Subsidies prevent farmers from reaching their full potential

American farmers and low-income families are understandably uneasy with the recent expiration of the farm bill, although the eventual passage of another iteration is all but assured. Regardless, we should take a moment to ask what would happen if we repealed farm bill agricultural subsidies instead. The idea may sound fanciful. We’ve had farm subsidies for over 80 years; it’s hard to conceive of an agriculture industry without extensive government intervention. But we already have a good test case for what America’s farmland would look like without the farm bill: New Zealand.Despite the short-term difficulty, ending farm subsidies and trade restrictions has been a good decision in the long run. New Zealand’s agriculture industry has since become something of a Cinderella story around the world.