ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a discussion of the effects of agricultural policy on resource use and agricultural structure, with emphasis on how the farm policies have affected the South. Reduced agricultural income and the consequent decline in land values can seriously reduce the tax base in rural communities. Although only a small percentage of the population in the rural South is directly employed in agricultural production, a continued decline in the agricultural sector will have serious consequences for the rural South. Understanding how farm programs have affected the South requires familiarity with the history of the farm programs. Formal farm programs were first developed in the 1930s in response to the agricultural depression of that time. From the 1930s to the late 1960s, farm programs generally were characterized by high fixed price supports and rigid supply controls that kept commodity production from shifting from one region to another.
