807 



U.S. food production generates domestic surpluses once again, the 

 demand for a return to the surplus disposal philosophy could become 

 a very live issue. 

 Imtitutional Resources for Orderly Development of Agriculture 



The extent to which agricultural policy can be implemented is 

 limited by the nature of agriculture itself — whether in the small farm, 

 managed'^by a single owner, or the large farm, handled like a substan- 

 tial business firm. Operating decisions in agriculture are usually an 

 inherent prerogative of land ownership in the non-communist devel- 

 oping "countries. This principle limits the scope and effectiveness of 

 national agricultural policy, and complicates the role of international 

 organizations formed to coordinate or promote balance in the develop- 

 ment of global or regional agriculture. As Dr. A. H. Boerma, Direc- 

 tor General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 

 Xations (FAO) , complained, despite a quarter-century of FAO efforts 

 the agricultural scene today was "a very mixed one still containing 

 distortions, imbalances, injustices, and deep unrest." 



For what dn we liaveV [Hoeruia lontiimed ] On the othpr hiiid. thnt- are "■■■"i^t 

 regions where neither the land nor the waters of the earth are properly culti- 

 vated, where the majority of mankind is in one way or another badly fed, where 

 the countryside is inhabited by millions of people living in extreme poverty, and 

 where most of them are unable to lind work. On the other hand, there is a 

 smaller part of the earth where it seems that far too much food is being pro- 

 duced, where governments are either actively paying farmers to cultivate less 

 of their land or dispensing huge sums to keep up the prices of their overproduc- 

 tion, and where large numbers of people are dying from diseases at least partly 

 brought on by overeating. Could there be a more illogical pattern than that 

 currently presented by the completely unbalanced situation of world agricul- 

 ture and food consumption?®^ 



As a practical matter, the dislocations Boerma referred to are the 

 focus of a considerable organized effort by agricultural institutions at 

 all levels— private, public, instructional, commercial, local, national, 

 regional, and global. At the global level, there is the FAO itself stimu- 

 lating cooperation, encouraging international participation of nations 

 in food contribution programs, collecting statistics, disseminating 

 information and training, and setting up global objectives, priorities,, 

 and plans. 



There is regional cooperation in agriculture through organizations 

 such as the Alliance for Progress, the Organisation for Economic Co- 

 operation and Development, and the United Nations Economic Com- 

 mittee for Asia and the Far East. These generally serve as regional 

 counterparts to FAO. In addition, of course, each country has its own. 

 internal organization for agricultural development and stimulation. 



Although the United States has led in time and volume of agricul- 

 tural and food aid, most of the developed countries have followed suit 

 in contributing to the agricultural development of the LDCs. The com- 

 plex U.S. program of agricultural and food assistance involves the 

 Department of State, U.S.A.I.D., the Department of Agriculture, the 

 various congressional appropriations and oversight committees, mon- 



"2 Addeke H. Boerma, (Director-general of FAO). "Address to the Eighteenth General 

 Conference of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers on the Occasioa 

 of Its Twenty-fifth Anniversai;i'" (Paris, France. May 14. 1971), page 4. 



