If the government is serious about development, some say, agro-industry is much more promising than small-scale farming.

CNN: INSIDE STORY: PHILIPPINES

The discovery that the infertile soils of the cerrado can be made productive are due solely to the initiative of the private sector American IRI Research Institute funded by the Rockefeller Brothers' Fund and Brazilian agro-industry.

ECONOMIST: Letters

Agricultural-product disparagement statutes, which were dreamt up by a congressman after alarms over the use of Alar, an agro-chemical, damaged his apple business in 1989, shield farmers from criticism in a way no other industry can claim.

ECONOMIST: Food-disparagement laws