Agricultural Policies in the Western Hemisphere

The Western Hemisphe~e for the most part depends heavily on agriculture.Almost three-fourths of the Hemisphere's fast-growing pop~lation is concen trated in tropical countries with a pronounct~d dependence on farm output.In Latin America approximately one-half of the population is rural, and the agri cultural sector accounts for more than one-fifth of the gross national product and one-half of total export earnings.The agricultural policies of most Hemisphere countries in recent years re flect the growing need to expand agricultural production through technology, the opening of new lands, and the varying of crops.These policies often try to cope at the same time with social and economic problems inherent in a tradi tional agrarian structure.Increased and diversified output in an updated farm structure, however, is not the only general aim of most Western Hemisphere nations.A growing trend toward urbanization and industrialization has created new problems, first in supplying urban centers when transportation and marketing facilities are lacking, and second in coordinating national goa18 of agriculture and indust~J to meet the overall economic goals of increased employment and in come.Price support programs, for example, have been almost universally intro duced.And in recent years, guaranteed minimum producer prices have been established for domestic food crops to ensure adequate supplies throughout Latin America.Prices are usually supported by Government purchase and storage programs.Both Government and semiautonomous agencies provide monopolies for marketing principal exports crops in Canada, Brazil, and Colombia and are im portant in price stabilization programs elsewhere.Government food suP?ly agencies have been established in many countries.The effectiveness of price support programs, however, is often limited by inadequate storage and marketing facilities and subsidy costs.Research, extension, and credit programs to stimulate improved technology in agriculture have received emphasis in most countries during the past two decades.Latin American agriculture receives substantial assistance from the United States, as well as from international and private organizations.This assistance has been augmented and integrated unde.r the Alliance for Progress Program, signed by the United States and 19 Latin American nations in August 1961.The Alliance program is administered within the framework of the Organi zation of American States (OAS), which is respon~ible for the coordination of

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