Student Scholarship

Document Type

Research Paper

Abstract

This research project examines the intense legislative and political conflict surrounding United States farm policy following World War II. Presented in January 1950, the study focuses on the transition from wartime production incentives to a permanent peacetime support system intended to prevent the economic collapses that historically followed falling farm prices. 

At the heart of the controversy was the Brannan Plan, proposed by Secretary of Agriculture Charles F. Brannan. The plan sought to abandon traditional parity formulas in favor of an income support standard based on the purchasing power of farm income from 1939 to 1948. A key innovation was the use of production payments for perishable goods, allowing market prices to fall for consumers while the government paid farmers the difference to reach the support level. Proponents argued this benefited both the farmer and the housewife, while critics denounced it as a politico-economic philosophy leading to government regimentation and serfdom. 

Opposing this was the Anderson Bill, led by Senator Clinton Anderson, which eventually formed the basis for the Agricultural Act of 1949. This act maintained more traditional price-support mechanisms through loans and purchases but introduced sliding scales, which were flexible supports ranging from 75% to 90% of parity. It established a three-tier classification of commodities: basic, designated nonbasic, and other nonbasic. 

The author concludes that while the Brannan Plan offered a more realistic moving base period and addressed consumer benefits, it suffered from overvaluing agricultural products and failed to address the needs of the truly poor one-to-two million farmers. Ultimately, the debate moved agricultural policy into the public limelight, setting the stage for future social and political coalitions between labor-consumer groups and agricultural producers.

Research Highlights

  • The Problem: Secretary of Agriculture Charles F. Brannan sought to replace the Agricultural Act of 1948 with a new federal farm policy to address falling farm prices, which saw a 15% decrease between January 1948 and March 1949. 

  • The Method: This project analyzes the Congressional debate and legislative history of the Brannan Plan and the compromise Anderson Bill (Agricultural Act of 1949) using Department of Agriculture documents and interviews with officials like Representative Helen Gahagan Douglas and Secretary Brannan's assistant, O. B. Baker.

  • Quantitative Finding: The 1950 income support standard was calculated at $26,234,000,000, representing a 15% decrease from 1948 purchasing power; the national debt stood at approximately $252,000,000,000 in 1949; the Brannan Plan proposed an 1,800 unit limit on the amount of support granted to a single farm. 

  • Qualitative Finding: The Brannan Plan introduced "production payments" for perishable commodities to allow market prices to reach supply-and-demand levels while paying farmers the difference; the plan shifted the parity focus from commodity prices to an income support standard based on a ten-year moving average. 

  •  Finding: The Agricultural Act of 1949 emerged as a compromise that retained flexible price supports ranging from 75% to 90% of parity for basic commodities but failed to include Brannan's proposed method for supporting perishable goods through direct payments.

Publication Date

1-1950

Faculty Sponsor

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