It's Florida v. Arizona in food fight over tomato protectionism

To the first point, it still seems to me that if the regulations are good, they would assist in producing a better product.

Your second point seems to be centered on food security, which isn’t an angle I was considering, and truthfully is one I have never felt I understood how to navigate. Should the US keep a strategic reserve of tomato growers? And how much is the right amount? And should cost influence our determination? I really don’t know how one answers these questions.

 

Doesn't seem to FL v AZ as much as FL v MEX to me.

I side with FL either way.

 

Yep, we'd all get crappy flavorless tomatoes from Mexico.

 

Are you on the side of Florida consumers or Florida big business farmers?

 

But it's not this simple. With tomatoes being water and labor intensive, it's both cheaper and better for the people of Arizona to get our tomatoes from Mexico. Most of Arizona, if you didn't know, is a desert, and if there is a more plentiful supply of water in Mexico to grow tomatoes, and it's cheaper to transport tomatoes from Mexico to Arizona than it is to transport them from Florida to Arizona, why shouldn't Arizona continue to get its tomatoes from Mexico?

Side with Florida, and the cost of tomatoes in Arizona rises. It also hurts tomato growers in Mexico, which means less jobs in Mexico. And it's unlikely Arizona is going to start growing enough tomatoes to make up for the loss, because the cost of water here is much higher.

 

99% of the time I agree on tariffs, taxes, quotas, and subsidies. I get a little wobbly when it comes to food. Food, or lack of it can be strategically used as a weapon, and it is damn effective. I just wish we could create an environment where our farming industry is healthy enough to take on the cheaper imports competitively.
Are there any studies that you know of that address the strategic nature of maintaining a food supply?

 

I disagree. While there are risks of having robust free trade I think they are far less than trying Autarky. Comparative advantage is the greatest producer of wealth that exists. Further, trade has been instrumental in fostering peace among people for 1000s of years.

Comparative advantage - Wikipedia

 

Agree. Mexico grows too much corn & too little tomatoes. Both countries would be better off with more specialization.

 

Good ole absolute v. comparative advantage. Haven’t taught that concept in years

 

Why would people buy them if they are crappy and flavorless?

 

Price, for one. And if you need a base for salsa or a pasta sauce, you can easily add plenty of flavor. And the cheap, Mexican tomatoes tend to have a good consistency for sauces and salsas.

 

From today's WSJ. Seems relevant.

Opinion | Free Trade Is Good for American Farmers Like Me

Yet as president, Mr. Biden has done next to nothing to move this idea forward. This ought to make him vulnerable to criticisms by Republican presidential candidates trying to attract the votes of farmers, both in the GOP primaries and in the general election.

Mr. Trump can’t be the one to advance such critiques. On his first day in office, he withdrew from the talks surrounding TPP. Although he negotiated the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement, which updated Nafta, his trade legacy mostly has involved a mix of strong language and disputes that have limited trade.

If he’s elected again, he has promised to enact an even more aggressive plan. In August he called for a “privilege” tax that would slap a 10% tariff on all foreign-made products that enter the U.S. He styles this as “economic nationalism” that puts America first.

Actually, this approach puts American farmers last. We need economic internationalism. Other nations would retaliate immediately with their own taxes. Among their targets of retribution would be farm products, making me one of the first casualties of a new trade war.