Perhaps the first important question is, “Will the next few years be significantly different from those of the past decade”? Assuming that the world is not again engulfed in a war of major magnitude, it is probably safe to conclude that many of the agricultural problems of the 1960's will continue to be of importance well into the 1970's. The problems associated with a highly competitive industry in which output per man-hour of labor is increasing rapidly while the demand for its output is both inelastic and expanding slowly are not likely to disappear at an early date.

First let us focus attention on problem areas which may not be “new” in any basic sense of that word, but which are likely to be of increasing importance in the years immediately ahead.