This is the fifth Presidential agricultural task force to be sent to a developing country. Earlier teams visited Peru, Thailand, and Honduras. A task force is currently in Venezuela. Plans for the teams were established at the direction of President Reagan following the North-South summit talks in Cancun, Mexico, in October 1981. At the request of a developing country, members of a task force review a country's agricultural policies and the state of technology for small and medium farmers. They suggest ways to improve the agricultural production and marketing systems.

The task force for Liberia, arranged by the Agency for International Development (AID), will be headed by Dr. E. T. York, chancellor emeritus of the State university system in Florida. Dr. York has served as chancellor and as provost for agriculture of the University of Florida and as Administrator of the Federal Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has traveled in more than 50 countries as consultant to the State Department, the Agency for International Development, and foreign governments in the field of education, agriculture, and economic development.

Other members of the task force are: Dr. Harold Capener (Ithaca, N.Y.), professor of rural sociology, Cornell University; Dr. Robert Chander (Templeton, Mass.), former director of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI); Dr. Elmer Kiehl (Columbia, Mo.), dean, College of Agriculture, University of Missouri, and member of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) board of directors; Mr. W. Gordon Leith (Santa Rosa, Calif.), former chief executive officer, Farmland Industries; Mr. Cloyce Palmer (Fairfield, Iowa), president and chief executive officer, Jefferson Industries, and farmer; and Dr. Louis Upchurch (Gainesville, Fla.), former Administrator, Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).