On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… a spoonful of sugar helps the trade protectionism go down.

The Farm Bill is up for renewal this year — and there’s a chorus of voices now, as in years past, saying it’s time we stop favoring domestic sugar.

The U.S. has subsidized American sugar producers for almost as long as we’ve been a republic, but the current system is very complicated… and very costly for the average consumer. Some argue that it’s closer to a cartel than it is a regulatory model.

Colin Grabow, research fellow at the Cato Institute, joins us to argue for the end of the U.S. sugar program.

You can find Celeste’s other podcast, Big Sugar, wherever you listen to podcasts.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie

You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices