Comments by "LancesArmorStriking" (@LancesArmorStriking) on "Why Farmer Protests are Spreading Across Europe" video.

@mormacil "I reject the entire idea we're expected to compete on equal terms in the slightest" Well, you can't. Because it's true. You're two entities competing in the same market. Often times (in the case of Central and Eastern European countries), you're competing for buyers with the same crop. The reasons you gave I already addressed (and literally just addressed again, above): each country doesn't have its own niche carved out. Not every country can specialize in tulips, or olive oil, some need to just sell cereal grains. There will inevitably be conflicts of interest in the EU. "Reality isn't unfair" "the entire EU is built on competing in unequal terms" So you think that unequal terms are fair? Can you explain that? I also think you're stretching the definition of "equal" to suit your needs. I am referring to equal only in the sense that they occupy the same status in the market: producers. They may have different methods of farming, different outcomes, but ultimately they are both producers of a certain crop.
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@mormacil They didn't earn the black soil. It developed over thousands of years before any Slavs lived in that area. Basically it's unfair because it is an advantage, in a market where everyone is expected to compete in equal terms. No amount of efficiency will ever make Dutch farmland as productive as Ukrainian. Dutch people need to work more for less. That's what makes it unfair.
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 @mormacil Not every country has its own little niche thar doesn't overlap with any other EU country's export market. Some are directly competing against each other with the same crop.
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@mormacil You have a bit too much faith in the design of the EU. What you described is a mini-version of globalization, where each country is expected to find its niche (which you just said isn't the case because competition exists) and serve the rest of the Union. That only works if the EU is stable and there aren't, say, protests by farmers blocking the distribution of a crop that only a few countries have taken on the task of harvesting. Redundancy and subsidies are what keep a system from falling apart when 50% of the grain suddenly stops coming into the EU.
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