Agricultural Adjustment Act
The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part of their land. The money for these subsidies was generated through an exclusive tax on companies that processed farm products. The Act created a new agency, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, also called "AAA" (1933–1942), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to oversee the distribution of the subsidies. The Agriculture Marketing Act, which established the Federal Farm Board in 1929, was seen as an important precursor to this act. The AAA, along with other New Deal programs, represented the federal government's first substantial effort to address economic welfare in the United States.
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| Long title | An Act to relieve the existing national economic emergency by increasing agricultural purchasing power, to raise revenue for extraordinary expenses incurred by reason of such emergency, to provide emergency relief with respect to agricultural indebtedness, to provide for the orderly liquidation of joint-stock land banks, and for other purposes. |
| Enacted by | the 73rd United States Congress |
| Effective | May 13, 1933 |
| Citations | |
| Public law | Pub. L. 73–10 |
| Statutes at Large | 48 Stat. 31 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 7 U.S.C.: Agriculture |
| U.S.C. sections created | 7 U.S.C. ch. 26 § 601 et seq. |
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| United States Supreme Court cases | |
| United States v. Butler | |