Some argue that nations have an interest in assuring there is sufficient domestic production capability to meet domestic needs in the event of a global supply disruption. Significant dependence on foreign food producers makes a country strategically vulnerable in the event of war, blockade or embargo. Maintaining adequate domestic capability allows for food self-sufficiency that lessens the risk of supply shocks due to geopolitical events. Agricultural policies[...] may be an ongoing subsidy designed to allow a product to compete with or undercut foreign competition.
Could this possibly backfire? Hmmm, let me think... This week in Scandinavia:
Danish dairies say no to Norway
Dairy producers in Denmark have said they won’t export butter to neighbouring Norway, despite moves by Oslo to cut tariffs as the country battles to get the product back on supermarket shelves.
Norway, like Sweden and Finland, has been hit by a major butter shortage in recent months. The Nordic trio have seen less raw milk available annually amid soaring demand for high-fat dairy products such as creams, butters and milk.
[snip]
But while the Danes are happy to help out the Swedes and the Finns, Norwegian shoppers look set to be left in the lurch with Christmas looming.
Oslo has slashed import tariffs on butter for the month of December in an attempt to attract foreign producers, but leading Danish dairies remain unimpressed.
“We’ve been bashing our head against an excise wall in Norway for more than ten years, so we don’t have enough faith in a little hole in the wall to start sending butter via that route,” said Mogens Poulsen from dairy Thise Andelsmejeri to news website foodculture.dk.
Danish news reports said the country’s other main dairy producers were similarly disinclined to make a beeline for the Norwegian market.
“We can’t start building something up only to dismantle it again three weeks from now,” said Arla spokesperson Theis Brøgger to foodculture.dk.It may only be butter, but still a telling example. On a general level, I don't know which I find more impressive: The fact that so many people are in agreement about the need to drastically scale down agricultural subsidies... Or that these subsidies somehow remain as entrenched throughout the world as they do.
UPDATES: (1) Norway is a great place to live in many ways, but their protectionist trade policies suck. Most of the Norwegians that I speak to are pretty happy to echo these sentiments, although that might not be a representative sample. (2) Damn. Butter futures would have been a good investment. Black market bids currently going around $500 per half kilo!
