it impossible for "the little guy" to be profitable using antiquated methods. I was thinking about that, that is why posted this. I was also thinking that subsidies would make agriculture more profitable during the winter months and droughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utabintarbo Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 I was thinking about that, that is why posted this. I was also thinking that subsidies would make agriculture more profitable during the winter months and droughts. At what cost? Profit by theft is a misnomer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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