I will not argue with Joyce Morrison when she claims that some farmers are hurting financially, but her suggestion that we may run out of food or become totally reliant on foreign farmers for our food is patently ridiculous [MORRISON: It's a long row to hoe (September 14).

Prices are low in America because our production is high. Decades of farm subsidies and other programs to help inefficient farmers stay in farming have created endless surpluses that our government has ended up buying and storing at taxpayer expense or dumping on foreign markets at subsidized prices.

Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize anyone's business. Farmers must accept the risks that come with their chosen profession or protect themselves from those risks by purchasing insurance (just like every other profession).

Farmers must also accept competition in the global marketplace. If American farmers wish to sell in foreign markets, they must accept that foreign sellers will sell in American markets. Indeed foreign sellers must sell in America if foreigners are to have the means to pay for their American imports.

Further, there is nothing morally or economically wrong with buying goods or services from a seller in another country. In fact, refusing to buy from a particular seller because of the seller's race or nationality is not only foolish but racist as well.

Finally, Morrison's insinuation that foreign food is unsafe is as unfounded as foreigners' claims that American food is unsafe. There is no proof to back up either claim. Let the consumer decide.

We cannot control the policies of foreign nations, but here in America, we can at least practice what we preach. For the sake of our consumers and taxpayers (and that's all of us), we need to eliminate all subsidies and trade restrictions.

We also need to stop trying to create artificial markets for inefficient products like ethanol or bio diesel that could never survive in the marketplace without subsidies and laws mandating their use.

What American needs to prosper is a free market and free trade. We should encourage other nations to adopt these policies as well, but adopt them unilaterally if necessary. Leaving our people free to choose is always good policy.

Jerry Kohn
Oak Forest

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Joyce Morrison's recent column brings up some interesting points, as usual, but why should the government be involved in agriculture at all?

The electronics industry keeps building more and more products with lower and lower prices (with minimal government intervention), so why not free up the ag industry?

And is there any law telling Illinois farmers they have to grow either corn or soybeans?

It seems to me that they are being seduced or locked into poverty (or a less-than-optimal condition) by government and its agri-business buddies.

Every morning I wake up to the "Agri Talk" program. But inevitably it is just another hollow defense of the status quo. I would love to hear them talk about organic foods, which growing numbers of consumers are choosing, for health enhancement.

Herb farming is another vanguard field that is on the increase. Yet we just hear more of the same propaganda, boosted by subsidies that tend to benefit big ag concerns.

Why not pursue an updated version of the "Freedom to Farm" Act, which really phases out subsidies and embraces the future?

If farmers are needy, why can't we just send them a check without having to interfere with consumers' decisions in the marketplace? And we might even try some kind of tax credit to lower the price of organics. We don't still own TVs made in the Depression era, so why should we be saddled with federal programs that were designed for those times?

Obviously we should get out of all foreign entanglements and trade treaties, but if that's what it takes to end the subsidies, maybe it is a blessing in disguise.

What is really happening in agriculture, is that farmers are being held back from pursuing more lucrative (and environmentally-enhancing) crops like hemp. Hemp is indeed a wonder plant--which can be used for energy, food, and fiber products. Henry Ford once had a private fleet of automobiles that ran on hemp seed oil. Plus it can be used as a comparable substitute for heart-healthy fish oil. Yet our arcane anti-marijuana laws (passed originally to protect the petroleum industry) are helping to keep farmers pauperized. Isn't it funny how those same oil interests are still contributing to our country's stagnation?

Americans, and Illinoisans, need to re-assert their influence on government to take it away from corporate and other special interests.

Private property rights must be maintained, and enhanced through appropriate reform legislation. Thomas Jefferson's dream of an agrarian wonderland can still become a reality in our time -- but only if we have the vision to embrace it.

Brent Bielema
Fulton