Subsidies cut

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

It was a shock when New Zealand suddenly stopped giving subsidies to farmers for growing what the experts told them to. They knew it would be hard on farmers to adjust to a more free economy, and it really was.

But only 1% of farmers took the government's offer of an "exit grant," two-thirds of their former farm income if they wanted to give up on farming.

“Having been through pain, we can say going cold turkey was the right thing—although frankly I don’t think any other country would do that and I wouldn’t expect them to either, because the social pain would be too much to bear,” says an official. 

“But here, we’ve developed a newfound sense of resourcefulness that has encouraged farmers to look after their own interests. For many farmers, I think they underestimate just how good they are, just how successful they can be without government support.”

They don't claim to know that this can work for every nation, but the Federated Farmers of New Zealand says “In our experience, farmers do not want subsidies back. Most farmers want government out of their lives and do not want to be beholden to it.”