To trade freely or not to trade freely?

I got an email from a friend of mine today living in Slovakia, he noted how most of the produce there is from Italy, Poland, and Czech Republic because it is “cheaper” to produce those things in the mentioned countries than in Slovakia… I do find this a bit ironic since Slovakia is more agrarian than them but then again their agricultural systems are probably more advanced. Italy, that one stuck out to me though. I have been to the Czech Republic, really liked it there and what little I gleaned by driving by/through agricultural districts there I can see how that would hold true (also taking into consideration things being cheaper in Czech Republic) but not in Italy. In Italy I was constantly amazed by the mammoth Rolls Royce like tractors that many farmers had, it was like being in the American west where huge private farmers and corporate farms have enough land to justify such fancy/industrial machinery, but Italy… In Italy I get the impression (*only* from observations, I haven’t bothered looking up any facts) that many of the farms here are maybe 100-400 ha, that’s not particularly big (by American standards) so how can they afford such expensive machinery? Possibly by producing high quality/value produce, I can vouch for the extraordinary taste/quality of Italian cuisine, and Italian foods cost a bundle in the US; but if it was because of the high value/quality being able to be sold at a high price then it probably wouldn’t fare very well in Slovakia. No I think it is most likely subsidies, which much of European agriculture is notorious for.

In my school program I constantly hear organizations like the IMF and World Bank demonized for ideology like forcing developing countries to embrace free trade and reduce tariffs etc… I agree with the premise of that ideology BUT (and it’s a pretty big but) there are so many problems with it that I am not sure that they should heed the IMFs/World Banks prodding.

Developed countries don’t listen (while it’s not directly Ag related look at Gee Dubbya and the Kyoto protocol, *EVEN*THE*RUSSIANS* joined in on that (and having lived and visited around there I can tell you many people [though of course not all] there could care less about environmental issues). Europe and Japan are notorious for protective/exclusive tariffs, taxes, and other forms of trade bending, with the US following close behind. I think that it is the developing countries that should be somewhat protected and the developed nations that should be less protected. There are problems with that though. That assumes (unrealistically so) that the developing nations would develop areas in which they are the best at and that industries in developed nations would be able to hang on while the less efficient industries are weeded out… neither are reality the first even less so than the second.