On Thu, Jun 26, 2008 at 8:49 AM, J. Andrew Rogers wrote: > in many parts of Asia to protect local farmers, due to the very high > efficiency of American rice production, and consequently it is not worth it > for American rice farmers to bother with the Asian export business.
Isn't that efficiency + top-down subsidy ? > I would make the observation that the situation has not yet become so bad > that people are switching to more cost effective grains, choosing to pay > more for their grain of habit instead. > The switch is happening and its real... here in Kenya for example - many farmers have switched from growing corn and wheat (the local staples ) to other cash crops - like passion fruit, tree tomatoes, pyrethrum etc. Part of the reason is higher monetary yeild per hectare (which has become more important here because farms here have grown smaller and smaller because of familial inheritance and sub-division - and increase in human lifespan because of better health facilities... ). This switch from food crops to cash crops is happening not just at the small scale farmer level : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/06/biofuels.alternativeenergy thats one of the primary rice production regions of the country being turned over to sugarcane for biofuel... the alternative is to import rice and maize but doing that wasnt cheap anyway because the country has always been primarily a net importer of goods and commodities (and in the near future of basic food...).
