A principal component of the SEED Program shall be the provision by the United States of food and other agricultural commodities and products to alleviate crucial shortages that may be created in an East European country by the transition from state-directed controls to a free market economy.

In order to ensure the necessary quantity and diversity of agricultural assistance for that purpose, the United States shall take all appropriate steps to encourage parallel efforts by the European Community and other agricultural surplus countries.

In participating in such multilateral agricultural assistance, the United States shall seek to strike a balance wherein agricultural commodities and products are supplied in such quantities as will be effective in overcoming severe shortages and dampening inflation but without impeding the development of incentives for private agricultural production and marketing in the recipient country.