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But then he appointed Harkin to Agriculture. Now, maybe it was the idea of spurring reform from the inside (and helping his re-election). But I was disappointed in that status quo, esp. since Obama reads Pollan. Getting bills through congress really is like herding cats, but what do you expect when they're presented with the same fluffy ball?

I lived in Nebraska for a few years. One of my coworker's Father, a non-farmer, would buy land that the federal government would pay him not to farm. I hope this type of subsidy loophole goes away.

On the other hand, there's a lot of great farmland that is constantly being developed for housing and retail purposes. I see this all the time in Illinois as the suburbs constantly spread out into areas that used to be farms. As far as I know, it is far from trivial to go back to farming once that sort of development has taken place. So while subsidies are not the best of solutions, I'm not entirely convinced that it is a good thing to make it even more profitable to develop farmland.

Change you shouldn't have believed in...