Agricultural policy of the United States

The Farm Bills have a rich history which initially sought to provide income and price support to US farmers and prevent them from adverse global as well as local supply and demand shocks.

[3] The Supreme Court later struck down the AAA as unconstitutional, so in 1938 the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act was passed, which essentially created a similar organization for distributing farmer subsidies.

[4] At the end of World War I, the destructive effects of the war and the surrender burdens enforced on the Central Powers of Europe bankrupted much of Europe, closing major export markets in the United States and beginning a series of events that would lead to the development of agricultural price and income support policies.

Out of these bills grew a system of government-controlled agricultural commodity prices and government supply control (farmers being paid to leave land unused).

Supply control would continue to be used to decrease overproduction, leading to over 50,000,000 acres (200,000 km2) to be set aside during times of low commodity prices (1955–1973, 1984–1995).

[5] On the other hand, the failed policies, including the Brannan Plan in 1949, aimed to solve the agricultural surpluses caused by price supports for farmers by providing "compensatory payments."

[6] Beginning with the administration of Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, the United States had generally moved to curb overproduction.

[16] In response to the decline of over half a million family farms over the past forty years, the United States has launched a strategy focusing on clean energy promotion and infrastructure enhancement.

The strategy seeks to improve export capabilities and enhance revenue for farmers through increased sales in local and regional markets.

Some economists believe this creates an incentive for government intervention because, among other considerations, the USDA will most likely not fund research criticizing its own activities.