The number of Americans living in poverty increased by an estimated 1.2 million during 1969 and 1970, reversing the downward trend in numbers of poor registered through the 1960's. It seems a paradox that 12 percent of our citizens live in poverty in a trillion dollar economy. The grossly unequal distribution of income is illustrated by the fact that average annual after-tax personal income was $3,098 per person in 1970. Yet, 25 million lived below the 1970 poverty level, defined as $3,944 for a family of four. Roughly speaking, those living in poverty existed on incomes of less than one-third of the national per capita level. This paper is not concerned with the highly skewed distribution of personal income, but is directed to the effects on those living below or near the officially defined poverty level.

Production agriculture in the Northeast represents a declining share of national agricultural production. Some of the characteristics of Northeast agriculture that affect its future are (1) an unfavorable resource base; (2) proximity to population centers; and (3) a diversity of enterprises. Major issues affecting the future include changing technology, changing structure, competitive advantage, regulation, and labor supply and demand. The role of specialty crops in Northeast agriculture was examined. Pesticide regulation and the labor requirement for specialty crops are serious constraints to widespread adoption.

Potatoes have been grown continuously on many Long Island (New York) fields. Environmental concerns have raised questions about the continued usage of this practice. A farm-level linear programming model was used to investigate the economic impacts of crop rotations which result in reduced potato acreage. Crop rotations (an Integrated Pest Management tactic) reduced total pesticide use, but also reduced returns above variable costs as successively stringent rotation requirements were forced into the solution. The crop rotations which caused the least effect on income were identified.