In addition to attempting to enhance farm prices and incomes, the U.S. and other governments seek to influence the cost and availability of farm inputs, especially credit, and the rate at which land and water resources are being depleted. Government intervention may also take the form of subsidizing domestic food consumption, exports, and rural development programs, trade restrictions are another common form of government interventions. The scope of government intervention varies greatly among countries and even among commodities within countries. Almost every nation contributes to agricultural research and provides indirect assistance to farmers in the form of special credit facilities and support for farm supply and marketing cooperatives. The principal differences among nations are found in the degree to which they intervene in pricing farm and food products and in subsidizing food consumption and exports.
Japan stands at one extreme among noncommunist industrial nations.
Nearly all farm and food prices in Japan are strongly influenced by government decisions. Farmers are almost completely insulated from world market forces. New Zealand lies close to the other extreme. The United States falls somewhere between these two extremes. Government action strongly influences the prices of some commodities but not others.