American Agriculture in the Twentieth Century
Subtitle: How It Flourished and What It Cost
Edition: 1st edition
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: July 15, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 480
ISBN-13: 9780674007482
Subjects: Agricultural science; Agriculture & related industries; American history: from c 1900 -; 20th century; Costs; Agricultural Economics; Agricultural History; Technology; Business / Economics / Finance; Industries - Agribusiness; Science/Mathematics; USA; Economic History; United States - 20th Century; Business & Economics / General; Statistics; United States; Agriculture - General; Agriculture; Economic aspects; History
Description: "Gardner documents both the economic difficulties that have confronted farmers and the technological and economic transformations that have lifted them from relative poverty to economic parity with the nonfarm population. He provides a detailed analysis of the causes behind these trends, with emphasis on the role of government action. He reviews how commodity support programs, driven by interest-group politics, have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to little purpose.

Nonetheless, Gardner concludes that by reconciling competing economic interests while fostering productivity growth and economic integration of the farm and nonfarm economies, the government played an overall role in American agriculture that is fairly viewed as a triumph of democracy."--BOOK JACKET.