Effects of Acreage-Allotment Programs, 1954-1955: A Detailed Analysis for Selected Crops and Areas

Excerpts from the Preface: This is a report of work initiated in July 1955, in response to a request from the Appropriations Committees of the 84th Congress that the Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, "make a special study of (a) the effect on farm income and the general economy of the United States of acreage reductions imposed on 1954 and 1955 crops, and (b) the most satisfactory solution to this problem, including the encouragement of sound soil conservation practices upon land diverted from production under such acreage restrictions." It was obvious that complete and adequate solutions to the complex and chronic problem of surplus crops and acreage diversion could not be developed quickly. The study reported here, therefore, was confined largely to analyses of the national and regional effects of the allotment programs, and to an appraisal in a number of selected areas that produce cotton, wheat, corn, or rice, of the effect of acreage-reduction programs on farm production and income, and on conservation practices. No analyses of the peanut- and tobacco-allotment programs were attempted because of the relatively small acreages involved and the long duration of the peanut and tobacco programs.