U. S. Agriculture at a Crossroads: Implications for Agricultural Economics

Abstract

United States agriculture is at a crossroads. The current financial crisis in agriculture eventually will force the farm sector to follow one of two general directions for the future. One of those courses is to retreat from reliance on export markets, the loss of which triggered the current farm financial crisis, and to return to greater reliance on domestic demand. The other course is to return to a world market orientation, regain export markets lost during the 1980s, and develop and exploit a growing world demand for agricultural commodities. Each of these alternatives implies a different future for United States agriculture and a different future for the Agricultural Economics profession.