I heard some stories long ago about why corn is so cheap: Michael Pollan and others talked about the giant system of subsidies.
Today Dr. Sarah Taber clarifies (in her usual, spicy way) that it's more about tax policy than about actual subsidies. She tweets, "You buy it, it appreciates with very little tax burden, you sell it later. Farmland is a piggy bank. That's why corporations are buying it now! Farmers legislated it into the best tax shelter in the world. But! You have to farm it for it to count as farmland & get the tax breaks! And that's why we grow so damn much corn, soy, beef, & other low-effort commodities. They're the shortest path to a tax break."
Update, Sunday August 29th: This morning's Washington Post includes this article about an outspoken British farmer responding to a new law there that will provide payments to farmers in a different way than it has been done before. It'll be interesting to see how this new law works out....
