Show of HandsShow of Hands

Show Of Hands February 5th, 2014 3:19pm

Should the federal government provide subsidies to American farmers to help ensure that we continue to produce much of our own food in the U.S.?

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Comments: Add Comment

gatsbyxxv
02/08/14 8:03 am

Subsidies are important but unfortunately they go to the corporate farmers who don't need subsidies and the small farmers are left on the short end.

POPCANA
02/07/14 9:28 pm

Surprised by the results. Guess people don't mind the politicians bribing the general public with their tax dollars.

alohabob
02/07/14 7:45 pm

A misleading question for sure. That may have been what subsidies were for in the beginning, now they are used by large agricultural firms to make more money.

Obamaican
02/07/14 4:11 pm

Just take a trip along the 17 freeway you will see nothing in the fields, why because its snowing and its cold. South America is the best place to grow crops why because its warm and sunny right now.

mark1
02/08/14 4:17 am

It's SUMMER there right now.

mark1
02/08/14 6:36 am

Where's the 17 freeway?

Obamaican
02/07/14 2:42 pm

No...and heres why. The United States is the worst place to grow crops year round. Most farm land is used for only a couple months out of the year and then is left vacant the rest. That farm land can be used for housing people, producing electricty.

mark1
02/07/14 3:52 pm

Aw c'mon, worse than where? All across the southern half most farmers raise two crops yearly with little layover.

ladyniner81 extremists are a cancer
02/07/14 12:17 pm

this is for small farmers like my cousin right? (sorry for the strong language so Christians close yer eyes lol) fuck the big business farms

mark1
02/07/14 3:54 pm

If your cousin can't make it on his own he should be doing something else. I just love farmers complaining that not enough people are willing to buy their products so the government should steal money from people and give it to them.

commonman1 Peace
02/07/14 8:12 am

What a stupid ideal. We pay the government to pay the farmer. Why don't we just pay the farmer.

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commonman1 Peace
02/07/14 8:13 am

Because government will take care of us.

GoNiners
02/06/14 11:26 pm

It's simple, charge the same amount for our natural resources that the Middle East charges for their natural resources and you will solve more than just this one problem.

wilgeno Saint Paul, MN
02/06/14 7:02 pm

Most of the Farm Bill is food stamps. Just say'n

schristo
02/06/14 6:15 pm

If you get a farmer to talk to you about it honestly , I bet that most of them will tell you that they are quite able to figure what and how much to grow without any money in their back pocket from Uncle Sugar Daddy. Special interests at work. Shock

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Sundance State of Confusion
02/06/14 11:38 am

Read the news and the bill:

Waste, Fraud and Abuse!

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CAModerate California
02/06/14 9:47 am

We need to eliminate the corporate farms (Monsanto) and reinvest in the family owned farms.

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wilgeno Saint Paul, MN
02/06/14 7:03 pm

Agreed. I wish that was the only pork in the farm bill. ,

Ebola1 Florida
02/06/14 7:40 am

Most of our produce isn't produced here now. We subsidize not to produce.

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Gunfighter
02/06/14 7:49 am

False. Go to a grocery store and look at the tags. I guarantee that 11 months out of the year, all of the non-exotic stuff will say "USA/EU" on the sticker. I worked in a produce department for two years and I rarely stocked imported stuff.

Gunfighter
02/06/14 7:50 am

Except for bananas, of course. But that's because bananas don't grow anywhere in the CONUS.

getupbaby South City
02/06/14 8:55 am

I work produce and we only get our berries and apples here. We get some things from really weird places. Green peppers from Canada??!

Ebola1 Florida
02/06/14 10:05 am

Grapes, Chile.

nickanator48 wisconsin
02/06/14 3:18 pm

They do pay farmers not to produce but that's to keep prices low. The food still comes from here though.

mark1
02/06/14 7:20 pm

Taking money out of one pocket, using 87% for administration costs, and subsidizing farmers with the other 13% to keep prices low so you get back maybe a penny on the dollar works to someone's benefit but not the consumer.

sdbrev210 The Pursuit of Happiness
02/06/14 6:17 am

Unfortunately, too much of the farm subsidies go to NOT growing or destroying crops, which is immoral when citizens are going hungry.

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Destructor ohio
02/06/14 5:01 am

I doubt the farmers would accept

debob texas
02/06/14 10:42 am

Are you kidding me? That's why the pols do it - to satisfy constituency.

ohm62
02/06/14 4:46 am

Subsiding industrial farming, aeronautics, etc, one one hand, and criticizing European countries to for more of the same on the other... Governmental overreach meets hypocrisy! This has to stop.

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CudOfCow Oregon
02/06/14 1:31 am

Well....it gives "too big to fail" a new meaning.....

Drathic Over Yonder
02/05/14 11:17 pm

This question is actually just a big rhetorical question because we have so much irritable land that, should we need it, we can feed ourselves without help from any nation or subsidy.

Drathic Over Yonder
02/05/14 11:18 pm

*irrigable... Silly autocorrect

debob texas
02/05/14 10:52 pm

We own a business. It's sink or swim for us. Any subsidies are just vote buying. Usually by libs, but I'll bet more conservatives support this. I don't know that for a fact though.

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Drathic Over Yonder
02/05/14 11:16 pm

They both do. Vote libertarian.

MericaRules
02/05/14 10:37 pm

Subsidies should not go to any private business. I mean after all the government is the role model of how NOT to run a company. Every company should be on a level playing field. No picking favorites.

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Gunfighter
02/05/14 9:25 pm

The reality of the situation is that family farms are almost extinct. Farm subsidies go straight to Cargill and Monsanto, not Farmer Bob. Geez, do your research, people!

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gramps
02/05/14 9:19 pm

Mom, that's sad but true.

gramps
02/05/14 9:20 pm

This should go below smileymom.

bnnt Los Angeles
02/05/14 8:24 pm

No, the government should not subsidize anything.

It manipulates markets, promotes inefficiencies, and restricts innovation.

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okiedokie
02/05/14 8:48 pm

We are not subsidizing the small farmer. We are actually giving most of the money to large conglomerates that don't need tax payer subsidizes.

gramps
02/05/14 9:17 pm

@okie, exactly why I said no!

coachgeorge95 Texas
02/05/14 8:19 pm

NOT to factory farms. Family farms, yes, certainly they should!

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galvduck Galveston Island
02/05/14 8:05 pm

Libertarians, please explain....

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dmc
02/05/14 9:31 pm

During the budget talks in Sept. There were claims made that milk would go to $6 per gallon if the subsidies were cut. In fact you are paying it now. Most of it in taxes to the govt that takes a cut and gives money to the farmers. Cut the middleman

dmc
02/05/14 9:32 pm

let the farmers raise their prices to what the market will bear.

Drathic Over Yonder
02/05/14 11:21 pm

I should ask non-libertarians to explain. I already know what the democrats would say, but republicans just look like hypocrites here.

TravisTeach Texas
02/05/14 7:57 pm

Subsidies to smaller farmers because for small farmers without them they can't get loans that allow them to go forward. I would like the govt to diversify the crops subsidize to make healthier foods cheaper. Right now the most goes to corn and soy.

ken08106
02/05/14 7:46 pm

This poll is a result of linguistic persuasion. Written in such a way that it sounds nice so people votes yes. stated differently: "do you approve of the fed govt using tax dollars to give handout subsidies to farmers that raise costs to consumers?"

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BamaGirl ROLL TIDE from Texas
02/05/14 7:25 pm

Large corporate farmer=no
Smaller family farms=maybe

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BamaGirl ROLL TIDE from Texas
02/05/14 7:26 pm

We should DEFINITELY stop playing people to NOT grow crops on farm land.

BamaGirl ROLL TIDE from Texas
02/05/14 7:29 pm

We also should not subsidize GMO crops. For those who don't know, GMO crops are not simply hybrids. They actually contain pesticides, like Roundup, in the seeds. Which means the pesticides are not just on top of the produce, but inside the produce.

Attikai Oregon
02/05/14 7:24 pm

The subsidies mostly go to a relatively small number of megafarms. It's another form of welfare for the rich.

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rcgrant south carolina
02/05/14 7:14 pm

not that subsidies are the answer but something needsbto be done to get farmers back to farming

vbranger Hillary for Prison
02/05/14 7:04 pm

How about reduce taxes on farmers and eliminate certain laws instead of providing subsidies.

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isusd5
02/05/14 7:48 pm

Like the inheritance tax...

discer middle of life
02/05/14 6:40 pm

farmers make a lot more money than most of us.

comtboy
02/05/14 6:41 pm

Seriously?

10istxfm Pennsylvania
02/05/14 8:00 pm

Really? My husband is a farmer. I have to disagree with you.

iTeach Mos Eisley
02/05/14 6:16 pm

To actually grow food, sure. To not grow something, no.

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scottstots Georgia
02/05/14 6:11 pm

At least there's one type of socialism that most everyone can agree on

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Joed
02/05/14 6:01 pm

Just more corporate welfare going to the very people (corporations) who decry "entitlements" and falsely proclaim the virtues of free market capitalism.

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Injectable Trump Killed Babbitt
02/05/14 6:35 pm

This. Small farmers don't really benefit. Just more corporate entitlement.

Attikai Oregon
02/05/14 7:29 pm

Exactly.

Joed
02/05/14 6:00 pm

If we were only preserving family farms perhaps I could agree but most of the billions go to giant agribusinesses.

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SmileyMoM Lab Rat Vampire
02/05/14 6:28 pm

The family farm is history.

Joed
02/05/14 5:59 pm

If we had the same policy in the 1800's we would still be guaranteeing the price of horse shoes and every town would have multiple blacksmiths.

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kjs Minnesota
02/05/14 5:33 pm

Well the government bailed out the car companies, the banks and AIG. Farmers deserve help too. They feed us.

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jake1003
02/05/14 5:40 pm

Where did that come frim lol

mark1
02/05/14 5:10 pm

NO! The fed's intervention raises the prices of food, harming the poorest most. It keeps out perfectly good foodstuffs from elsewhere. Take Cuban sugar for instance. It raises the price of corn and then buys the stuff to make ethanol...

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mark1
02/05/14 5:12 pm

...which takes more oil to produce than it replaces thereby raising the price of oil and corn, thereby raising the price of most other foods, particularly meats, milk, and eggs.

mark1
02/05/14 5:14 pm

Old MacDonald has become a welfare queen and in case you haven't noticed, we don't need no more.

Diknak Ohio
02/05/14 4:29 pm

what an incredibly biased question. you should have left out the bit about Chiba because that isn't the result if they are removed.

Diknak Ohio
02/05/14 4:30 pm

lol, not about China, but about food not being produced here. we would still produce food here, but prices might go up

MrsSimmons2u Ohio
02/05/14 4:05 pm

How come in just about every poll on here, the folks in Arizona vote differently than the rest of the country? Lol...what is that all about?

dflem Arizona
02/05/14 4:58 pm

That's not arizona....Arizona is blue...maybe we should pour more subsidies into education...

MrsSimmons2u Ohio
02/05/14 7:10 pm

I know where Arizona is and on my map it's showing as red. I think the money would be better spent renaming this app to "Show of A$$holes" in honor of people like you.

theNobamist Silicon Valley
02/05/14 3:27 pm

But also: why sd we pay farmers to burn or let the food go bad to limit supply and elevate prices?

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theNobamist Silicon Valley
02/05/14 3:27 pm

Subsidies are probably cheaper than the cost of inspecting (haha) and health costs of the ick and sick of imported food. (think: Chinese dog food poisons).

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kut17
02/05/14 3:26 pm

I'm all for free trade but food is one issue I'm kind of iffy on. I really don't want to be eating things grown in China with sub-standard practices.

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think4yourself Not a safe space
02/05/14 6:48 pm

True but the government pays farmers not to grow food in many cases so a free market would increase food production here in the USA.

kut17
02/05/14 8:22 pm

Why on earth would they do that? Oh, because it's the government. Seriously though, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

ldsmom02
02/05/14 3:20 pm

This one is hard. On one had, why should they be subsidized? On the other, they need to make a living because they are doing a very important service for our country.

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Diknak Ohio
02/05/14 4:27 pm

if they are so important then there is demand for the product. if there is demand for the product, they don't need government assistance.

magnum
02/05/14 3:16 pm

No more corn subsidies!!! The average farmer cannot even feed themselves a unite because they grow shit corn for high fructose corn sryup