Roosevelt to the present. All of the administrations tried to change the way subsidies were dealt with, through a change in payments, and how they were handled, and through giving into farmers who didn't really need the money. However, no president has made the system work for the taxpayer, and the farmer or make it an equal system. Early on subsidies helped a great deal to the hurting farmers. The 1970's were looked upon as prosperous years for farming. There were two pieces of legislation that helped in the 1970's. The Agricultural Act of 1970 gave direct payments to farmers to set aside some of their land. (Patterson 129) The Farm Bill of 1973 also lowered aid to farmers by decreasing the target income for the price supports. During the 70's prices of wheat and corn tripled, land prices doubled, and farm exports outweighed imports by $24 billion dollars. (Long 88) President Jimmy Carter decreased support to farmers during his tenure, while foreign markets lowered prices and incomes. During the Reagan administration the Payments In Kind policy (giving farmers money to no grow crops on their land) was instituted even though Reagan wanted to wean the farmers off of government support in the beginning of his presidency.
             Many farm bills in our history originally tried to help farmers, but the current legislation in place are disproportionate to the needs of farmers and taxpayers. The 1996 farm bill, or Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (FAIR), also known as the Freedom to Farm Act, was created during the Clinton administration. This act would be the end of government intervention in agriculture, as we knew it. The act was supposed to reduce price inflating and government support over seven years. The act was also supposed to allow farmers to rely on the market supply and demand cycle instead of government handouts. (Edwards & Dehaven) This act however, did not do what it was cr...