The Policy Response of Agriculture
评估农业对政府政策的响应时，需考虑影响实际农业利润的所有因素，区分短期与长期、个体作物与总产出的不同反应。短期总供给弹性很低，因为土地、资本和劳动力固定；长期增长依赖更多资源投入或技术变革。
In assessing the response of agricultural production to government policies, it is necessary to look not just at output prices but at all the factors that affect real farm profits; to disentangle the effects on individual (or export) crops from the effects on aggregate output; and to distinguish the short-run aggregate response from the long-run. Individual crops respond strongly to price factors, but growth in one crop usually takes resources away from others. The price elasticity of agriculture overall is very low in the short run because the main factors of production —land, capital, and labor —are fixed. Aggregate output can grow only if more resources are devoted to agriculture or if technology changes. Output is also affected by investments in roads, markets, irrigation, infrastructure, education, and health. Research and extension increase the demand for fertilizer. As for adjustment policy: domestic food supply may not increase rapidly in response to adjustment programs, so structural adjustment programs should do more than ease the balance of payments; analysis should focus on how to make all of agriculture grow.