4.

Food – Farmers – Food company

Some people think that governments should provide subsidies (money given to farmers to
keep the price low) to farmers to produce cheap healthy foods. Others think that
governments should tax companies producing unhealthy foods. Discuss both views and
give your own opinion.
Governments – subsidies(subsidy) – farmers – cheap healthy food – tax companies –
unhealthy foods => both views and opinion
- Words: pledge
- Intro: Whilst some people believe that farmers should be provided with subsidies
from governments to produce low-priced but healthy food, others assert that
companies producing harmful food should be taxed. I think that governments should
not provide farmers with subsides, nor tax food companies.
- Governments provide farmers with subsidies
+ They will have more money to buy new equipment, be able to apply new methods
of agriculture, switch to a safer way to produce food.
+ But the money will be withdrawn from other important sources (flow of money)
such as health care, education or defense => weaken those areas
+ The money will only be used to keep the price of food low, but the lives of farmers
will not be improved. Moreover, people may not like the food from them.
- Tax food companies
+ Agree that it will hinder them from producing junk food in a large scale/ in mass
quantity
+ On the bright side, the tax money can be collected to become subsidies => less
weight on other areas.
+ But it will push up the price of the food that they produce => the consumers will
suffer (spend more money on those foods because they like it) + Consumers have
free will, they will choose whether to eat those foods or not. Putting tax on junk
foods will only make them miserable (E.g. A package of chips and snacks compared
to a fresh apple => customers will definitely choose the former.
- Conclusion:
+ none
+ only the consumer will benefit, not anyone else.
Essay:
Whilst some people believe that farmers should be provided with subsidies from
governments to produce low-priced but healthy food, others assert that companies
producing harmful food should be taxed. I think that governments should not
provide farmers with subsides, nor tax food companies.

Albeit providing farmers with subsidies has some upsides, its downsides are
predominant. On the bright side, they will have more money to buy new equipment,
be able to apply new techniques of agriculture, or switch to safer ways of producing
food. As a result, they will be able to produce cheap and healthy foods which will
benefit the consumers. On the contrary, governments will have to redirect the flow
of money and withdrawn it from main areas such as education, health care or
defenses in order to have money to give the farmers, which may consequently
deteriorate these areas. Moreover, the only purpose of the subsidies is to keep the
foods low-priced. It can be inferred that the lives of the farmers will not be
improved. They will still remain to be poor. In addition, people may not like the fresh
foods that farmers produce.

Taxing food companies may not be beneficial in the long run, as there may be some
advantages, the disadvantages really outweigh them. One the one hand, by taxing
these companies, the money required to produce junk foods will rise. Therefore,
these food companies will have to cut down on food production. Secondly, the tax
can be collected to become the subsidies that are given to the farmers. This will
shrink the burden on other areas and have less impact on the flow of money. On the
other hand, as the cost of food production has been raised, companies will have to
find a way to raise the food price in order to secure their profits. As a consequence,
the consumers will have to spend more money on these foods since they have got
addicted to these. Furthermore, customers have the right to choose whether to eat
those junk foods or not; they will decide what is more preferable to them. Putting tax
on unhealthy foods will just make them miserable. Given a person a fresh apple and
a snack or chips they will mostly choose the latter.

In conclusion, once again I believe that farmers should not be given subsidies, nor
food companies should be taxed for the above reasons. The buyers are the ones who
have the final call whether to consume those junk foods or not; and one thing is
certain: None of the measures mentioned bring about benefits to farmers or food
companies, and consumers will always be affected in manifold ways, good or bad.