YOUR TEXAS AGRICULTURE MINUTE

Heritage Foundation has lost its way

This is not your father’s Heritage Foundation. Once, this storied think tank contributed to the national discourse with responsible conservative thought. Not anymore.

Today’s foundation is about stamping out any notion that government could contribute to the national good. Their opposition to crop insurance is just that kind of flat earth thinking.

Free markets generate amazing wealth. But please understand that we have a global market now. In an absolutely free market, the purchase of food, or anything else, will flow like water to the lowest point. It does not take into account the artificial costs of regulations and higher costs of labor. Countries with less of these things can produce food cheaper. And there’s not much we can say about it.

This is to say nothing of the tremendous risks in farming. Insects, drought and disease threaten crops long before harvest. Most nations have a food safety net. Ripping ours away leaves farmers at the mercy of subsidized competition. Rigid ideology has no place in a national food security discussion.

The preceding commentary is brought to you by Texas Farm Bureau, the “Voice of Texas Agriculture.” Called “Your Texas Agriculture Minute,” TFB will issue thought-provoking editorials each week—via print and audio—to spark understanding of agriculture in the Lone Star State and its impact on each and every Texan.

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