Karen Thurman: “the Shays amendment does not save consumers any money. Who then benefits from this amendment? Not consumers. Do not…”

“the Shays amendment does not save consumers any money. Who then benefits from this amendment? Not consumers. Do not expect the cost of that jar of peanut butter or that candy bar to decrease any time soon. Retail peanut butter prices have increased three times faster than the farm price of peanuts over the past 15 years. Yet U.S. retail prices of peanut products are lower or competitive with other developed countries. One can see that from this chart. Let us take a simple question, and I ask this question: If the price paid to farmers is reduced, would the savings be passed on to the consumers? I never got an answer to that question. They certainly did not tell me that they would be. Take a look at these charts. Does anybody really expect that the price of a candy bar will go down if we end this program? Peanuts comprise a small portion of the cost of this candy bar. Eliminating the program will not affect the price paid by consumers; only the manufacturers will benefit.”