Despite its favorable geographic location, suitable climate and good hydrological characteristics for agricultural development, in the transition to capitalism, Serbia has experienced a dramatic decline in this economic sector, coupled with a near-catastrophic loss in rural population. On the one hand, large oligopolies have emerged, controlling the food market, often serving as extension of foreign capital. On the other hand, small-scale producers are victims of an absence of a coherent state development policy. Considering that input-output analyses have demonstrated the remarkable multiplicative effect that agriculture has on employment growth and gross domestic product in the region to which Serbia belongs, as well as the strategic importance of food production in the emerging climate changes, there is an urgent need for a well-conceived economic development policy that would fulfill several interconnected objectives: retaining people in rural areas, achieving a technological leap in agricultural productivity and competitiveness, ensuring ecological sustainability, and optimizing the cumulative impact on the entire economic system. To achieve this, the state should implement a synergy of fiscal and monetary-credit policies, an extensive land consolidation program, initiate infrastructure investments for irrigation, and establish cooperative organizations with scientific and technological support from institutes and universities.