The article offers a short history of agricultural policies throughout the 20th Century. Searching out the roots and underlying motivations for Public Intervention in agriculture, opens the way to look ahead. In the past we can find the lessons we need to picture the future with imagination in a context of profound and complex changes, where new ways as well as new actors are required. EconLit Classification: Q180, O130
Keywords: XX Century, Agricultural policies, Agriculture and development, International governance