Next steps on grain reserves

The author examines American views on grain reserves and the policies of the Ford and Carter Administrations. He then focusses on the issues to be resolved in the present negotiations aimed at establishing an international grain stabilization reserve. These include the scope of the reserve, crucial to which is the recognition that the world grain market is, essentially, a single market; the price range; and membership and treatment of nonparticipants. The discussion should be carried on at both the International Wheat Council and the Multilateral Trade Negotiations in Geneva. The author sees no reason why an international grains agreement establishing a coordinated system of national grain reserves could not be ready by spring 1978.