(1) Position Statement topic: Agriculture

(2) My position is that the government should reduce or eliminate US farm subsidies.

(3) Economic arguments against my position:

1. Subsidized farming helps to stabilize the farming infrastructure
2. Agricultural products are highly vulnerable to weather conditions.
3. Other countries subsidize their farming products.
4. Farmers in the European Union receive about 100 billion dollars in subsidies annually (Piccinini & Margaret, pp 59).
5. Japan protects its farmers using nationalist tariffs and subsidies.
6. Subsidies would cushion the families from poor harvests
7. The government would spend much more in relief food to help farmers

(4) Economic arguments in support of my position:

1. Subsidies are against free trade values.
2. Subsidies are a violation of the international agreements that the US has signed.
3. Subsidies are a huge burden to the tax payers in America.
4. The US spends more than 44 million dollars on farm subsidies every year (Schnepf & Jasper, pp 84).
5. Government subsidies increase the poverty levels in the country.
6. The subsidized farm products are sold at a price that is not commensurate with the cost of production.
7. Farm subsidies encourage fraud and corruption.
8. The government has paid more than 1.3 billion dollars on fraudulent farm subsidy payments since 2000 (Armbruster, pp 138).

(5) Conclusion

Committing more finances to farm subsidies is not a solution to the problem of the ailing agriculture sector. In fact, the farm subsidies have less positive economic implications than the negative ones. Most of the past beneficiaries of farm subsidies do not even deserve the subsidies. Moreover, funding of farm subsidies is very expensive and inflicts huge financial burden on the American taxpayers who still end up buying the products. In addition, the farm subsidies lead to more poverty as the consumers are made to buy the products at a price not commensurate with the production cost.

Works cited

Schnepf, Randall D, and Jasper Womach. Potential Challenges to U.s. Farm Subsidies in the Wto. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2008. Print.

Armbruster, Walter J. Us Programs Affecting Food and Agricultural Marketing. Berlin: Springer, 2012. Print.

Piccinini, Antonio, and Margaret Loseby. Agricultural Policies in Europe and the USA: Farmers between Subsidies and the Market. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001. Print.

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