Effects of Acreage-Allotment Programs, 1954 and 1955: A Summary Report

Excerpts from the report: The study summarized in this publication was 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.” The study was designed chiefly to analyze the national and regional effects of the acreage-allotment and marketing-quota programs and to appraise, in a number of selected areas, the effect of acreage-reduction programs on acreage and production of allotted crops and other crops, income, and conservation practices. The areas selected for study were those in which wheat, upland cotton, corn, or rice were the main crops.