Re:A container ship lost a record 1,800 containers
by eru on Tuesday December 08, 2020 @02:46AM
(#25342939)
You are right that subsidies make up 25% of farm income, but that doesn't mean that food is anything like eg 25% cheaper than without subsidies.
The exact impact depends on many details. By default, you would mostly expect food subsidies to increase the price that agricultural land fetches.
Most subsidies would only have an impact on prices, if they encourage more growing overall.
Of course, there's also subsidies and regulations for producing less food. (The EU has a lot of these, too. It's almost impossible to grow more grapes for wine.) The US has the famous corn ethanol subsidy. And some tariffs on food imports.
The exact impact depends on many details. By default, you would mostly expect food subsidies to increase the price that agricultural land fetches.
Most subsidies would only have an impact on prices, if they encourage more growing overall.
Of course, there's also subsidies and regulations for producing less food. (The EU has a lot of these, too. It's almost impossible to grow more grapes for wine.) The US has the famous corn ethanol subsidy. And some tariffs on food imports.