• buzz86us@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Fossil fuel subsidies. No longer needed since we have more viable alternatives, and they just contribute to global warming, and litter.

    • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      15 days ago

      I’m not sure that’s true.

      The supply chain for food is heavily dependent on diesel. All machinery on farms is diesel, and the trucks that move the food to silos then mills then factories and then shops are all diesel.

      Presently there’s no real substitute for that machinery. Sure it might be technically possible to construct an electric tractor or truck but it’s not economically viable at this time.

      The subsidies don’t really serve to make fossil fuels continue to be viable, it’s more like a measure to avoid sudden inflation due to fluctuations in the price of diesel.

      • buzz86us@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        🤣🤣🤣🤣 There are dozens of companies making electric tractors, AND in a rural area it is much more viable to have solar panels than to rely on the next diesel delivery, or make long trips to the nearest filling station.

        Areas with solar panels are even posting higher crop yields.

      • DomeGuy@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        A diesel engine can literally run on vegetable oil. We don’t need fossil fuel subsidies to keep farm tractors working.

        If we must distort the market directly, we should do so on the demand side. Give farmers a per-Joule fuel subsidy, and let them use petro-disel, bio-disel, or electric as the market may provide.

        Either we believe that markets work or we don’t

        • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          14 days ago

          Obviously, there isn’t enough vegetable oil to run every tractor and every truck.

          In Australia, bio diesel is subsidised in the same way regular diesel is.