Letters to the Editor
-
No Evidence That "Free Trade" Will Result In Greater Production
How the World Works has no problem with the theory that in the long run, high prices for food commodities and a completely free trade regime would result in greater production (provided farmers don't run into absolute constraints -- such as a lack of land or water or fertilizer inputs.)
Agricultural production depends more on the weather than it does on "free trade". Global climate change is already having an impact on agriculture, and it's only gonna get worse from here on out.
Beyond that, just because there's demand for a good doesn't mean farmers are gonna produce it. There have to be paying customers, and they have to pay enough to make the good profitable to produce. With the cost of inputs like petrochemicals skyrocketing, it should come as no surprise that food's getting more expensive, and scarce as some customers begin to hoard in order to head off rising prices. Add to that the exploding global population and you have a recipe for disaster.
American consumers are also having to cope with the collapse of the dollar, which is making food far more expensive than it was just a year or two ago. Why sell your grain in the US when you can get more money for it in Europe or Asia?