USDA, investor in ideas?
Thursday, July 17th, 2008 By James Nesbitt
Two Athens-area Ohioans are attempting a new business experiment, courtesy of your tax dollars and the USDA. These two intrepid entrepreneurs are attempting to answer the question, “Can we grow our staple food and do it locally?” Well, the answer is most likely, “Yes.” The relevant question to ask in this situation is, “Should we grow our staple food and do it locally?” The answer to this question hinges on the local economy’s comparative advantage. Can the lowest opportunity cost be found in the production of staple food products? The free-market has answered that it cannot, as no private investors have invested money into the idea with the expectation of success. The only way this idea has gotten off the ground is through the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education project of the USDA, a government agency notorious for inefficient investment of tax dollars. In fact, the USDA has been paying farmers for decades not to produce, in order to keep crop prices high and “protect” farmers from low prices. This program appears to be a continuation of locking up land for unproductive uses.
