February 1, 2012 11:23AM 

# Agriculture and Trade Links 

By [Sallie James](https://www.cato.org/people/sallie-james) 

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- A [very good editorial on Bloomberg​.com on farm subsidies](http://insidetrade.com/201201312388766/WTO-Daily-News/Daily-News/ustr-sees-proliferation-of-bilateral-regional-deals-due-to-doha-impasse/menu-id-173.html), and why the “let’s swap direct payments for crop insurance” proposal is a bad deal for taxpayers.
- American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman isn’t exactly a poster child for the farm program reform movement, but here he [writes](http://www.fb.org/index.php?action=newsroom.agenda) something I didn’t think would ever flow from his pen: “Not only would \[“shallow loss”\] programs be a nightmare for local Farm Service Agency offices to administer, but farmers would have the ability to cherry-pick which program works best for them. **Because of distortions in price, we’d have a system of farmers deciding what to produce based on government payments rather than market signals**.” \[emphasis added\] Uh, ok, but doesn’t that happen already, Mr Stallman?
- I’m [not quite sure the *LA Times* gets the concept of federalism](http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-eggs-20120129,0,2454794.story).
- United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk complains that “[countries need to do a better job of explaining the benefits of trade in order to help sell ambitious trade deals to a skeptical public](http://insidetrade.com/201201312388766/WTO-Daily-News/Daily-News/ustr-sees-proliferation-of-bilateral-regional-deals-due-to-doha-impasse/menu-id-173.html)” \[$\]. I must have missed the part when Obama gave a detailed, principled endorsement of free trade in [his SOTU address last week](https://www.cato.org/sotu-and-trade-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/). Or, you know, *ever*.

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

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