[Griff]

If we are talking ideal situations, I'd leave that up to individual farmers. That would be assuming we had something resembling a free market in agriculture. We don't, the Department of Agriculture has a program for everything. They are a hodge podge of conflicting goals and interests. It really is tragic that in a country that supposedly appreciates individualism virtually every farmer of any consequence is cashing federal checks. Any extra grain we are producing is subsidized grain. Like Jag keeps saying, first world subsidies prevent agricultural development in the third world. A Sudanese farmer may be able to compete with an American farmer due to transportation issues but he cannot compete if the American taxpayer is part of the mix. If you want to see how two-faced we are on this issue you should check out our reaction to Canadian timber subsidies.