Economists at FarmDocDaily point out in an article entitled, “World Market Conditions Suggest Set-Asides Not an Effective Farm Policy for Corn and Soybeans” that U.S. farmers have been losing market world share to South America. They correctly note that the current discussion about using a paid set-aside to reduce production will not concurrently raise farmgate prices because it will simply incentivize increased production in other countries. However, it also doesn’t make sense to continue producing a crop that is uncompetitive and simply gets stored as carryover. This is particularly evident in corn where excess stocks have been building at an average 12 percent per year. While paid land diversions would be counterproduc...