Farm subsidies help sustainability?

In NPR’s Morning Edition today (11-Oct), a reporter desribes a dilemma facing wealthy countries that provide farm subsidies. The Swiss government, for example, has long provided farm subsidies for various reasons–sustainability, tourism, national pride and cultural preservation among them. The problem is global trade talks will require the cessation of farm subsidies.
The challenge the Swiss face is that no one wants to give up farming, but they’re also not all prepared to pay the steep prices for farm products. A farmer describes the situation as a choice between paying about 65 Francs per kilogram of Swiss-raised pork and about 10 francs across the border in Germany. The question they have to resolve is, “How much is happiness worth?”

Listen to the article here. – Ken Chung at InformedStrategy.com