this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2026
108 points (100.0% liked)

news

24824 readers
721 users here now

Welcome to c/news! We aim to foster a book-club type environment for discussion and critical analysis of the news. Our policy objectives are:

We ask community members to appreciate the uncertainty inherent in critical analysis of current events, the need to constantly learn, and take part in the community with humility. None of us are the One True Leftist, not even you, the reader.

Newcomm and Newsmega Rules:

The Hexbear Code of Conduct and Terms of Service apply here.

  1. Link titles: Please use informative link titles. Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed.

  2. Content warnings: Posts on the newscomm and top-level replies on the newsmega should use content warnings appropriately. Please be thoughtful about wording and triggers when describing awful things in post titles.

  3. Fake news: No fake news posts ever, including April 1st. Deliberate fake news posting is a bannable offense. If you mistakenly post fake news the mod team may ask you to delete/modify the post or we may delete it ourselves.

  4. Link sources: All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. If you are citing a Twitter post as news, please include the Xcancel.com (or another Nitter instance) or at least strip out identifier information from the twitter link. There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance, such as Libredirect or archive them as you would any other reactionary source.

  5. Archive sites: We highly encourage use of non-paywalled archive sites (i.e. archive.is, web.archive.org, ghostarchive.org) so that links are widely accessible to the community and so that reactionary sources don’t derive data/ad revenue from Hexbear users. If you see a link without an archive link, please archive it yourself and add it to the thread, ask the OP to fix it, or report to mods. Including text of articles in threads is welcome.

  6. Low effort material: Avoid memes/jokes/shitposts in newscomm posts and top-level replies to the newsmega. This kind of content is OK in post replies and in newsmega sub-threads. We encourage the community to balance their contribution of low effort material with effort posts, links to real news/analysis, and meaningful engagement with material posted in the community.

  7. American politics: Discussion and effort posts on the (potential) material impacts of American electoral politics is welcome, but the never-ending circus of American Politics© Brought to You by Mountain Dew™ is not welcome. This refers to polling, pundit reactions, electoral horse races, rumors of who might run, etc.

  8. Electoralism: Please try to avoid struggle sessions about the value of voting/taking part in the electoral system in the West. c/electoralism is right over there.

  9. AI Slop: Don't post AI generated content. Posts about AI race/chip wars/data centers are fine.

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] LeeeroooyJeeenkiiins@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

No thanks i'll just block you

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Cash crops are agricultural products that are grown for the purpose of sale and profit. These crops are typically grown on a large scale, using advanced farming techniques and machinery to maximize yields and profits. Examples of cash crops include cotton, tobacco, coffee, tea, sugarcane, and cocoa.

https://anthropologyreview.org/anthropology-glossary-of-terms/cash-crops-grown-for-sale/

a crop that is grown mainly to be sold, rather than used by the people who grew it or those living in the area it is grown in

Compare: subsistence crop

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cash-crop

A cash crop, also called profit crop, is an agricultural crop which is grown to sell for profit. It is typically purchased by parties separate from a farm. The term is used to differentiate a marketed crop from a staple crop ("subsistence crop") in subsistence agriculture, which is one fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_crop

[–] Satanic_Mills@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Try feeding your entire family, let alone an entire society on cotton, tobacco, coffee, tea, sugarcane, and cocoa.

There is an obvious difference between wheat, even if grown for sale, and crops like indigo.

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The leverage on farmers to produce surplus for cash payment is the problem, not that "non-food crops" is somehow more exploitative than food crops. In India, had they grown wheat instead of cotton they still would have starved because the taxes levied on them by the british government would have forced them to sell it off anyway.

[–] Satanic_Mills@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

not that "non-food crops" is somehow more exploitative than food crops.

Food dependency is intimately linked with sovereignty, a state that cannot feed itself except by exporting cash crops to Western states is in a materially different position to once that focuses on food sovereignty.

The IMF knows this, so should we.

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

they're still food dependant no matter what they're growing

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

it's literally a cash crop to the farmer if they're making money from the us gov't subsidies. i think people here think "cash crop" is an intrinsic quality of the item and not a social relation, as per Marx et al.

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Find a source using your made-up definition. If you want to make a new term for it go ahead, but do not pretend it's what cash crop means and has meant forever.

[–] Satanic_Mills@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Corn and wheat, famously so profitable the government pays no subsidies for farmers to grow them at all.

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Satanic_Mills@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

Referent to my other point - the US government subsidises it's own unprofitable wheat farmers, who dump their excess on the global market in return for cash crops grown by Kenyan farmers (encouraged by the IMF demanding elimination of domestic Kenyan subsidies), fostering dependence on Western markets.

[–] WokePalpatine@hexbear.net 3 points 1 week ago

Still waiting for an actual source here.