(Link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1240440?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents)
This article discusses the primary agricultural legislation passed between 1930 and 1950, which aimed to strengthen the rural farming economy of the United States. While some legislation in this era was deemed un-constitutional, the Roosevelt Administration continued to pass new legislation that learned and developed from previous policies that had failed in a progressive manner. The main purpose of the New Deal Farm Programs was to preserve, protect, and enhance the (traditional) structure of agriculture in the United States. Some major legislative programs that have been adopted from the New Deal (which are still effective today) include price support, structural adjustment, crop insurance, disaster relief, soil conservation, rural electrification, farm credit, and food distribution aid. In order to understand the political implications of the New Deal Farm Programs, this note proposes then answers the following research question: ‘What were the effects of farm legislation that was passed from the 1930s to the 1950’s on rural farmers and their land in the United States?’
The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 offered price support to farmers for reducing their productive acreage in an effort to meet domestic market requirements (which was later deemed unconstitutional). Section 32 of this act also appropriated 30% of 'customs receipts' to fund school lunch programs in the United States. In February of 1936, the Soil Conservation Act compensated farmers to maintain soil quality via particular practice and combat erosion. In May of 1936, the Rural Electrification Administration provided federal loans for the installation of electricity in rural areas in cooperation with private, local electrical companies - which led to an improved quality of rural livelihoods. In 1937, the Farm Security Administration provided immediate relief for impoverished farmers by “selling land under long-term contracts at low interest rates to disadvantaged farm families.” In 1946, the Farmers Home Administration created a program that “made low-cost loans available to farmers (with poor credit).”
The New Deal is often criticized for failing to represent the interests of disadvantaged farmers, yet some policy analysts claim these laws have brought stability to the global prices of agricultural products in the commodity marketplace. The disappearance of small/medium-sized farms in rural communities originally suggested that the New Deal has was less successful compared to its original mission. However, it has paved the way for a Green New Deal and present-day agricultural systems in the U.S. It is known that America needs more educated, young, talented farmers that like to work outdoors in a physical environment to feed a growing economy. Still, more environmental research is needed to understand the effects of farm policy within the New Deal and Green New Deal on farmers and the quality of their land (soil, terroir) in the United States.
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