They are a series of stop-gap measures designed as damage limitation. They have introduced the concept of 'Ghettoization of Nature' by taking some land out of production while allowing the remainder to be intensified further. Only the larger person can get into supplementary activities while the smaller farmer is deprived of the primary function of producing food. Artificial competition for land use has driven land prices out of reach of small to-medium farmers, young people and new entrants. . There is more than enough food to feed the world.
Hunger is the result of economic, social and political decisions.
These contain inherent contradictions which result in morally bankrupt systems such as set-aside. . G.A.T.T. is a form of modern colonisation which uses food and food production as a weapon of control by stealing the right of the Developing World countries to provide food for themselves. . The only thing genetic engineering will eliminate is life as we know it. The same industries that have polluted the planet are now promising another 'cure' for the problems, this time by tampering with the basic structures of life to produce new designer strains of plants and animals. These are then patented, and sold, or bought, at the whim of profiteering multinationals.