Farmers everywhere in the United States during the late nineteenth century had valid reasons to complaint against the economy because the farmers were constantly being taken advantage of by the railroad companies and banks. All farmers faced similar problems and for one thing, farmers were starting to become a minority within the American society. In the late nineteenth century, industrialization was in the spotlight creating big businesses and capitals. The success of industrialization put agriculture and farmers on the down low, allowing the corporations to overtake the farmers. Since the government itself; such as the Republican Party was also pro-business during this time, they could have cared less about the farmers.
The young, recently married farmers living in the Great Plains during the 1930s had a terrible life. First off, being married meant having multiple people to provide for. This is more responsibility, and leads to dividing up the food between family members. Then, the country was also in an economic downturn, so the price of food and crops were low. Farmers already had debt because of new machines and land that was purchased during World War I to keep up with the demand during the war. Then the depression caused banks to fail, so farmers lost all their money that was in the bank. Everyday life was treacherous, and there were few amenities in the home, with no plumbing or electricity. Life was awful for a farmer during the Great Depression.
The value of farmland declined by 28% per-acre in high-erosion areas and 17% in mild erosion areas. Even long term, the agricultural value of the land failed to recover to pre-Dust Bowl levels. In highly eroded areas, less than 25% of the original agricultural losses were recovered. The economy adjusted through large population declines in more-eroded counties, both during the 1930s and through the 1950s. In response to so many farmers going bankrupt, the federal government formed a Drought Relief Service to coordinate relief activities. The Drought Relief Service bought cattle in counties which were designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. Although it was difficult for farmers to give up their herds, the cattle slaughter program helped many of them avoid
Estate taxation is a highly controversial issue in the United states tax code, and has been appropriately debated from before and since its introduction in 1916. Wether its existence be referred to as the “death tax”, or its absence as the “birth tax”, those for and those against have long argued its fundamental validity and appropriateness, its effectiveness, and its contents.
Richardson, J. ( 2011). Are All Farm Subsidies Giveaways to Corporate Farmers? Nope, Here's a
Philpott, Tom. “How Farm Policy Affects Us All.” Mother Earth News. 01 Jun 2007. 80. 21 Feb 2008.
The Affordable Care Act is projected to have a net cost of $1.2 trillion over the next ten years, even though we were told it would save money once implemented. The Agricultural Act of 2014, a/k/a the “Farm Bill,” was originally estimated to cost $956 billion over the next ten years [$756 billion dedicated to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as Food Stamps), which has nothing to do with farming], however, several news sources are already stating the Congressional Budget Office projections are too low. The list of programs continues to expand, both in size and scope, as we get further and further away from our founding principles. Our nation is becoming more and more liberal. Our government, more and more secular. The removal of our founding principles and Judeo-Christian values have permeated not just the government but most industries, especially entertainment and academia, and thereby have the ability to affect most public policy decisions. There are those who believe:
The Farm Bill is legislation that affects many different industries, but it’s purpose is to set policy regarding agriculture, nutrition, conservation and forestry (Committee Agriculture). About every five years, a bill regarding this same issue is passed by Congress (Committee Agriculture). In 1933, the Agricultural Adjustment Act was passed to deal with commodity surpluses that individuals could not afford during the Great Depression in rural America during the Franklin D Roosevelt presidency(Hagstrom). The Food Stamp Act was passed in 1964 under the The Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency (Hagstrom). By 1977, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program(SNAP), became part of the Farm Bill (Hagstrom). This is the history preceding the time period of the most recent Farm Bill, which has undergone the policy process to modernize the bill.
Leading up to the end of the 1800’s, agricultural was losing its place as the largest economy in the United States. Farmers felt that they were under-appreciated and taken advantage of, even though they produced food to be distributed nationwide. Although agriculture was imperative to the survival of the nation, farmers faced devastating natural causes, outrageously high rates on land and transportation, and unsuccessful tries in politics.
During the early 1780’s farmers in Massachusetts were in great crisis because the land and the resources in which they used to start their farming were been taking away by the government. During the 1780’s farmers mainly borrowed money, land and even sometimes equipment they use to work on their farmland. There was great demand for organic crops during these times because of the war, and when the war ended this lead to a relative decrease in the demand for farmers goods which put the farmers in a very though positions because if the demand of their crops weren’t high enough then they wouldn’t be able to pay off their loans and equipment that they had borrowed during the years. Unfortunately the state government demanded taxes and even threaten
Murphy, Tom. (2013). Why are some Kenyan farmers abandoning the one acre fund?, Humanosphere, Retrieved from, http://www.humanosphere.org/basics/2013/10/kenyan-farmers-abandoning-one-acre-fund/,
The period between 1880 and 1900 was a boom time for American Politics. The country was finally free of the threat of war, and many of its citizens were living comfortably. However, as these two decades went by, the American farmer found it harder and harder to live comfortably. Crops such as cotton and wheat, once the sustenance of the agriculture industry, were selling at prices so low that it was nearly impossible for farmers to make a profit off them. Furthermore, improvement in transportation allowed foreign competition to materialize, making it harder for American farmers to dispose of surplus crop. Mother Nature was also showing no mercy with grasshoppers, floods, and major droughts that led to a downward spiral of business that devastated many of the nation’s farmers. As a result of the agricultural depression, numerous farms groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what the farmers saw as the reasons for the decline in agriculture. During the final twenty years of the nineteenth century, many farmers in the United States saw monopolies and trusts, railroads, and money shortages and the loss in value of silver as threats to their way of life, all of which could be recognized as valid complaints.
government to set the minimum price and amount sold of a good at the market.
1991. The off of the farm income of this sector is only $20,847 per farm. The
The financial burden of farm operating costs is substantial and many small family farms suffer when years of produce are lean. For example, my grandfather was farmer of Red Delicious apples from about 1957-2007. He did well for many years. A couple of years past when his crop didn 't produce enough because of frost damage, and almost simultaneously, it seems a change in how the apple industry functioned. Farmers were taking out their trees and planting different varieties such as Espalier trees. New assortments of apples hit the market and were gaining