It was a commentary on overproduction and poor marketing. During this bleak period, the government introduced the Agricultural Adjustment Act, one of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal programs. Wallace was appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in 1933 and administered programs for farmers, which included acreage reductions. The government paid farmers to cut production by reducing their planted acres, Hurt said. This also was the time when farmers adopted the new, high- yielding hybrids still in use.
Farmers are crafty at beating the system.
It was a loophole in the policy. The U.S. average corn yield per acre jumped from 27.8 bushels in 1938 to 43 bushels in 1948. By 1958, yields had soared to 52.8 bushels. Picking corn by hand by then had become a serious chore. However, changes after World War II took care of that.