dee, you can call farm subsidies welfare if you like. but it just shows how little you know about farming, world markets, and the economy. you likened farming to trucking. that's fine. when the cost of trucking goes up so do fees. but with farming your costs go up but you have no control over the price of your product. do you know why? because every country that isn't still farming with goat power [probably you kind of farming] pays subsidies. all of europe, north america, japan, australia, most any place that is an exporter in fact. so this means that here the price may or may not cover costs but you will be undersold without price controls/import taxes. why do all those countries pay subsidies? mostly they remember when people were hungry, like france after ww2. so they are trying to ensure their food supply. cause that's their first step for national defence and stability. maybe you heard of a little thing called the depression. a secure food supply is worth every penny it costs any nation that wants to preserve a decent way of life for it's citizens. anything above 3rd world status will cost. and there are ery few people aware what the true cost of food is, and even fewer people willing to pay for it. and until 75% of the people in a developed nation decide they want to grow their own groceries they better be glad for subsidies. now go back to your couch