A British commission has recommended that the government change the way agricultural subsidies are dispensed, moving away from simply paying farmers for growing stuff or raising animals and toward paying them for changing their production methods to protect the environment. We’d do well to examine this report in the United States as well. It would change the system from simply benefitting farmers to benefitting everyone — a healthy environment is a common good, whereas having a bunch of farmers using pesticides to keep their government dole checks rolling in keeps them going but does little for the non-farmers who make up the vast majority of the population.