A POLICY FRAMEWORK


 ,Rationale for Public Expenditure
 for Small Farm Activities

 Determining whether all or some of the gaps identified in the

preceding section should be filled, and at what rate, requires the

formulation of a rationale for public expenditure for small farm

activities. There has not been enough attention devoted to the

formulation of a rationale and the measures of program success that

would be derived from it. In addition, there has been no clear

purpose to much of the small farm activity, making evaluation

difficult if not impossible. Those who control the use of public

funds are reluctant to support proposals for increased activity

without an adequate evaluation of present activities.

 Of perhaps even greater negative significance is an unrealistic

expectation of what the agricultural science and education community

can achieve. Projects have been initiated in an atmosphere of great

missionary zeal where proclamations on objectives have not been sub-

ject to the test of realism. Disappointment has been an all too ccmmon

result of such undertakings even when positive results have been achieved.

 The rationale for assisting small-scale farmers should be based

on four principles:

 1. All farmers, regardless of size, should be assisted by the USDA

 land-grant college and university agricultural science and

 education system. Because of varying needs and types of farm-

 ing, no single method of assistance will suffice; programs

 must be developed to meet the unique needs of those who oper-

 ate small-scale farms as well as larger-scale farmers.