This analysis of the market for farm products also helps to explain a seeming
paradox of public policy: Certain farm programs try to help farmers by inducing
them not to plant crops on all of their land. Why do these programs do this? Their
purpose is to reduce the supply of farm products and thereby raise prices. With inelastic
demand for their products, farmers as a group receive greater total revenue
if they supply a smaller crop to the market. No single farmer would choose to
leave his land fallow on his own because each takes the market price as given. But
if all farmers do so together, each of them can be better off.