McCarthy, Doyle, Simone 1

Natalie McCarthy, Mackenzie Doyle, Dominique Simone

Harkins
Hon. American History
1/10/17
Agricultural Adjustment Act
During WWI US farmers had to produce a lot of food to support the troops, and the
agricultural industry in the United States was booming. Unfortunately, after the war crop prices
were falling because other countries could now produce crops again, giving the US farmers more
competition, and lowering crop prices. Farmers also began to produce more crops to try to pay
their bills. This overproduction of crops led to the prices of crops being extremely low. Farmers
were no longer making enough profit, and their families and livestock were suffering. When
Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office during the Great Depression, he presented a plan in order
to raise the prices of crops again and help farmers make more profit. Included in the 15 acts of
legislation (the New Deal) given to Congress in a special session to help the Great Depression,
Roosevelt introduced the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA).
Congress passed the New Deal and the AAA went into action. They decided that it was
the policy of Congress to manage the agricultural industry by maintaining a supply and
demand for commodities so that the prices and profits of crops do not drastically decrease. The
AAA was a federal law that was put into place to reduce the production of crops, in order to raise
the value of them. The crops targeted by this act were the commodities, such as corn, wheat, rice,
peanuts, tobacco, and milk. Livestock were also targeted, and farmers were told to kill off
excess livestock. Farmers were paid subsidies, a sum of money granted by the government to
help assist the industry so that the price of the commodity stay low and competitive, as a trade

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for the farmers to not plant on some of their land, kill off excess livestock, and reduce their
production of crops. These subsidies were paid for by money collected from an exclusive tax on
companies that processed farm products. Since farmers were so poorly off, they had no choice
but to accept these payments and follow the law.
This act, though it did not end the depression or drought, did put hope into farming
communities. And although it was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court for violating
the tenth amendment (by managing agriculture, the federal government was taking over
jurisdiction given to the states in the constitution), it did have many positive outcomes. It led to
the replacement of the Federal Farm Board with the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, was
successful in raising the prices of crops, and increased total farm income by over 50%. Though
this act is no longer a used piece of legislation, it is still use as a basis for farm programs, and has
had a major impact on American farming.

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Works Cited
"Agricultural Adjustment Act." Wikipedia the Free Enclyclopedia. Wikipedia, 29 Dec. 2016,
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act.
Ganzel, Bill. "AAA, the Agricultural Adjustment Act." Wessel's Living History Farm, Ganzel
Group, 2003, www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_11.html.