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Re:YC Research: Universal Healthcare by will_pseudonym on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @02:57PM (#13592174)
* Tariffs on sugar increase demand for corn.

* Subsidies for ethanol increases the cost of all food, including corn.

* Subsidies for corn for lots of other things[0][1] decrease the direct price of corn to consumers and food manufacturers.

As a single data point, I come from Kansas, from a family of farmers. It used to be known as the "Breadbasket of America" because of all the wheat that they grew. Its number one crop is now corn[2].

[0] https://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=corn

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy#United_St...

[2] https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Kansas/Publica...

Re:YC Research: Universal Healthcare by cma on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @08:40PM (#13594934)
That chart shows around 7 billion for corn. The text later says:

> US corn ethanol subsidies are between $5.5 billion and $7.3 billion per year.

Doesn't that mean most non-ethanol uses of corn aren't really subsidized too much?

It does also list: "Feed grains, mostly corn 2,841" (million)

Am I right that that is just $9 subsidy per citizen, and lots of it is going to feed farm animals?

The numbers are all from different years so there could have been some major changes.