Reply #122: You realize the bulk of food in the US does not come from small family farms, yes?

[MajorChode]

The three companies you mentioned do not engage in farming directly to any great extent so I'm not really sure how you think mentioning them is any more relevant than your witty and well thought out retort of "Ahahahahaa(sic)".

It should come as no surprise that subsidies also flow into the largest farms when they are producing most of the food. It makes no less sense to subsidize a large farm. If a corporation or other large entity has a field that isn't making them money, they are going to abandon that field and they will do so probably quicker than a small family farmer who lives on the land. The objective of farm subsidies isn't and never has been to keep small farmers from going out of business. The objective of farm subsidies is to stabilize the market for certain food commodities that are subject to yearly swings in supply due to weather. Personally I'd rather do this than shut down that production and force the importation of such products from other countries, but apparently you'd rather use the "corporate welfare" hyperbole to demonize the practice.

I didn't say subsidies are the primary reason why the US has lower food prices. I said that was part of the reason. Most food commodities AREN'T subsidized in the US. The reason why food is more expensive in Europe and Japan is simply because they don't have the relatively cheap supply of land the US does and they import more of their food.