Agriculture et développement socialiste

What is the socialist form of agricultural development ? What part does farming play in general economic development ? At present the answers to these two questions are not simple and vary according to the country in question. This variety can be seen in four aspects of the question : 1) Institutions (the choice is no longer between State farms and cooperatives ; different types of farms are combined and associated ; the newest form, the agro- industrial combinat, cannot be analysed simply with reference to one form of ownership). 2) Planning and management methods. The carrying out of the plan is encouraged by types of motivation such as profit. From this point of view, the problem of subsidies and more generally the transfer of funds from the State to farming must be reexamined. 3) The position of the farm worker : how can rural depopulation be measured today ? What is the significance of closer links between town and country ? 4) The role of farming in socialist countries foreign trade : perhaps the myth of socialist farming eternally dependent on importations should be revised.