Efficient Regional Allocation of Farm Products and Programmed Supply Prices

Information on efficient regional patterns of agricultural production can be useful in devising policies for adjustments in farming that are consistent with modern conditions and concepts of economic development. Such knowledge can also indicate the amount and location of land to be withdrawn from production if surpluses and related treasury costs are to be reduced. If long-run solutions to the "farm problem" are to be attained, the Nation needs data indicating the number and location of crop acreages and outputs under a variety of situations. This information can be made available only by analysis of relationships among regions. In this paper the writers discuss the application of relatively simple linear programming models to the specification of efficiein interregional allocation of agricultural production. A more detailed discussion appeared in a recent report of cooperative research with Iowa, U.S. Department of Agriculture Technical Bulletin 1294, Regional Analysis of Production Adjustments in the Major Field Crops: Historical and Prospective (November 1963).