Food in the West Open Discussion 



(Governor Lamm) Dr. Borlaug, magnificent, thank 

 you. When the history of these times are written, I 

 think it will show that you and the Green Revolution 

 gave us the breathing room that we then immediately 

 went ahead and didn't take advantage of Ultimately, 

 the stork will fly faster than the plow. We do have a 

 serious problem of balancing population and 

 resources, and I very much endorse what you are 

 saying. 



Other comments, questions? I would like to make 

 this as informal as possible. Our panelists are up 

 front and I would like to turn to the governors for 

 questions or comments, whatever else. 



Yes, Governor Atiyeh 



(Governor Atiyeh): Dr. Borlaug touched on it, but 

 maybe he or Dr. Castle could speak further on it I 

 am aware that the average age of the farmer is 

 increasing, which means that the younger people, for 

 a variety of reasons that we might understand, are not 

 moving into agricultural production. What is the impli- 

 cation of this trend? Can the situation be reversed? 



(Dr. Castle): It is just too competitive of a busi- 

 ness for any large amount of inefficiency to prevail for 

 any significant period of time So, I guess, I don't see 

 it being reversed. I don't see any public policies that 

 would change what I think is a fairly fundamental 

 trend 



"It is just too competitive of a business 



for any large amount of inefficiency to 



prevail for any significant period of 



time. " 



Although, I certainly think it's most important that 

 we maintain the agricultural research and extension 



establishment that we've had and that they do have 

 special programs for those who would like to enter 

 agriculture. 



But hopefully, I would advise them to come in on a 

 realistic basis and, I think the worst thing in the world 

 would be to attract a lot of young, inadequately 

 financed people into an industry that is really very, 

 very, competitive and requires the very best in mana- 

 gerial abilities. That's a somewhat long-winded 

 answer. Governor, but I think those are items that 

 have to be taken into consideration. 



(Dr. Borlaug): Let me just add one point to this 

 and you have to remember I may be answering this 

 out of stupidity and ignorance. But, I think that the 

 inheritance tax laws as they stood up until very 

 recently, were one of the kisses of death for the small 

 family farm, and certainly this has contributed to the 

 confusion. I believe there has been some correction 

 of this, IS that not correct? 



(Mr. Brassier): Well, over a long period because it 

 still hasn't reached a desirable effect yet, but at least 

 we're moving in the right direction 



(Dr. Borlaug): About the age of farmers, I would 

 just like to say that I just came back from Poland 

 about three weeks, a month ago, and through coer- 

 cive pressure of many kinds to socialize the land there 

 over the last 30 to 40 years, it hasn't flown because 

 of the great resistance. Still 75 percent of that land is 

 in the hands of private farmers They're all small. 

 They look like Indian farms — five to ten acres 



But, the same problem of aging is going on there 

 Virtually all of them are 60 years or older The youth 

 have left because of the pressures of uncertainty of 

 tenure and lower incomes The prices have been reg- 

 ulated to force the private sector to sell out, and 

 receive, in turn, some kind of retirement. What that is 

 worth on paper or in real life is beyond me, but there 



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