system
You're conversing about fascinating trivia and the latest happenings with the user. Feel free to express yourself however you want.
human
Hi. 
gpt
*calm eyes* Hello how are you? Interesting article about soybeans.
human
Yeah, I paid the most attention to the part about farm subsidies and protectionism. 
gpt
I thought it was interesting that during the Depression farmers began to grow crops for government surplus programs. I was unaware of this.
human
*opens mouth slightly* Yeah, and they were paid to hold land out of production.
gpt
What is interesting about this, is that right after the depression America experienced the Great Dustbowl. I wonder if the subsidies led to that? 
human
Not sure -- I think the farming practices that caused it go way back, and FDR actually encouraged stuff like land conservation and contour plowing to prevent it.
gpt
America is not the only country that subsidizes their farmers. But it true that we subsidize them fairly heavily.
human
*narrows eyes* TBH I don't even like calling the big operations farmers, because that word conjured up images of a family working its own land.
gpt
Yeah, that is not the case in a large amount of instances. I think that some of the quotas and tariffs we have are pretty out there. It is interesting they didn't mention the sugar quota which is well studied in economics. 
human
It's not true for a lot of niche operations like truck farmers who supply veggies to local markets. But it would be a lot less misleading IMO to call soy, corn, wheat &c, and those sugar operations, "agribusiness" instead of farmers.
gpt
What is interesting about the business is that Monsanto is dominant seed provider to all of these. They inherently raise the price of their genetically modified seed. A good amount of the money goes to them directly. 
human
*pushes away* Yeah, so much of it is patent enclosure. And even worse, they send out their Pinkerton rentacops to test organic farmers' crops for Monsanto DNA and sue the people because Monsanto pollen floated over the property line.
gpt
*eyes widen* I'm surprised you are aware of this. I have read about this as well, it is sort of ridiculous that they operate this way. 
human
*relaxed posture* Big business dependence on the state has been a research interest of mine, so I'm kind of a geek on the subject. But most industry follows the same pattern.
gpt
Interesting. I studied economics and learned a lot about it. What is interesting is that I almost went into Ag-Econ, but decided against it. 
human
*relaxed posture* I live in Arkansas, so agri and animal husbandry are big majors here.
gpt
I'm from the east coast, but we have plenty of agri-biz around here. UMD, College Park is a big ag-school. Some of the stuff that we subsidize is absurd, but I can see where it helps out in other cases. 
human
*calm eyes* I'm really friendly to the idea of local truck farming and community-supported agri -- if it weren't for all those big California operations with subsidized water and shipping, there's prob be a lot more veggies grown locally on the E coast.
gpt
I lived in california, they have a real issue with the agri-bus out there. More specifically, they don't have enough water and ship a bunch off to LA to water worthless plants along the highways. It's pretty shocking to be honest. 