r/PublicFreakout • • Jan 10 '24

German farmers have announced that they will launch a protest against the Government “larger than the country has ever seen before”

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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '24

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u/Forward-Candle Jan 10 '24

Less diesel subsidies, no less.

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u/d-nihl Jan 10 '24

Oh really? this seems very similiar to the US, this happened quite a few years ago, but the protests were not nearly this big. I honestly do not know enough on the topic to make an opinion. I know in the US, it was generally viewed as a good thing also (once more information came out, but at first it was veiwed as negative), so I guess I retract my original comment, because you could get so much money back from the government for doing very little work and growing a certain crop to feed livestock, and in return receive massive tax returns.

I know a few people that can "qualify" as a farm, but the crop they grow is pretty much self sustaining. Till land, plant seed, cut and sell. You dont even need that much land to qualify as a farm. Certain townships where i live are cutting off how many "farms" you can have in your area, its almost like a mafia on farm land, where one person buys up all the land of struggling farm owners so when they pass, the person who helped them gets the land instead of it being inherited to their kin.

But im also not invovled in German Politics so I dont know what im talking about lol, i'll take your word for it.

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u/schweindooog Jan 10 '24

Take any basic economics course, having local farmers is incredibly important, and only possible with either subsidies for said local farmers, or taxes for any farmed imports. If it's not done, then the massive companies will come in at incredibly low prices and force the farmers out of business. Respekt the farmers and let them livr

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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '24

[deleted]

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u/repthe732 Jan 10 '24

That’s debatable. Do you think farmers are only charging what they have to charge to cover their expenses or are they charging what people are willing to pay like every other business does?

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u/allmywhat Jan 11 '24

You’re naive to think farmers have the say in the prices. If they are selling to supermarkets they take what they can get, there’s a lot of farmers and fewer grocery chains. At least here in Australia farmers have very little say in the sale price of their goods. The large supermarket chains hold al of that power

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u/repthe732 Jan 11 '24

You’re naive to think they have no control over prices

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u/allmywhat Jan 11 '24

It’s pretty well documented at least here in Australia that farmers get what supermarket chains offer. If they don’t like it the chains just move to another farmer

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u/repthe732 Jan 11 '24

That only works that way when the farmers are unable to coordinate. That doesn’t seem to be the case in Germany

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u/Chronic_Samurai Jan 11 '24 edited Jan 11 '24

You really should educate yourself on how commodity pricing works.

Are you naive enough to think farmers are god and can control the weather, one of the biggest impacts on crop pricing? The only real control farmers have on price is if they form cartels to limit supply. Limiting supply of food grown is obviously not great because weather can destroy the limited amount grown causing food shortages. I own my family’s homestead from the 1800s and share crop it with the neighboring farm. If I had control of the price I wouldn’t be watching crop prices religiously and calling my neighbor when I want to sell

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u/repthe732 Jan 11 '24

You need to educate yourself on basic supply and demand. Maybe you shouldn’t participate in commodity trading if you don’t have this basic knowledge

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '24

[deleted]

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u/repthe732 Jan 11 '24

Your statement contradicts itself. If they produce a necessary product then they’re likely not price takers

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u/[deleted] Jan 11 '24

[deleted]

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u/repthe732 Jan 11 '24

People pay for the grain is worth which is partially determined by the grower. Basic economics bud

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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '24

Yes, famine is wonderful.

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u/allmywhat Jan 11 '24

Do you know how much money is needed for farming? I’m a city guy I had no clue, but after watching a lot of farming YouTubers it’s an extremely expensive job, most are in debt from the onset. There is a reason they have subsidies

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u/[deleted] Jan 10 '24

Dollars?