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cane and for quota crops such as peanuts, tobacco, rice and extra long staple cotton. In this way a farmer can plant the crops that the he prefers to grow and which give him his best net returns. Agricultural spcialists who helped develop the new programs point out that this greater freedom to plant will eventually lead to the concentration of certain crops in areas of the country where they can be grown most efficiently. They expect more corn production concentrated in the Corn Belt, more small grains in the Great Plains, more soybean production in the Southeast, and an expansion of cotton production in the most efficient areas.
One of the basic ideas behind the set-aside feature is that producers in all of these areas can be better off because they will be producing the crop they grow best at a lower cost. Some farmers for years have been locked into certain patterns of producing their crops because of the acreage control features of past programs. A farmer who had allotments or bases for several crops was encouraged to grow them, and this discouraged specialization which could lead to lower production costs.
The set-aside idea seems to fit with trends that have been building in farming over the years. These include the trend in which American farms have grown fewer in number and larger in size, and the trend for producers to become more efficient and more productive. The efficient, competitive producer will be in the best position to take advantage of growing world demands for farm products.
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