ABSTRACT
The purpose of federal farm programs is to restrict production by paying farmers to reduce the amount of land that they cultivate. Federal farm programs were designed to benefit family-sized farms, but larger-than-family farms benefit disproportionately. The Sugar Act of 1934 and its subsequent revisions in 1937 and 1948 illustrate how the price-support program has been used. Federally subsidized research at land-grant colleges on the mechanical cotton picker became profitable for affluent growers when the federally subsidized cotton allotment program took affect. The degree of concentration of benefits among different crop programs, such as sugar, rice, or wheat, depends primarily on the degree of concentration of agricultural production and sales among larger producers. In 1972, Earl Butz, Secretary of Agriculture in the Nixon administration, nearly dismanded the entire federal farm program, which had been virtually unchanged since the 1930s under Franklin Roosevelt.
