American Farmers and the AAA Flashcards
What is the TVA (Tennesee Valley Authority), 1933?
Extensive public planning program for the development of the Tennessee River valley (Tn, N. Cal., Ky, Va, Miss, Ga, Ala).
It allows for public construction of dams, reforestation, flood control, land reclamation (e.g. cultivation of land), power generation, house construction and more.
Did the AAA get outlawed?
The AAA was outlawed by the US Supreme Court in Jan. 1936. Processing tax and production controls found unconstitutional.
What does the CCC stand for? (1933)
And what is it?
Commodity Credit Corporation (1933).
Lends money to farmers in AAA schemes on security of their crops.
Allows farmers to hold crops off market until prices rose.
These are ‘non-recourse’ loans, which means that farmers repay them only if the price levels for their crop(s) go above stipulated (fastsatte) levels; otherwise, the loans become grants. (grants = a sum of money given by a government or other organization for a particular purpose)
What does the AAA stand for? (1933)
And what is it?
Agricultural Adjustment Act 1933.
Emergency Action: destruction of crops and livestock: the only instant solution in cotton and pig production. Government pays farmers to to so.
- Production Controls: Farmers payed to reduce crop output - designed to raise crop prices. The Government ‘ rents’ land and leaves it fallow.
- Price Supports: Farmers who joined this voluntary scheme are paid by government if price of their crop fell below certain levels.
- Marketing agreements: Scheme whereby commodity processors guarantee produers minimum prices for their goods.
- Soil Conservation
- Grass-roots Administration
- Thomas Admentment.
What does FSA stand for? (1937)
And what is it?
Farm Security Administration 1937.
Absorbs RA and other farm welfare agencies; takes over RA’s task of retiring sub-marginal land and farm relocation; loans money on security of crops to tentants and poor farmers in order to enable them survive and combine into more viable units.
The AAA 1938.
What is the AAA from 1938?
Re-establishes much of the structure of the 1933 AAA but finances the schemes out of general taxation, not the processing tax.
The Act takes the form of:
- Ever-Normal Granary: A scheme designed to even out supply and demand (and thus prices) from year to year.
- Price Supports:
- Parity Payments:
-Marketing Quotas: - Crop insurance Scheme
- Grass-roots
What does the REA stand for?
What is it?
The REA stands for Rural Electrification Administration 1935.
Extends TVA rural power program.
Provides low-cost loans to farmers’ cooperatives to extend electrical supplies into the countryside, thereby providing most of the nation’s farms with electricity for the first time. 1.5 million farms acquire electricity between 1935 and 1941 via the REA.
What does the RA stand for? (1935)
What is it?
The RA stand for ‘Resettlement Administration’ (1935).
Its main goal was to help struggling farmers and rural communities by providing them with support and resources.
Headed by Rexford Tugwell, the RA provides funding to relocate destitute farmers from sub-marginal land, organize rural cooperatives, and build green belt towns.
Relief payments for rural unemployed; rural relocation and low-interest loans for poor farmers.
Later absorbed into Farm Security Administration.
Remember, there are two CCC’s !!
Explain Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
CCC - (the Civilian Conservation Corps): Put young men to work at conservation projects
to restore and stabilize the industrial economy and pay better wages to workers (the National Recovery Administration).
What is the difference between sharecroppers and tenant farmers?
Sharecroppers and tenant farmers were both agricultural laborers, but there are some key differences between them. Sharecroppers typically did not own the land they worked on and instead received a portion of the crops as payment for their labor. In contrast, tenant farmers rented the land they cultivated and often paid cash or a portion of their harvest as rent to the landowner. Tenant farmers generally had more independence and control over their farming operations compared to sharecroppers.
