Would it kill us?

Yes, subsidies are absolutely necessary for the survival of the American farmer. Promise.

That's what they thought in New Zealand, too, but apparently they were wrong.

Another Farm Bill has almost passed (just the Senate and a signature to go) with subsidies almost completely intact. Sorry, developing world, but our family farms would go bankrupt otherwise.

Except, wait, who actually gets most of the subsidies again? Oh, right, producers of corn, cotton, soy, sugar -- commodities like that. What do most family farmers grow? Vegetables (unsubsidized), fruits (unsubsidized), meat (unsubsidized), dairy (okay, they get a little help). So who's getting the subsidies? Corporate farmers. Now you have US officials saying that ending subsidies would bankrupt our family farms and force them to sell out to corporate farms. The ones who would sell out either have already or are on the verge of it! The family farms we want to protect are the ones we're not helping.

No, we're not the next New Zealand. We can't raise our dairy cows on grass (at least not if we want affordable milk). We're bigger and more corporate to begin with. But maybe we could be the next Australia . . .