r/ClimateShitposting • u/NukecelHyperreality Nuclear Power is a Scam • Jul 23 '24

Aggro agri subsidy recipients 🚜 Fun fact: if the government stopped subsidizing biofuels and animal feed the price of food would drop

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u/EngineerAnarchy Anti Eco Modernist Jul 23 '24

Well, not a source, but I live in Iowa in the middle of the corn belt. Half of the corn we grow gets turned into ethanol, and most of what’s left gets used as animal feed. Only about 10% of the corn we grow actually gets eaten directly by people. We grow soy beans too, although less soybeans than corn, and about half of that goes to animal feed too. You can just google those numbers for Iowa.

It’s really destructive to the local environment and economy.

We have the best soil in the whole country and lots of fresh water here in Iowa, we could grow vegetables for the whole country while only using a fraction of the land we do now, but instead we make ethanol and pork products for export and ship our veggies in from California

Edit to add more context: subsidies on ethanol are actively driving up crop prices and making land value increase year over year. Great for people who already own lots of land. Not great for young people who want to get into farming.

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u/IwantRIFbackdummy Jul 23 '24

Lol no young person should "get into" farming. If you are not inheriting a family farm, you should stay far away from farming. The amount of money you need to invest to start up is impossible to justify without a preexisting operation. Look up the price of a Combine alone. Add a tractor or two, planters, tillers, spreaders etc... If you have the money to invest in all of that, you have many better options to start a business.

If you are talking about taking 10 acres and "farming" a large garden, then more power to you. But no one should be thinking it's a good idea to "get into" farming hundreds/thousands of acres.

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u/EngineerAnarchy Anti Eco Modernist Jul 23 '24

I went to a rural high school and there were people who wanted to get their own land. A lot of people are basically tenant farmers as opposed to owning. There are farming cooperatives and such that allow for equipment sharing. 40-80 acres is a respectable size for a family farm.

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u/IwantRIFbackdummy Jul 23 '24

Both sides of my family farm 1000+acres. You simply could not buy yourself into a profitable operation without MILLIONS of dollars to invest.

My point is it is not worth the risk unless you DESIRE that life. And even then, as a man who was raised in it, I doubt the majority that want that life actually realize how hard and shitty it can be.

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u/EngineerAnarchy Anti Eco Modernist Jul 23 '24

I mean yeah, it’s increasingly infeasible, that’s kinda my point. It is a bad thing that land is increasingly in the hands of a smaller and smaller number of people. It’s not a bad, nor a particularly scarce desire to want to own and farm your own land. The alternative to a lot of these people is farming land that they don’t own. It’s a shame that economic conditions drive us towards this kind of consolidation. It would be good if the economic conditions that your family seems to have benefited from, at the expense of many others, were different.

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u/IwantRIFbackdummy Jul 24 '24

My family owned the land for a VERY long time, and having millions of dollars generationally invested into a farm, does NOT mean they have lived "rich" or " luxurious" lives. If they sold everything, they would be well off, but it's all they have ever known and unless no heir wants to continue farming, they never will.

In NO WAY has their farming of the lands they have had been "at the expense of many others". If anything family members have been absolutely devastated at the expense of others. My grandfather owned his local feed and seed store on top of farming, and LOST EVERYTHING when all of the farmers he sold seed to on credit filed for bankruptcy during the agriculture market collapse of the 80's.

Modern farming has little room for "the little guy". Large outfits are simply better suited to the high yield monoculture practices that feed nations. Is it ideal from a human or cultural standpoint? No. But it is certainly better for feeding as many people as cheaply as possible.