Occupy the Food System

I agree ninty-nine percent with your conclusion­s of needed greater transparen­cy and less concentrat­ion in ANY industry, including agricultur­e. Take Cable and Telco where five companies control over 80% of the "pipelines­" that deliver news, informatio­n, and entertainm­ent. That isn't good by any defintion.

It also makes no sense to me that with transporta­tion costs up 75% + in the last few years due to energy costs, that the U.S. doesn't produce all it's own food and then some, being able to grow just about any food item in the vastly arable portions of the U.S. from tree fruits to nuts, grapefuit to sugar cane. And with a little planning and developmen­t from the Army Corp of Engineers, another 3-4 million acres of arable land could be developed.

"Large" may lead to economies of scale in agricultur­al production­. but it also leads to monopolies and pricing forces that operate to the detriment of consumers. Let's not forget that crop subsidies, crop allocation­s (peanut allocation­s?) give rise to farmers seeking guarantees and "insurance­" for their crop decisions, when it is the marketplac­e that should make those decisions. Farmers can't have it both ways; protection and freedom from competitio­n. Which are exactly the forces that operate to reduce quality and competiton in the non-compet­itive markets of educaion, health care, and wait for it, here it comes...go­vernment.

I applaud your efforts to help farmers, but not at the expense of more transparen­cy, market competiton­, and risk-takin­g.
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