A/HRC/12/31* page 9 14. While raising public spending on agriculture is necessary, changing the allocation of existing spending is equally vital. It is crucial that investments benefit the poorest, most marginalized farmers, often located in the least favourable environments. All too often, these farmers have been left out of support schemes, partly because of their disempowerment and partly because of the belief that the larger the farm, the more productive it will be. This was incorrect. Small producers contribute to greater food security, particularly in remote areas where locally produced foods preclude the high transport and marketing costs associated with many purchased foods.7 As a result of past policies that favoured mostly large-scale agro-industrial production, certain public goods, the provision of which is sometimes vastly more efficient than that of inputs, have been under-supplied: these include storage facilities, access to means of communication and therefore to regional and local markets, access to credit and insurance against weather-related risks, extension services, agricultural research and the organization of farmers in cooperatives. The result of past policies that have neglected this dimension are reflected in the graph below. Graph II Access to transportation and social service infrastructure by poorest and richest households 7 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Promoting Pro-Poor Growth: Agriculture, Paris, 2006, p. 31.