ํThis analysis of the market for farm products also help to explain a seeming paradox of public policy: Certain farm program try to help farmers by inducing them not to plant crops on all of their land. Why do these program do this? Their purpose is to reduce the supply of farm products and these by raise prices. With inelastic demand for their products, farmers as a group receive greater total revenue if they supply a small 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.