Grain markets have never been left alone, and never will be. It's never been any different. Grain is too important to the stability of societies to 'leave alone'. Globally there is no 'free market' for grain. And there won't be.
On the other hand, how free do you want grain? The idea that 'leaving a market alone' is 'good' and regulating or having policies for a market are 'bad' means one has to come to terms with what Wall St did in the last crash, since it was largely unregulated, and the public was unaware of what it was really doing with money machines in its financial warehouses. Wall St quickly accepted regulation as a price for escaping the monster that it created.
We can't have the equivelant of Wall St's crash in the global food supply system. We cannot allow that to happen. Period. There is no unfettered capitalist system la la land. At least none has found it. Like it or not, China's grain flywheel system of huge inventories and highly subsidized food production does the world a favor by taking out the huge peaks and valleys that would destabilize ag. China is the greatest producer of food in the world and has ramped up production for 7 years in a row even though it is one of the driest countries in the world given it's needs. One production crater year with no oversight - say right now - would put the world in an economic tail spin that could easily be followed by cruelly low prices.
I'm beginning to think most American farmers have lost sight of how well taken care of they have been, and taken too much individual credit for our incredible productivity. WE could be the exact equivelant of Wall St, but we aren't. On the other hand, no stress means no growth. Biologically it is the equivelant of death. But that doesn't justify unimaginable social pain and sacrifice by the innocent.
