Farm Subsidies A Necessary Evil Essay

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (farm subsidies a necessary evil )
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Subsidies are payments, economic concessions, or privileges given by the

government to favor businesses or consumers. In the 1930s, subsidies were designed to

favor agriculture. John Steinbeck expressed his dislike of the farm subsidy system of

the United States in his book, The Grapes of Wrath. In that book, the government gave

money to farms so that they would grow and sell a certain amount of crops. As a result,

Steinbeck argued, many people starved unnecessarily. Steinbeck examined farm subsidies

from a personal level, showing how they hurt the common man. Subsidies have a variety

of other problems, both on the micro and macro level, that should not be ignored. Despite

their benefits, farm subsidies are an inefficient and dysfunctional part of our economic

system.

The problems of the American farmer arose in the 1920s, and various methods

were introduced to help solve them. The United States still disagrees on how to solve

the continuing problem of agricultural overproduction. In 1916, the number of people living

on farms was at its maximum at 32,530,000. Most of these farms were relatively small

(Reische 51). Technological advances in the 1920's brought a variety of effects. The

use of machinery increased productivity while reducing the need for as many farm laborers.

The industrial boom of the 1920s drew many workers off the farm and into the cities.

Machinery, while increasing productivity, was very expensive. Demand for food, though,

stayed relatively constant (Long 85). As a result of this, food prices went down. The

small farmer was no longer able to compete, lacking the capital to buy productive

machinery. Small farms lost their practicality, and many farmers were forced to

consolidate to compete. Fewer, larger farms resulted (Reische 51). During the

Depression, unemployment grew while income shrank. "An extended drought had

aggravated the farm problem during the 1930s (Reische 52)." Congress, to counter this,

passed price support legislation to assure a profit to the farmers. The Soil Conservation

and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936 allowed the government to limit acreage use for

certain soil-depleting crops. The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 allowed

the government to set the minimum price and amount sold of a good at the market. The

Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, farmers were given price supports for not growing

crops. These allowed farmers to mechanize, which was necessary because of the scarcity

of farm labor during World War II (Reische 52). During World War II, demand for food

increased, and farmers enjoyed a period of general prosperity (Reische 52). In 1965, the

government reduced surplus by getting farmers to set aside land for soil conservation

(Blanpied 121). The Agricultural Act of 1970 gave direct payments to farmers to set

aside some of their land (Patterson 129). The 1973 farm bill lowered aid to farmers by

lowering the target income for price supports. The 1970s were good years for farmers.

Wheat and corn prices tripled, land prices doubled, and farm exports outstripped imports

by twenty-four billion dollars (Long 88). Under the Carter administration, farm support

was minimized. Competition from foreign markets, like Argentina, lowered prices and

incomes (Long 88). Ronald Reagan wanted to wean the farm community from

government support. Later on in his administration, though, he started the Payments In

Kind policy, in which the government paid farmers not to grow major crops. Despite

these various efforts, farms continue to deal with the problems that rose in the 1920s.

Farm subsidies seem to...

Blanpied, Nancy. Farm Policy. Congressional Quarterly: Washington D.C., 1984.
Fox, Michael. Agricide. Schoken Books: New York, 1986.
Long, Robert Emmet. The Farm Crisis. Wilson Co.: New York, 1987.
MacFadyen, J. Tevere. Gaining Ground. Holt, Reinhart, and Winston: New York, 1966.
Reische, Diana. U.S. Agricultural Policy. Wilson Co.: New York, 1966.
Solkoff, Joel. The Politics of Food. Sierra Club Books: San Francisco, 1985. You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 24 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/169286/farm-subsidies-a-necessary-evil->

More College Papers

Things Fall Apart essay
In the book Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe is trying to give an explanation of what it is like to live in an African society. The story is about a man named Okonkwo who is a member of the Ibo tribe. Achebe is telling the story of Okonkwo from his childhood till his death. Before I read this

Roots of Our Faith essay
As Christians, why do we need the Old Testament when we have the New Testament? This is a question often asked in modern day Christianity. This is also the question which seems to provoke the writing of The Old Testament Roots of Our Faith, by Paul and Elizabeth Achtemeier. The Achtemeiers p

An Investigation into the Eight Queens Problem essay
Introduction The eight queens problem relies on a very simple chess-based concept. However, no chess knowledge, other than this background, is required. Chess is a game plajghyed on a 8 by 8 grid of 64 squares. The grid is checkered with two colors, usually white and black, the bottom right han