Mark in WCIowa - 2/15/2008 21:59 I pay my loans back. The only subsidy might be a lower interest rate. I said no LDPs which would mean no paying back below loan rate as well. QUOTE]

Mark, you're not quite understanding subsidies.  If market prices don't get high enough to be above loan rate, and you're not going to pay back your loan below the loan rate, then you must forfeit your grain to the government because you can't keep it forever.  Those that did try several years ago often lost a lot to spoilage.  When the government takes it in lieu of loan repayment, they must dispose of it below loan rate at market price.  That difference is a subsidy that you are receiving.  LDP's were introduced to encourage farmers not to forfeit the grain.  It all equals out the same in value to you.  LDP or forfeit the grain, same difference, different terms.  And you can be pretty sure if the government would set the loan to a profitable level then that is pretty much what the market price would be, only not quite.  I'm old enough to have seen that happen, and it would happen again.  You'd think if we had a short crop that the prices would rise way over loan rate.  Very unlikely because there would be so much corn under loan or forfieted that it would come out and to market thereby keeping the price at close to loan level.  I've seen it happen and it would again.  Enjoy these prices while they last because they won't forever.  Everything that goes up must come down.  The best cure for high prices is high prices.  You've heard that before and it still holds true.  As another poster stated, what happens if the government decides food prices are too high and restricts exports, or maybe they want to punish a foreign government for some reason.  It's happened before and may very well happen again.  Wait until Ms. Homemaker starts raising an organized protest over high prices.  Hell, my wife was complaining about egg prices this week and she knows better.  Ask the meat producers about that housewife boycot many years ago.  They said we should eat fish instead.  Then fish prices went way up and never came down after meat did.  You have no idea what might happen.  And when it does you'll be darn grateful for that government payment that means the difference between planting next year and the farm sale.  Because believe me, it can get that bad and you can never forsee it coming, except for Coup, he can see the future.