During the depression, agricultural product prices continued to drop. When Roosevelt became president, one of the first issues he addressed was the “farm problem.” He would go and visit these poor farmers and promise some type of change. Roosevelt created the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, which brought immediate change and provided crop reduction. This Act paid farmers not to plant, in exchange for cash payments.
The New Deal was a success, because of the fact that Americans’ working conditions and situations were greatly improved. Before the New Deal there were never rules set for the working conditions for Americans. Work days can be way more than eight hours, and salaries could have been much lower than what should have been. Examples of how working conditions improved were the creation of minimum wage laws, 40 hour work weeks, worker and plant safety laws, and outlawed child labor (Document 7). These new set rules are still applied today, and without them workers could be payed less and work more with no additional pay.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act was part of the New Deal that was established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in May 1933. It was a farm relief bill that was a plan to help farmers by paying them to cut their production because they were overproducing and countries were not buying their products. In the years of 1932-1937, farmer’s cash income was doubled. WWII helped get farmers back on track and producing more products. The bill had to be rewritten in 1938 because Congress declared it unconstitutional in Jan. 1936.
The New Deal also attempted to deal with the dilemma of American farmers. The Agricultural Adjustment Act increased commodity prices by paying farmers to not plant more. The AAA drastically raised income and farm prices. Hoover wanted big businesses to take over and sees the government as the looter of individualism. Roosevelt wanted the government to help provide people with resources to help them reach their full potential and he sees the government as the protector of
The 1930’s was a horrendous, dreadful time period that affected the whole world. The U.S got hit especially hard considering the country was very strong and prosperous the previous decade. Farmers that lived in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, Okies, were hit especially hard. The Okies were affected more than any other group in the U.S. during The Great Depression because not only did they suffer the economic problems of no money or jobs, but they also had to deal with dust storms and moving across the country. When the stock market crashed in 1929, the price of corn and wheat dropped so low, that it was no longer profitable to grow.
Economically, the New Deal assisted the United States by providing jobs. Many Americans were poor during the Great Depression (Document 1). These individuals lived in Hoovervilles, or shantytowns, and struggled to find fresh produce. Due to a lack of income, most of these individuals had to eat food thrown out by greengrocers. However, these circumstances were even worse for individuals who farmed (Document 6).
They began defaulting on these loans which wasn’t good for the farmers or the local banks. This was also a huge problem for America because American agriculture employed nearly 30 percent of the workforce in the United States. In his New Deal, Franklin D Roosevelt brought forth the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) which provided relief to farmers by paying them to reduce production. This was important because it helped reduce crop surpluses and give farmers a source of income. Meanwhile, in western Canada, farmers were experiencing a disastrous and prolonged drought, which caused nearly 250,000 people to leave the prairies in the 1930s.
Farmers were hit the hardest by this because, in the absence of fertile soil, they were unable to make money. Also, farmers were overfarmed before the Great Depression, making farming more difficult than normal. Animals overgrazed
Economic problems were not the only problems farmers faced. They entered a decade of drought, never before experienced in America. What they did not lose in the economic collapse, they lost because of the drought and an environmental disaster, the Dust Bowl, a severe dust storm that damaged farmers’ land and property. Fortunately, when Roosevelt became president, he quickly implemented legislations
According to Encyclopedia of American History, an infographic shows the Farm Credit Administration(FCA) coming into effect in 1933(Document 10). The purpose of the FCA was help farms out by placing a lower mortgage price on farms for a longer set amount of time. Another aspect that workers obtained from the New Deal was the National Industrial Recovery Act(NIRA),
The Great Depression hit the citizens of America in 1930 and created havoc on farmer’s crop profits (Tarshis 8). The banks began to close and lose money. Wheat prices dropped and life for the settlers of the Great Plains became harsh. There was no money circulating throughout the economy given that no one in the region had any to spend without the sales of their crops (Henderson). Families became poor and could no longer manage their farms.
This was an attempt to balance the economy and restore it from the recession. Not to forget, the Agricultural Act of 1933 made, “The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which sought to raise prices for crops and herds by paying farmers to cut production” (Emory Shi 1152). This Act helped farmers that suffered from the Great Depression by paying them their worth for their time and labor. “The Wagner Act guaranteed workers the right to organize unions and bargain directly with management about wages and other issues. It also created a National Labor Relations Board to oversee union activities and ensure that management bargained with them in good faith” (Emory Shi 1169).
The drought and dust destroyed a large part of agricultural production, worsening The Great Depression.(http://useconomy.about.com/od/criticalssues/p/The_Dust_Bowl.htm).” The Dust Bowl was widespread and caused many problems in the US. According to Jess Porter, The removal of native grasses to pursue riches from the cultivation of wheat set the stage for the disaster. Only the expertise of the government could hope to salvage the plains (Porter). Many people say it was the farmers fault who farmed on the plains.
The result was a 65% increase in farm income during the period of four years . Roosevelt also introduced conservation policies and educated workers on new farming techniques, and by 1939, soil erosion was reduced by 21.7%. It is evident that the New Deal’s policies significantly improved agriculture in the USA, particularly in the Southwest where states had been greatly affected by the Dust Bowl. By teaching farmers to avoid previous farming techniques – such as the extensive deep plowing of topsoil – flood control was enabled and growing seasons were stabilised. In addition, people also had better access to clean water and cheap electricity in Arizona and California.
Second, this is freedom from the Great Depression because the farmers got to try and make their money back. To conclude, the New Deal helped compensate for the effects of the Great
