Agriculture and the 1st New Deal Flashcards
During FDR’s first term what did farm income rise by?
50%
In 1931 how many farms did Alston calculate went into foreclosure?
19 out of every 1,000
In 1933 how many farms were foreclosed upon?
39 out of every 1,000
up dramatically from 1931
In 1937 how many farms were foreclosed upon? Was this lower than the 1931 amount?
18 out of every 1,000
yes but only by 1 for every 1,000
Ever since when had there been too many small scale farmers in USA?
WWI where cotton and food demand was so great
What was the most long-term sustainable solution to agriculture?
farmers would have to pursue other occupations (e.g war) otherwise low farm incomes and high foreclosures would persist
DATE : AAA
1933
What did AAA stand for?
Agricultural Adjustment Act
What did the AAA’s passing do immediately?
avert a planned famers strike for May 1933
Despite AAA being government intervention, what was encouraged?
self-regulation
Purpose : AAA
fundamental plan was to raise crop prices
Action : AAA
paid farmers subsidies to compensate for voluntary cut backs in production
set production quotas
What assumption was at the heart of there AAA’s action?
assumption that the fundamental problem was one of overproduction
What did the AAA ignore, suggesting it was overproduction as the fundamental problem?
ignored under consumption as a problem
How many pigs were slaughtered in 1933?
6million
When were slaughtering practices stopped?
1934
Who received the AAA’s subsidy payments? Who was at the losing end of this relationship?
payments went to land owners - so favoured big businesses
sharecroppers and tenants (most of the African American population) were left out
What did big agriculture use subsidy payments to invest in? What did this hurt?
landowners bought labour saving machinery
hurt employment
Who was forced to leave the land due to AAA policy, why?
benefitted land owners to be planting less crop, so forced sharecroppers and tenants out
How much had been paid in benefit payments to farmers by 1936?
$1.5billion
How was money for benefit payments to farmers raised?
by taxes food processors
What consequences did the taxing of food processors have?
food price hikes
processors and stores pass on tax costs to consumers via high retail price
= continuation of hunger problem
A rise in commodity prices may be due to the AAA, or what other factor?
Dust Bowl’s drought conditions 1933-36
What event had to occur to significantly reduce farm surplus and increase farm income significantly?
WWII
