Government to help Thai farmers store rice in barns instead of selling

[jesimps]

Don't they know storing rice is a criminal offence. Ask Yingy.

[NeverSure]

Let's face it Thailand's agriculture needs dragging in to the 20th century before it can compete in the 21st.

You mean sell all the farms to one big company and throw all the farming families out in the street.

Like they did in the USA.

I would say the west has got farming wildly wrong.

There's a lot to be said for small, diversified family farms.

With all due respect, this is totally incorrect. I know it's popular to bash corporations but...

"According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, the vast majority of farms in this country (87%) are owned and operated by individuals or families. The next largest category of ownership is partnerships (8%)." United States Environmental Protection Agency

So 95% of farms are owned by individuals and partnerships (of individuals.)

I grew up in real US farmland on a 4,000 acre cattle and wheat ranch and I never knew of a farm that was owned by a corporation. Never.

Corporations which want farm products contract for them in advance with private farms. That would be companies like Quaker Oats, grass seed retailers, wineries, companies who buy corn to make alcohol including for gasohol, etc. etc.

A corporation with all of its bureaucracy can't run a farm profitably.

NOW the way for Thailand to subsidize farmers is just that. Pay them 2,000 baht per rai to grow nothing, or pay them 2,000 baht per ton for rice they grow. That way the supply drops, and those who grow sell the product and get rid of it.

[Jay Sata]

Subsistence farming is only found in developing countries and sadly leads to a cycle of poverty that young people want escape.

One of those topics that looks great in glossy magazines but the hard reality is backbreaking work and living hand to mouth.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Subsistence farming is only found in developing countries and sadly leads to a cycle of poverty that young people want escape.

One of those topics that looks great in glossy magazines but the hard reality is backbreaking work and living hand to mouth.

Come the *zombie apocalypse*, those farmers will be alive and you will be dead.

*peak oil* is always another popular choice.