Abstract
Production from American farms is overflowing commercial markets not because high prices have pulled re sources into agriculture but because rapid technological prog ress has pushed productivity ahead faster than the slow expansion of markets and the withdrawal of land and labor from agriculture could accommodate. Substantial adjustment of farm resources is needed, but adjustment as it occurs in free markets cannot prevent chronic farm depression when tech nology is advancing rapidly nor are severely depressed in comes essential for adjustment. The case for control of market supply as the mainstay of domestic farm policy has become dominant in recent years. The means proposed include (1) a revised and gradually expanded program to retire voluntarily the poorest cropland and (2) direct controls, involving compul sory retirement of land, on the large-acreage field crops. Such a policy need not impair the future productivity of agriculture, but the amount of government intervention required remains an important obstacle to farmer support.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.