I don't claim to know enough about the industry, and I may be completely wrong in this instance, but surely there must be occasions when an industry should be preserved even when it's loss-making.
The agriculture industry has been subsidised by the EU for fifty years and still takes 40% of the total EU budget.
I think some industries are strategically important. Take your example of agriculture. We would find it difficult to survive hostilities without food. Anyone dismissing the idea that we could be at war in the future is ignoring history and that ignores history is doomed to repeat it.
