briandmyers said that New Zealand is getting by without subsidies. Why assume there will be disastrous booms and busts? Legislation won't prevent drought; farmers already have incentive to take precautions against irregularities. You recognize that any legal remedy will lead to unwanted side effects. Waste is bad, it costs resources. But fighting waste also costs resources. Why not let the people closest to the problem, the ones who have something to gain or lose, make their own decisions about how to deal with these challenges? Why assume that Washington can do it better? Yeah. I trust you won't be surprised when the people you perceive as incapable of making good food decisions discover that cheap frozen peas are a good substitute for pickup truck ballast and beer cooler ice packs. So much for opposing waste. Maybe we could allow the market to continue to make all kinds of food, including fruits and vegetables, ever more convenient and affordable:The question is can we envision what the state of farming would look like were subsidies and fertilizer regulations eliminated?
Maybe we could offer tax credits for people buying vegetables.
For commonly consumed fresh fruits and vegetables for which quality has remained fairly constant, analysis of price trends reveals a price decline similar to that of dessert and snack foods.
Specifically, from 1980-2006, inflation-adjusted prices of chocolate chip cookies, cola, ice cream, and potato chips fell by an average of 0.5-1.7 percent each year. During the same period, inflation-adjusted prices of Red Delicious apples, bananas, Iceberg lettuce, and dry beans fell by an average of 0.8-1.6 percent each year.