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Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
Franklin D. Roosevelt came into presidency with the Great Depression on his hands and the infamous Dust Bowl. As part of his New Deal, Roosevelt wanted to raise crop prices by paying farmers to limit their production. -
Effect of the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act
By 1935, farming income was raised by 50% from where it was when the farm bill was first drafted. It positively affected almost every farmer in the United States. -
Problems Arise: 1933 Farm Bill Deemed Unconstitutional
In the case United States v. Butler, The Supreme Court found that the 1933 Farm Bill broke state's rights by imposing on the farm industry and controlling its production. The problems that the farm act faced in this court case were later resolved with the creation of the 1938 Farm Bill -
Food and Agriculture Act of 1977
President Carter officially incorporated the SNAP (food stamp programs) into the farm bill and pushed the USDA to be the head of agricultural research and programing. -
A Peanut of an Act
The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 also included support for a two-tiered pricing support for peanuts. This meant that one level of peanuts were edible and the lower level of peanuts were "additional" and could only be sold overseas. These plans featured heavy support from President Carter being that he was a peanut farmer himself. -
Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018
This farm bill was controversial in that the bill was first vetoed by the House of Representatives with Republicans claiming it would lessen the hardness of Immigration Policy. Once the bill was rewritten it was signed into law by Donald Trump. The bill largely stayed the same from his predecessor although it did increase funding for food welfare programs like SNAP. -
Cats and Dogs, and Cannabis, Oh My!
The Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 also included crop insurance for cannabis with projections for the cannabis to a billion dollar industry by the 2020s. Another act that is mentioned in the bill is the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act of 2018 that banned the consumption of cats and dogs in the United States.
