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Agricultural Adjustment Administration (view source)
Revision as of 22:35, August 30, 2009
, 22:35, August 30, 2009expand
The '''Agricultural Adjustment Administration''' (AAA) was the largest of many farm programs under the [[New Deal]]. The goal was to increase the flow of income to farmers.
The '''Agricultural Adjustment Administration''' (AAA) was the largest of many farm programs under the [[New Deal]]. The goal was to increase the flow of income to farmers. The first AAA lasted 1933-35; the second one 1935-42.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) (P.L. 73-10 of May 12, 1933) restricted production by reducing crop acreage and animal production. It allowed farmers to vote on establishing acreage and production controls; the controls once approved by majorities of farmers were mandatory for alll of them. The technique was reducing production; iin the startup phase in 1933, with crops already in the ground and pigs already born, they had to be plowed up or killed.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) (P.L. 73-10 of May 12, 1933) restricted production by reducing crop acreage and animal production. It allowed farmers to vote on establishing acreage and production controls; the controls once approved by majorities of farmers were mandatory for all of them. The technique was reducing production; in the startup phase in 1933, with crops already in the ground and pigs already born, they had to be plowed up or killed.
The AAA was designed primarily to solve the economic crisis in rural America--farmers had too little money because they produced too much and the prices they received were very low.
The AAA was designed primarily to solve the economic crisis in rural America--farmers had too little money because they produced too much and the prices they received were very low.
The AAA was led by George Peek and Chester Davis, under the general supervision of Secretary [[Henry C. Wallace]]. When leftwing elements in the AAA tried to slip through provisions to build a political base among sharecroppers, they were immediately fired by Davis, with the explicit approval of Wallace and President Roosevelt.
The AAA implemented a provision for crop reductions known as the "domestic allotment" system of the act. Under this system producers of corn, cotton, dairy products, hogs, rice, tobacco, and wheat would decide on production limits for their crops. The AAA would then pay land owners subsidies for leaving some of their land idle with funds provided by a new tax on food processing. Farm prices were to be subsidized up to the point of "parity". "Parity" was the relationship between urban and rural costs that prevailed in 1910, in the "golden age" of farming. Some crops were ordered to be destroyed and some livestock slaughtered to maintain prices. The idea was that the less produced, the higher the price, and the farmer would benefit.
Farm incomes increased significantly in the first three years of the New Deal. However, consumers bore the brunt of higher food prices and many were horrified with its policy of enforced scarcity. A Gallup Poll revealed that a majority of the American public opposed the AAA, but the majorities existed in Congress to pass it. The AAA established an important and long-lasting federal role in the planning on the entire agricultural sector of the economy.
One criticism from the left was that in the South the AAA favored rich landowners over the impoverished tenant farmers and sharecroppers. The allegation was false but was widely spread in history books. (The AAA required land owners to maintain the same number of tenants and croppers as before.) There were other New Deal programs focused on the needs of tenant farmers and sharecroppers.
==Goals==
==Goals==
The idea of raising farm prices by cutting production was developed in the 1920s by Profesor M. L. Wilson of Montana State University. The idea was a) it would raise city prices a little and farm income a lot; and 2) it was assumed that farmers (not cityfolk) are the best citizens and they deserve special protection and support.
The idea of raising farm prices by cutting production was developed in the 1920s by Professor M. L. Wilson of Montana State University. The idea was a) it would raise city prices a little and farm income a lot; and 2) it was assumed that farmers (not city folk) are the best citizens and they deserve special protection and support.