History of Agricultural Grants
Farm grants have always been a controversial policy. Most grants derive from the American federal government and are designed to either set aside land for conservation or pay farmers a fixed grant in addition to the market price for their products. The Agricultural Reform Act of 1996 was designed to curtail this grant system, though it failed, and was replaced in 2002. In addition, there are private farm grants designed to promote the scientific revolution in farm life.
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Farm Grants at Mid-Century
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It was the New Deal that put the federal government of the United States in the agricultural grant game. While there had always been government grants in land, the Roosevelt administration began to create federal programs designed to help farmers out of the Great Depression. As World War II began, the government encouraged farmers to put all their land under cultivation, which led to overproduction after the War. Between 1954 and 1972, American farmers were producing too much and lowering prices. The result was a federal price support system that included grants, aid, low interest loans and other forms of support, but none of this stemmed the tide of overproduction successfully.
Farm Grants Since the Kennedy Administration
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Farmers held that price supports and other federal grants were the equivalent to industrial tariff protection enjoyed throughout the 19th century. In the 1960s, the Kennedy Administration engaged in a new grant program designed to assist farmers in setting aside part of their land for conservation. They were being paid not to plant. Low-interest loans were also being raised by farmers from the government. By the 1980s, prices continued their fall, cushioned only by several major deals with the Soviet Union that sent tons of American grain overseas. The Carter administration placed an embargo on the USSR, and the Reagan administration was loathe to feed the Soviets. Prices fell drastically once again. In the 1980s, wheat farmers' income fell almost by half.
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The 1990s
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The Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act (FAIR) was signed by President Clinton. It dismantled much of the federal grant programs and instead focused on low-interest loans, which are, in directly, a sort of grant. The late 1990s saw falling prices and a new farm bill was passed in 2002, replacing some of the older grants in aid. No grants from the government seemed to stem the tide of falling prices, farm failures and mass bankruptcy. Since 1996, many federal grants have been set aside for emergency relief after natural disasters.
Private Sector Grants
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The private sector has also been involved in grants to farmers. Much of this money has been to improve methods of production, work on pest-resistant crops and genetic engineering of certain staples. An example of this is the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, founded in 1792. Its purpose is to mine the American agricultural community for new ideas for production, scientific methods and other production improvements. After 1835, this group began to finance agricultural research at the University of Massachusetts, and, in lockstep with the Kennedy Administration, also gave grants for land preservation.
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