Am I allowed to speak?

[dldixon]

Yes, we do pay farmers not to farm. Remember welfare cheese and powdered milk? instead of storing the crops it was much easier and cheaper to pay not to grow to secure a fair price for the farmers crops. It's helped big ag and small farmers. Throwing away half, probably true, since alot of it would rot before being sold. If we rely on the free market, big ag could just glut the market and the small guy would disappear. Maybe it's time to rethink how to distribute the excess without short changing the small farmer.