Politicians in Washington are divided over farm subsidies as they try to develop a new five-year Farm Bill, with a group from the Southern states defending peanut and rice subsidies and another group from the Midwestern States defending corn and soybean interests.
When I was in Louisianna doing some volunteering for disaster response, I watched rice being seeded by aircraft and wondered about the industry. A Google search turned up the fact that USDA subsidies to rice farmers in Louisianna alone amounted to more than $4 billion the previous year.
Much of that rice is exported. Makes it kind of tough on the peasants in Third World countries tending their rice paddies.
We do need a new World Trade Agreement, but the U.S. is not interested. Instead it uses its clout to negotiate bilateral deals, picking cherries one by one, neglecting the needy.
