Australia and the US may both preach free trade, but only Australian politicians and bureaucrats seriously practise it.As the table below shows, US assistance to farmers has remained high over the last decade, as have subsidies to farmers in the 29 most advanced nations that make up the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).Lower world commodity prices and the ensuing pressure on farm incomes pushed support payments to farmers in industrial countries to a record $362 billi…
