Farm Prices example essay topic

Agriculture As soon as humans began to form permanent settlements and gave up wandering in search of food, agriculture was born. The Latin roots of the word agriculture mean "cultivation of the fields". From the beginning, agriculture has included raising both crops and livestock. At first, this new way of providing food and other raw materials developed slowly. But, because it made life much easier for many people, it became the preferred way of supplying a basic human need. The people who worked at agriculture came to be called farmers.

Society was different before there were farmers. Nearly everybody devoted much time to gathering plants for food or to hunting or fishing. When food was abundant, there were feasts; when it was not, there was famine. Gradually people discovered the advantages of caring for animals in flocks and herds.

They learned to grow plants for food, medicine, clothing, and shelter in areas set aside for that purpose. As the food supply became more reliable and raw materials became more abundant, some people were free to do other things besides farming and hunting. Many of them chose to live in towns and cities, using their talents in various ways, including becoming expert in different trades. They made a variety of goods, which they could trade with the farmers for food.

This began the division of labor into the rural farming community and the urban industrial complex, a fundamental partnership that still exists throughout the world. Other people used their new leisure to observe, to think, to experiment. With the passage of centuries, such activity led to the bases of science, religion, government, and the arts, the foundation of modern civilization. Farming used to be primarily a family enterprise and to a large extent still is in most countries. In the more developed areas, however, more efficient large-scale operations are overtaking the smaller family farms These large farms usually specialize in one crop or one type of crop and often are run by giant parent corporations. Such farms are part of the current trend toward more controlled and cost-effective agriculture, called agribusiness.

The goal in agriculture has almost always been increased production and decreased labor. In the early 1900's the American farm, for example, was run by the muscles of people and of draft animals. Today machines of great size and complexity, some computerized, accomplish in hours what took many of those people and animals days to complete. There are still family farms similar to those of an earlier era even in the most industrialized nations, but they are becoming fewer every year. There are also small-scale agricultural systems in many emerging nations of the world. But the trend almost everywhere is toward larger farms that are mechanized and that utilize the latest scientific agricultural methods to provide products more efficiently.

There is a great range in agricultural production around the world. Some countries, using high technology and advanced methods, produce more through agriculture than they need or can use, while others underdeveloped and poorer never produce enough to sustain their populations. The farming systems that maintained ancient civilizations in Asia Minor or in the New World are incapable of supporting populations in those areas today. In underdeveloped Africa, farming techniques are improving but are not even as advanced as those of the ancient Babylonians or the Incas.

Nations with more advanced agriculture often attempt to help such areas improve farm productivity. This aid is often invaluable, but sometimes questionable for the long term. Agricultural systems are intimately connected to places and peoples. Propelling such areas into modern agricultural cropping techniques may be a shock to the local culture. Advanced technologies may not be advisable under the climatic and soil conditions of the area. The native method is often a marvel of ingenuity developed over many generations through intimate contact with unique situations.

There may be no bumper crops, but the wonder is that there is any crop at all. Many countries in the Western Hemisphere consistently produce more food than they use. The surpluses are stored in granaries and warehouses for later use or sale to other countries. Storing the surpluses costs money because giant bins and huge buildings must be built and maintained. Techniques for reducing spoilage and loss to pests add to the cost. As farmers continue to seek the greatest possible yield for the most reasonable cost, advanced agriculture is becoming as elaborate and as complicated as other modern industries.

In the United States and in other wealthy nations where population is not yet a burden, the cost of labor is relatively high and is the limiting factor in production. Thus there has been more and more mechanization and automation. In general, the world is no better fed today than decades ago. The world's population is growing at an alarming rate, and agriculture has just barely kept up with it.

Despite overproduction in some nations, perhaps one out of six persons throughout the world is undernourished. Some studies show that as much as half of the world's population may be suffering from malnutrition or starvation. Distribution of agricultural surpluses to areas of deficiency seems an ideal solution. But it is far more difficult than it seems. The surpluses currently produced by agriculturally advanced countries are often given to school lunch programs, to families on public assistance, and to welfare institutions within the nations themselves. Food and fiber crops are sold abroad for foreign currencies to improve the producing country's balance of trade.

Even if the food could be easily distributed to other nations, the costs for transporting it run high. Some nations may complain that others ruin their markets by giving a commodity away or selling it at cut-rate prices. These problems, too, must be carefully weighed against the benefits to poorer countries. Because agriculture is so important to a nation's well-being, governments have always been concerned with it. For example, the United States and Canada have long produced surpluses that complicate their economies. Surpluses tend to lower prices to farmers and seriously endanger the agriculture industry.

Governments have instituted systems of price supports to maintain a fair price when surpluses cause prices to drop. The system in the United States is a good example. A government program supports the prices paid to farmers for grains, soybeans, cottonseed and other oilseeds, peanuts, cotton, tobacco, butter, cheese, dried milk, wool, mohair, and honey. Support prices are based on parity, which is the ratio between the prices farmers receive for their crops and the prices they must pay for things they need. The government selected the period from 1910 to 1914 as a time when farm prices were in a fair ratio with farming costs. This is the base period now used to determine parity prices.

The idea is to assure farmers that what they get for a bushel of wheat will buy the same amount of, say, seed as it did in the years of the base period. If prices drop too far below this ideal the government can help in a number of ways. For example, it may buy much of a surplus at parity prices. Governments have instituted a wide variety of other controls for prices and, also, for farm output, mainly at the request of the farmers themselves.

Farm prices tend to fluctuate more than other prices do, and the incomes of farmers fluctuate along with farm prices. Various measures for maintaining farm prices and incomes include tariff or import levies, import quotas, export subsidies, direct payment to farmers, and limitations on production. All of these measures are useful and are used to some extent by most developed countries. An important example of such a program is the soil-bank plan, which aimed at limiting production while improving farmland.

The soil-bank plan was passed by the United States Congress in 1956. It allowed a farmer to witThere may be no bumper crops, but the wonder is that there is any crop at all. It allowed a farmer to withdraw land from production for three-, five-, or ten-year periods and receive rental payments from the government for doing so. The farmer planted such land with grass, trees, or other vegetation that would help prevent erosion and aid fertility. New soil-bank rentals ended in 1960. The European Economic Community (EEC) established a common agricultural policy (CAP) for its member nations, called the Common Market countries.

The aim is to create free trade for individual commodities within the community. When production of a commodity exceeds EEC consumption, the EEC may buy the excess for storage, pay to have it reprocessed, or export it to countries outside the Common Market. In this way the EEC can maintain its members' farm prices at levels equal to or even higher than those in such market-competitive nations as the United States and Canada.