American Agricultural Production: 1940-1960
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Between 1940 and 1960, American agricultural production grew dramatically while the number of farm workers declined by nearly one-third. What some historians have described as "nearly miraculous agricultural productivity" was achieved. This was accomplished as a consequence of greater crop specialization, intensive use of fertilizers, and increased mechanization of farm work itself. The decline of the family farm and the growth of what came to be called "agribusiness" changed the environment in which agricultural production in the United States took place. Larger farmers benefited from mechanization and from various federal government policies and programs while smaller producers suffered due to a lack of capital needed to invest in the machinery that was required to compete. Consequently, although the average farm size doubled between 1940 and 1964, the farm population declined from 30 million to 13 million and the number of farms decreased by about 40 percent. It was in this general climate that President Dwight D. Eisenhower and, later, President John F. Kennedy developed and implemented specific policies and programs targeting the farm sector. The purpose of this report is to move from a brief overview of the farm problems of the era to a focus on Kennedy's views on agriculture and the optimum farm policy that his administration developed. It will be argued that during his presidential campaign in 1960 and in various legislative submissions to Congress such
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the price-depressing effects of surpluses. By balancing the federal budget, he would control inflation and hold farm production costs down. Nixon stated that farm problems stemmed directly from the price-fixing tendencies in rigid price-support levels mandated by Democratic-controlled Congresses.
Conversely, Senator Kennedy said in the first Kennedy-Nixon debate that if the federal government "moved out of the program and withdrew its support, then I think you would have complete economic chaos." Unlike Nixon, Kennedy rejected the free market philosophy vis-a-vis agriculture and objected to Eisenhower's farm policy because of its lack of effective controls to bring supply and demand into better balance.
Candidate Kennedy, speaking in another debate with Richard Nixon, linked the Eisenhower farm policy to the nation's low rate of economic growth in the previous year. He denied that his proposal for agriculture would increase grocery store prices and rejected the notion advanced by Nixon that the Democratic proposal to continue price supports would cause inflation.
In this context, it is important to remember that Kennedy and Nixon were faced with the necessity of following the "party line." It must also be reme
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Agricultural Act, President Kennedy, Democrats Kennedy, Democrats Congress, Richard Nixon, Yorker Excerpts, Don Paarlberg, Republicans Kennedy, Southern Democrats, Quarterly Service, accessed online, accessed online january, online january, farm policy, 27 2005, online january 27, january 27 2005, january 27, kennedy john, president kennedy, agricultural act, 2005 http//web28epnetcom, http//web28epnetcom kennedy john, http//web28epnetcom kennedy, 27 2005 http//web28epnetcom,
Approximate Word count = 4506
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)
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