When farm subsidies first began most farmers were poor to the point of destitution and the country was still suffering from the effects of the depression. People were going hungry while farmers were being paid to destroy their crops. Today most farms are owned by multinational corporations which are not taking proper care of the land. They are making fairytale profits and don't need subsidies. In fact they should be paying much higher taxes.
Obviously removing farm subsidies will raise food prices, but subsidies create inefficiency in the production of food.
There is no reason to subsidize any kind of farm, because if there is not enough food, market forces will drive the price of food up, making it more profitable (and therefore more desirable) to sell it, bringing more competition in and allowing the price to lower.
When we subsidize food, the average American is paying more for the food than they would without a subsidy through taxes, since the farmer (or agricultural firm) receives money whether or not they produce a product that people are willing to buy, which wastes money,
Ritesh is right, these large agri-corporations are doing more harm than good to the environment and people. Factory farming is (although efficient) not very healthy and these large corporations often use GMO foods, growth hormones, GMO meat and dairy, and pesticides to achieve their demand. Many of them often eat up local farmers, family farmers and local food stores and replace those with their own industrialized versions. As of current, only a few large corporations own the vast majority of the food market.... That does not sound like a "free market" to me.
Meanwhile, while these corporations buy-out local competition and roll in money. Many local farmers barley scrape by and compete with the large corporations. Farmers in the northern US have to go through an entire winter where they have no income. Therefore, subsidizing these smaller farmers to make THEIR lives much easier seems more reasonable. Many of these subsidies to large corporations are not needed and only result in a less-free market. Watching Food inc will give you perfect examples of all this.
Subsidies smaller farmers and tax the large agri-corporations to restrict grown and allow more space in the food market for competition, innovation, and options.
Subsidies were originally created to ensure that farmers produced enough given their strained resources. However, most subsidies now go to big firms which have more than enough resources to produce enough for the entire country. As a result, small farmers are going out of business since these conglomerates can offer low prices due to subsidies. THESE firms do not need any additional help, they are just milking our government off taxpayer money for their own profitable aims.
And who pays the price? THE TAXPAYER! Since they have essentially monopolized the agricultural sector, they can inflate prices to their liking and it is harder for us to eat in a healthy manner.
Food security is one of the most important things for a country, Subsidizing, your agriculture industry helps keep, it from being sold off to foreign companies, it keep the industry viable for the farmers.
If you take away the government payments, they are going to have to find the money elsewhere, that means higher prices to cover cost, or using inferior equipment or quite simply selling there farms to others.
I have worked on a number of farms and vineyards over in my country Australia, the farmers here rarely get government payouts, I have used tractors 30 years old, with the droughts and high cost of competing with cheap imports. Many over here scrape by from year to year, using old equipment and not expanding there businesses.
Protect your farming industry.