Regulation and the Revolution in United States Farm Productivity

This book explains how US government activity in the 1930s led to gains in farm productivity.

Sally H. Clarke (Author)

9780521441179, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 November 1994

328 pages, 26 b/w illus. 45 tables
23.6 x 15.7 x 2.2 cm, 0.584 kg

"By combining economic and business history, Clarke has produced a study with much to say about the economics of twentieth-century agriculture in general and the New Deal period in particular....The book has many strengths. The argument throughout is stated forcefully and with great clarity, and is buttressed by extensive research in the published records and unpublished manuscripts of the USDA, the state experiment stations, and implement companies and farm lenders. It explains in detail the role of credit in midwestern farming, the behavior of agribusiness, and the impact of the New Deal in the Corn Belt--all subjects too often slighted by historians studying agriculture in the 1930s. It also focuses attention on the long-term implications of the farm programs. Finally, its epilogue offers a perceptive appraisal of the causes of the farm credit crisis of the 1980s." David E. Hamilton, Agricultural History

Since the 1930s when the government began active regulation, US agriculture has undergone a revolution in productivity. Sally Clarke explains how government activity, from support for research to price supports and farm credit programs, created a climate favorable to rapid gains in productivity. Farmers in the Corn Belt delayed purchases of the tractor, the most important agricultural technology, despite the cost savings it promised. Tractor purchases required large sums of cash at a time when families faced unstable prices and unattractive credit markets. The New Deal inadvertently changed this investment climate. Regulation stabilized prices, introduced new sources of credit, and caused tool manufacturers and private creditors to revise their business strategies. Competitive farmers took advantage of these new conditions to invest in expensive technology and achieve new gains in productivity.

Part I. Regulation and Productivity: 1. Introduction
2. Agriculture and the organization of knowledge in the early twentieth century
3. Accounting for the slow rate of productivity growth
Part II. 'Power Farming' in the Corn Belt, 1920–40: 4. The tractor factor
5. Depressed markets and market regulation
6. 'If you'll need a tractor in 1936 you ought to order it now'
Part III. A Legacy for New Deal Regulation: 7. Regulation, competition, and the revolution in farm productivity
8. Conclusion
Epilogue: The credit crisis of the 1980s
Appendix A. The tractor's threshold, 1929
Appendix B. The tractor's threshold, 1939
Appendix C. Sources of preharvest and harvest labor productivity, 1929–39.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ]