Food and agricultural policy: old wine in new bottles
United States agricultural and agricultural policies are in turmoil, and there is a critical need to reexamine these policies in light of contemporary realities. The immediate sources of agriculture's economic problems are record-breaking crop production coupled with recession-weakened demand at home and abroad. A two-pronged program for short-term domestic-supply adjustment policies that constrains production to enhance market prices and reduces government budget exposure in 1983 to 1984 has produced uneven income results through encouragement of crop diversion and payments-in-kind for crop diversion. Yet, the US dominates world trade in cereals, feed grains, and oil seeds. As future fluctuations in and expanded global demands for world food production are inevitable, a food security policy, preferably international, would view US abundance as an opportunity to build valuable reserves against future production shortfalls. Although experience has shown that internationally linked food security policies are fraught with difficulty and frequently negated by nationalistic motives, global interdependence and the instability of agriculture argue for continued efforts to develop such institutions before the next major world food shortfall.
- OSTI ID:
- 6136943
- Journal Information:
- Resources; (United States), Journal Name: Resources; (United States) Vol. 72; ISSN RESUB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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