CONSENSUS BUILDS FOR WORLD AGRICULTURAL REFORM

  Top U.S. and European farm trade and
  government representatives called for a sweeping reform of
  world agriculture to redress a critical demand and supply
  imbalance.
      Speakers at a conference on world agricultural markets here
  demonstrated a growing U.S.-European consensus on the need for
  an urgent and collective overhaul of world farm trade and
  production.
      "It is vital that we work together to bring more freedom and
  harmony into the world agricultural trade...(if not) the
  disruptions in markets may grow even more severe, the walls of
  protection climb higher and the level of possible retaliation
  become more harmful," U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy
  Administrator William Bailey said.
      Bailey said his attendance at the two-day meeting, which
  ends tomorrow, demonstrated the U.S. recognises the need to
  adjust its policies to the changing market environment.
      The need for urgent reforms is justified by the "imbalance
  and tensions of the world economy," the secretary general of the
  Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
  Jean-Claude Paye said.
      And the forum for such a reform is the General Agreement on
  Tariffs and Trade, he noted.
      Paye stressed the need for a progressive and joint
  reduction of agricultural subsidies as well as social measures
  to help farmers in unprofitable areas.
      Another possible solution would be to stop supporting farm
  prices, allowing them to be fixed by supply and demand, and
  instead help farmers through income support and adjustment
  aids, proposed James Howard, Executive Vice-president of
  Cargill (USA), one of the world's largest cereal houses.
      Franz-Josef Feiter, agricultural adviser to West German
  Chancellor Helmut Kohl, agreed the European Community must take
  greater heed of market constraints in fixing farm prices.
      However, "differentiated policy treatment is required" to
  take account of large disparities in the situation around the
  EC, he said.
      "Agriculture is an efficient sector of the European economy
  and will remain so if the right policy is pursued within the
  Community," he said.
  

