Comment by myrmidon

I think there is really good reason to throw tax money at agriculture just to keep it local. Depending on foreigners for food is bound to get you into iffy situations, and every industrialized nation acts similarly here (as many subsidies as necessary to preserve independence).

I don't think its fair to characterize GMO witchhunting as shrewd nationalistic maneuvring to circumvent free trade; my view is that this was driven mainly by genuinely convicted (idealistic instead of pragmatic) environmentalist/anti-corporate activists (similar and overlapping with anti-nuclear sentiment).