ABSTRACT
World agriculture and world agricultural trade are in a state of disarray. Underlying tensions and conflicts have boiled over into international debates and confrontations. Many individual developing countries have an interest in agricultural export trade at least as strong as that of Australia and New Zealand. In 1974 there were 36 developing countries whose agricultural exports contributed more than 50 percent of their total export earnings and 11 for which the ratio exceeded 80 percent. A decline in the proportion of agricultural trade in the total trade of a country or region is not necessarily a cause for concern. European deficits were traditionally supplied mainly from the distant parts of the developed world which had the benefit of more favorable agricultural resources and structures. Efforts by developing countries to diversify their export agriculture have met with little success so far, partly because of the uncertain world market outlook for most alternative crops.
