canndo
Well-Known Member
of course they will, through competition.
if i grow 50 billion bushels of corn and sell it all at the market rate, that will drive corn cost to the floor, which doesnt bother me, i got 50,000,000 bushels to sell. i'm good, even if the per bushel profit for my crop is a penny.
other farmers however will get BONED as the bottom falls out of the market, and i guarantee nest year they wont be growing corn, they will grow turnips or beets, or carrots instead.
so next harvest comes along, and i grew 50 billion bushels of barley instead, dropping the bottom out of the barley market, so now theres a corn shortage and the price of corn skyrockets.
next harvest, everybody grorws corn because the price is high, and once again the bottom drops out of the market from another corn glut.
THAT is what the subsidy/allotment programs are designed to prevent.
until the rise of the agricultural conglomerates, it worked well, but unfortunately the Ag Conglomerates have teams of accountants and lawyers studying every angle so they can game the system and squeeze bonus profits out of the subsidies, while dodging the allotments.
when the system is working properly, subsidies guarantee a decent price for your crop, ensuring adequate production, and allotments guard against over-production, preventing gluts. "Farmers" didnt break the system, and blaming "Their crooked friends in washington" is ridiculous. the small farmer has almost no support on capitol hill, and ZERO lobbying power.
the villains are crooked politicians taking bribes from giant ag conglomerates, which will abandon agriculture in droves if the subsidies are reformed to protect the system from their abuses.
some of the studies have been continuing for decades.
GMO's are not widgets which, once designed, are finished. they are alwyas looking for a new angle, better methods, and new advantages.
then seek out Non-GMO products. it's not that hard to find. when there is a demand for it, somebody will produce it.
i actually LIKE non-GMO products. it is the one area where the little guy can turn a profit. unfortunately much of the "Non-GMO" crops are coming from CHINA now, which of course means it may be "Non-GMO" or it may not, it may be grown "Organically" or it may be full of lead and strontium.
if you think china has a good track record for truthful labeling you havent been paying attention.
?????????????????????????
GMO crops do not "induce more pesticides" they are designed to REDUCE pesticide use, not increase it.
if you mean Roundup Resistance, that also does not "Induce" more use of herbicides, it simply ALLOWS herbicides to be used, which in some cases is essential.
if your feilds are invaded by weeds, your costs for fertilizer, water and harvest go up.
using herbicides to kill unwanted weeds helps control costs, and give bigger harvest, but if you dont have a weed problem you DONT HAVE TO SPRAY.
you keep saying GMO crops NEED more pesticides and herbicides a but that is entirely false.
pesticides and herbicides arent cheap. having roundup-resistant crops does not REQUIRE the use of roundup.
if it is not needed, it is not used.
You are presuming that the production of wheat and soy are run by a free market, they are not. They are heavily subsidized, beyond the fact that hugh tracts of land do not have the facilities to manage any other crop but what has been growing. You have 10,000 acres, so does each of your neighbors. You have a million dollars of equipment designed to process corn and you have a single point of delivery that is close by, that deals in corn only. Now you figure you don't like the over production of corn so you grow turnips. And then you are going to have to find an entire distribution system geard for turnips, you are going to have to change up your machinery and you will have to truck your turnips to the nearest facility that is capable of storing, transporting and selling turnips - maybe that place is 300 miles away - could be because you have corn growing in every direction for a hundred miles.
Your crop is resistent to a particular herbicide. So you don't need to spray that herbicide much (and most indusrial farmers spray on a schedule and not according to need). the next year the weeds are a little bit more resistant to that herbicide - you can't use anything but glyhposate because that is the only thing your cash crop is resistant to, so you spray more. Next year your weeds are even more resistant, so you spray more, and on it goes -
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019418644_pesticides13m.html