Although it seems like it is always raining in North Carolina, there's a major drought going on across the Midwest right now. This article talks about some of the effects and this article describes some of the efforts of the government to help.
One of the common threads this summer is the question of where the government should be involved, or not....healthcare and gun control epitomize this debate. So I'm particularly interested in what those of you who tend to be more conservative have to say here. Should the government step in to help these farmers? Should they have to deal with the environmental and economic effects of drought on their own? What other steps could be taken to help farmers out?
The drought across the Midwest is undoubtedly going to majorly impact not only the lives of rural farmers but also will influence the economy. The problem with government involvement in this matter is that it involves an unpredictable factor, the weather. If government were to step in to deal with the environmental and economic effects of this drought there is no guarantee that it would be worth it. Hypothetically, if temperatures continue to be at the level they are now, the government would only be delaying the effects, not fixing them.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, without government intervention many of these farmers risk losing more than their crops. Most of these small farming companies have years of time invested into the business. If government were to let these companies go helpless, most would probably not survive or struggle at least. It is government's responsibility to help these farmers, even if only in a seemingly small way. An additional step that can be taken to help farmers out would be providing an incentive for customers to buy the companies products.
The effects of the drought could be catastrophic if either a solution is not found or the drought does not end soon. Government officials have a tough balance to keep when dealing with situations like this. They do not want the jobs of hundreds of rural farmers to disappear with their crops. At the same time, the current economic situation, there is not much room in the budget to allow everyone to be happy.
ReplyDeleteThe loans available from the Small Business Administration are a step in the right direction. The farmers will be able to keep themselves afloat until the crisis is averted and the government is pay back for their assistance. As Rachel said, an incentive program could be created for consumers to continue to buy from the farmers so that when the drought ends, sales will be able to return to normal. In the end, some government assistance will be essential if the Midwest farms are to have a chance to continue with business.
The drought that is affecting farmers within the Midwest has a negative influence not only on the farmers, but also on the overall economy. Daily consumers of all food products have to deal with the inconvenience of inflated prices, due to shortened crop supply. Therefore, because this drought is affecting everyone and not only farmers, I do believe that the government should get involved before it gets any worse. Unfortunately, the government is not responsible for the weather or how it may react; however, if they are able give loans in order to better assist farmers and their crops—then shouldn’t that be their duty? To help the people in need of help? This question leads me to ask why would the government not want to help the farmers, whom are in result supplying the food that they are relying on?
ReplyDeleteNow don’t get me wrong, I do believe that the government is making the right steps by providing “Small Business Administration” loans. As I also understand what my fellow classmate Kaylee is saying while implying the indifferences in the economic budget. On the other hand, I do not believe that is enough to not assist the farmers. I find it ironic that our government can find money in the budget to give loans in order to build brand new casinos in Maryland, but we cannot include drought-ridden farmers into the “economic budget?” These are questions that I cannot find the answers too, however, the process in better assisting the farmers is a small step to recovery nonetheless.
-Marissa B
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ReplyDeleteThe drought that is engulfing the Midwest farming lands will do two things for certain; kill crops on a massive scale and cause the economy of the Midwest to go into a "micro-recession". This will lead to a chain reaction of microcosmic events; first you have the lack of rain which leads to dying crops and this loss of crops means that the prices on said crops will increase (inflation) which in turn leads to people buying less and less of these depleted crops (throwing the economy into a recession). So a simpler way to put this is that the farmers lose money and consumers must pay for higher priced products or not buy from that source at all, thus bringing down the income of local farmers. Although this has been stated before I will reiterate the fact that weather is an uncontrollable force, though when random shifts in the environment do occur they tend to fall back into place eventually. Until this occurs though, the farmers will have to try to find some way to thrive, with the help of the government of course. I believe that the government is working in the right direction by giving out loans to those farmers in need and helping them to get back on their feet. I do believe however that our government needs to focus more on putting money into the field of agriculture rather than spending that same money on construction in big cities and other areas that do not have such an influence on our economy. I would like to know what kind of money the government is spending on ways to counter these agricultural fall-outs in comparison to what they spend on things such as construction, bailing out banks, etc. Instead of feeding those big businesses with money they do not need, why is the government not spending money in an effort to make different crops, such as zucchini, have a greater heat tolerance and in doing so droughts would not have such an adverse effect on the economy because more crops would survive. I think that we need to return to our capitalist roots and make our money through hard work rather than take it from the government in the form of loans, as these big businesses tend to do nowadays. These farmers need these loans due to a loss of income because of something they cannot control, but more times than not a local farmer has less of a chance to receive a loan from the government than a big business beacuse that is what our government tends to pay more attention to; big enterprises that support the government in every way in return for bailout money. We need to focus more on the hard workers and less on those who sit back and beg the government for money that is not needed nor should be supplied.
ReplyDelete-Please excuse the length of my commentary, it ended up running much longer than I had expected.
ReplyDeleteThe Government should step in to help the farmers of the midwest.These farmers depend on a good growing season to sustain their lives. The drought in the midwest will be felt throughout the US, as crop prices will soar. The price of corn has nearly tripled since the start of the summer. The loans they are receiving will certainly help but I'd like to see a large govt project that gives subsidies to all farmers and to invest in new technology to improve the yield and save crops if there is ever another unusual drought. I believe that the govt should focus more on agriculture now that most of the east and west coasts are industrialized, make the midwest an agricultural haven and the country will thrive from it. The Midwest farmers, and the US overall would benefit if we acquired all of our crops from US soil, and not other nations. However, that leads me to consider, what happens when there is another huge drought and all of our crops come from US soil? Should we then buy crops from other countries? Overall, what is best for the farmers is to provide them a solid platform for them to live on. New technology, more/better land, etc, and let them be.
ReplyDeleteThis disaster in the Midwest will have major impacts on the country as a whole. Although most like to believe that each individual state is sustainable, it is obviously not true. In America we depend on specialization, which is why we are dependent on other countries for the vast majority of our resources, there are valuable resources in the Midwest that will impact us all in some way, it won't be totally obvious at first but it will happen. The government should be responsible for making sure that companies that are dependent on a thriving Midwest and won't lose money from this drought. The government should provide some type of compensation to those companies, droughts are natural disasters, therefore those businesses wouldn't be able to control what happens any ways. I firmly believe that the government should provide subsidies to farmers, because for all their work they do to grow crops we need to survive, they gain barely any of the actual profit. There are less and less privately operated farms nowadays, because a family farm makes so much less than a corporate one. Small farms are being bought out by larger ones because they simply aren't making enough profit to survive, we should praise small farms, because in the scheme of things, their agricultural practices are much safer and cleaner than those of larger, corporately owned farms. The government should help fund smaller, family operated farms in the Midwest so that this drought won't destroy their livelihoods.
ReplyDeleteThe drought that is affecting the Midwest is a problem that doesn’t just affect the farmers living there but it also affects the people who consume the food far away from the farms and the economy. In terms of government involvement it is hard to discern when it is a good time to step in and help. The weather can be unpredictable and although it may be dry now this can easily change in a matter of days. I believe that the government should however step in regardless of how the weather might change. Millions of dollars’ worth of crops could be affected and this doesn’t just hurt out economy it will also hurt us as the people who consume the crops. There is currently research being done by different companies , including government agencies like the EPA, that are testing new ways to help plants survive in dry condition. Although it would take a substantial amount of money to help the famers and farming companies, the benefits that would result would save millions of dollars that would’ve been lost. If this weather persists and the government does nothing the U.S harvest of this autumn would be cut by more than 1 billion bushels of corn below the governments forecast, analysts say. Right now the United states currently pays around 20 billion dollars in agricultural subsidies “used for farm income stabilization” although this is a large amount this does not account for the fact that the farmers are growing the crops we need to survive and if they are to be expected to grow these crops they need government intervention in times of drought.
ReplyDeleteThe problems that the Midwest farms face affect everyone; therefore they are our problems as well. A drought is not anyone’s fault and it should not be treated as such. Droughts are a natural disaster that affects a huge group of people just like a hurricane and a tornado. If it is okay for the Government to be involved in natural disasters like hurricanes, then it should be okay for them to be involved in drought recovery, too.
ReplyDeleteInstead of just providing funding and loans to the farmers who face the hardships of drought Government should seek out new means to provide. They should put money towards research on how to make irrigation and water transportation to areas of drought more efficient. This way money is not being handed out, it is being used to solve the problem.