Paul Meisel

Why We Continue to Expect Exorbitant Oil Prices

It is clear that in food, the costs of processing, packaging, and distribution far outweigh basic agricultural production. (Remember the old Sam Kinison routine on starving people in the African desert? "Move where the food is!") Solving these problems is beyond the scope of alternative uses of corn..... the corn wouldn't make it to these people anyway even if farmers grew it free.

I understand your preferences for no subsidy, but government incentives to agriculture are a political fixture. I prefer that if they have to exist, they create a product of some utility rather than pay farmers not to grow.