by Gary Kline

About the author: Gary Kline is an associate professor of political science at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus.

Even in these times of keen global competition, U.S. agriculture is admired and envied around the world for its dynamism and its bounty. Agriculture continues to provide much of the cheer in our otherwise gloomy trade picture. It occupies a central place in the psychic landscape of this predominantly urban nation which yet cherishes its images of the sturdy, hard-working family farmer. Not surprisingly, its exponents have made this powerful image a model for the world, and particularly for the so-called less-developed, or Third World, countries.

Wasteful Methods

The abundance and astounding productivity of American agriculture since the Second World War led to a complacence: most critics, conservative and liberal...