Ask a farmer

Q: Who benefits most from farm subsidies?
Ken Storm
Longmont, Colo.

A: To answer this question I believe we need to look at the original intent of modern farm policy. The goal of our country’s modern farm policy is for domestic agriculture to produce an ample supply of safe food at a reasonable price.

Making a list of who benefits most from agriculture subsidies is certainly a subject that could cause quite a debate. I think the government benefits most from farm subsides. It is Civics 101; any form of government will soon dissolve if too many of the people living under that government are hungry. Let us not forget farm subsidies are taxable!

My second beneficiary is the consumer. We have a cheap food policy in this country and the U.S. consumer spends less of his or her income on food compared to any other country in the world. Third place goes to rural America. Farmers are big spenders. When farmers do have money, it tends to be spent up and down main street in small towns all over the United States.

Finally, the farmer comes in at a distant fourth.

Kent Peppler
Platteville, Colo.