Government Interference Hurts Farmers
The Topeka Capital-Journal recently reported how federal regulations cause insurance to become unaffordable for Kansas farmers. This is consistent with patterns that arise from government over-reach in just about everything. It does, however, distract from the fact that the federal government was already making food production more expensive than it needed to be.
The Department of Agriculture, the FDA, and the EPA all have overlapping regulations on farmers and the food they produce. The legal operating environment this created requires farmers to insure all their crops and livestock. Just to comment as a business owner, insuring your assets just seems like a no-brainer! However, I’ve also been a struggling entrepreneur. I know there are times when entrepreneurs can afford just enough to provide a good or service and make the money they need to get by, but they can’t afford added expenses. Government is an added expense. The federal government is the biggest added expense for Kansas farmers and business across America.
Another issue that local farmers fear will raise food prices is the EPA’s recent intervention in the levels of certain pesticides. The EPA wants to arbitrarily decide exactly how much of a toxic chemical is safe to put on crops. Every time an agency steps in, sets new standards on trivial details, implements fees, and sends inspectors to farms, it makes producing food more expensive. It makes buying food more expensive for the majority of people who don’t grow their own food supply. I’m no fan of toxic chemicals and I try to eat clean fruits and vegetables all the time. But if I were elected Dictator of the US, other people’s food standards shouldn’t be up to me!
How much of a particular pesticide is used should depend solely on the farmers, the farming communities that share locally grown food, and the consumers who buy their food products. The regulations set on any product consumed by the general public should always be up to the people who make the food and the people who buy the food, of course assuming that, unlike government, the people involved don’t violate anyone else’s rights or property in the process, and if they do accidentally, they take responsibility. They’re the only ones who have any business dictating how food is grown!
An immediate solution for rising food costs in Kansas and the rest of the country is to dissolve the federal government. If this government is peacefully and responsibly dissolved in an ethical, orderly manner, then agencies like the EPA, the FDA, and the Department of Agriculture wouldn’t exist. The cost of food production would drop with all the layers of bureaucracy and red tape removed. More farmers would be able to afford farming instead of being regulated out of business. We as Americans need to step away from this illusion of authority the government has over our lives, get rid of it, and get our freedom back!
I am the author of FREEDOM!, a book endorsed (I mean banned) by the US Department of “Justice.” You can get a copy here. I’m running for Not-President in 2020 on the platform of the peaceful, orderly, and responsible dissolution of the United States federal government. You can find out more here. I am currently on my #TaxationIsTheft tour! You can find an event near you here. Whoever has the top comment on this post after 24 hours can claim a free signed copy of FREEDOM! by sending me a message with their address.
Thanx for sharing this, @adamkokesh. Upvoted 100% for you, my brother. Keep up the good work.
Government makes everything worthwhile harder to do. I submit, for your consideration, the word "organic." In 7th grade science, I was taught the word meant "carbon based" and was told pretty much every living thing on this planet is organic. Yet if I call my lettuce "organic" the government will fine me, perhaps incarcerate me. For your protection, of course... I did not get my license to use that word...
Beep! Beep! This humvee will be patrolling by and assisting new veterans, retirees, and military members here on Steem. @shadow3scalpel will help by upvoting posts from a list of members maintained by @chairborne and responding to any questions replied to this comment.
Agreed
Besides in the more agrarian economies, having smaller farmers markets, with higher prices but ultimately no regulation would build the local community up... People could trade foodstuffs outside of the US dollar for local currencies they set up, barter or with cryptos they could pick up and start using.
What's illegal about growing food and bartering it with neighbours for other foods we might want?
I grow squash but I want potatoes, somebody else grows potatoes but they want green beans, another yet wants squash but grows greens beans...
Trade-up!
Local currency or crypto can smoothe over the rough edges