Editorial Board
That Sickening Sugar Subsidy
This article is for subscribers only.
Sweet reason has left U.S. agricultural policy, at least judging from the latest installment in the sugar-subsidy saga.
Because of a plunge in U.S. sugar prices amid a hefty crop of sugar beets and cane, the Agriculture Department estimates that it may have to buy 400,000 tons of sugar from processors who might default on $862 million in government loans. Sugar producers have the option of repaying the loans either with cash or with their harvests if prices fall below a certain level.