Farm Bills Through the Years

By Drew Grimmitt

  • Agricultural Adjustment Act

    Agricultural Adjustment Act
    -As part of the New Deal, FDR passed this act to help limit the overproduction of crops.
    -Overproduction and increased supply from foreign countries drove produce up and the prices down. Families began suffering because their hard labors were becoming less profitable.
    -The AAA paid farmers for only planting and harvesting limited numbers of acreage in order to decrease the supply. The money for these payments came from taxes from the companies that processed the crops.

  • The Agriculture Act of 1954

    The Agriculture Act of 1954
    -This bill signed by Dwight D. Eisenhower, and it covered many areas.
    -It increased authority for the movement of dairy products in the supply channel, authorized larger normal supplies of wheat and corn, and encourages domestic wool production.
    -It also provided two years of support to farmers that use soil conservation techniques.
    -This bill also moved agriculture in foreign embassies from the Department of State to Department of Ag. This opened the US ag market to a wider range.

  • Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act

    Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act
    -This is a 4-year farm bill focusing on deficiency payments to help increase farm revenues. It also lowered payment limitations to 20,000$.
    -This bill introduced disaster payments and disaster reserve inventories that would help farmers and consumers in the case of a natural disaster.
    -This bill also authorized the use of commodities to feed mothers and young children that cannot purchase the necessary food that thye need.

  • Federal Agricultural Improvements Reform

    Federal Agricultural Improvements Reform
    -This farm bill removed a connection between farm prices and support payments. This bill provided a plan that outlined seven years of decreasing payments to participation producers that did not rely on farm prices.
    -In this bill $200 Million dollars were allocated to conservation efforts to restore the everglades.
    -"A Fund for Rural America" is created and is tasked with using available resources to perform research in agriculture and develop rural land.

  • The Agricultural Improvement Act

    The Agricultural Improvement Act
    -This act provides crop insurance as a tool farmers can use to mitigate the risk of losing crops.
    -Includes the SNAP which provides nutritional assistance to families that have low income.
    -This farm bill also reclassified hemp and made it legal to grow industrially.
    -This farm bill helps the farming economy by providing assistance to farmers by paying for lost crops. This means more money will be able to circulate within the farming communities. The money made from hemp will also be a boost.