Common sense

While I'm reading today's Wall Street Journal online, I came across this front-page article on poor countries beginning to develop their own sustainable farming. Of course this is necessary, though; since the birth of civilization, being able to produce enough food has been the cornerstone of advancement. The notion that trade would step in to cover staple crops while Third World nations could simply focus on a quick-fix scheme of producing export crops has no real historical success story as its basis.