the government historically had helped farmers
if prices dropped significantly. President Clinton
approved that act, stating that he planned to en-
courage additional legislation to give farmers some
financial security.
Price fixing by agricultural processor Archer
Daniels Midland in the 1990’s worsened economic
conditions for many U.S. agriculturists. By the late
1990’s, agricultural surpluses worldwide caused
prices to decrease severely. The federal government
gave farmers temporary aid during that time, result-
ing in agriculturists asking that the 1996 Freedom to
Farm Act be revised to include monetary support
measures. The Agricultural Research, Extension,
and Education Reform Act of 1998 reinforced crop
insurance payments. The USDA provided $17.7 bil-
lion in emergency relief. By 1999, President Clinton
and Congress expanded bankruptcy protection
begun in the 1980’s to assist farmers in retaining
their property.
U.S. officials pursued diplomatic agreements re-
garding international agricultural trade and assis-
tance. In the early 1990’s, the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) determined policies for
duties on agricultural goods shipped between the
United States, Canada, and Mexico. U.S. and Euro-
pean Commission (EC) negotiators compromised
regarding farm subsidies to secure the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). In 1997,
Secretary of Agriculture Glickman and Russian agri-
culture minister Viktor Khlystun initiated U.S. agri-
cultural aid to Russia.
Demographics and Education In 1990, Secretary
of Agriculture Yeutter stated that twenty million peo-
ple contributed to U.S. agricultural activities. Many
U.S. farmers also obtained other jobs in local busi-
nesses or schools to supplement their agricultural
income. Although 2 percent of Americans resided
on farms in the 1990’s, many of those people did not
participate in farming. About 38 percent of farm res-
idents did not earn money from agriculture, a fact
that resulted in the government’s revising its defini-
tion of farm residence by 1993 to indicate the 4.9
million households that profited from farming en-
deavors. In 1998, the USDA began collecting data
for the agriculture census instead of the Bureau of
the Census.
Throughout the 1990’s, severe weather affected
crops and livestock. The 1993 Mississippi River flood
washed away soil resources and saturated fields in
the Midwest, resulting in crop production decreas-
ing by 13 percent. Three years later, extreme cold
froze citrus in the Deep South, impacting produc-
tion of oranges and grapefruits. Also in 1996,
droughts hindered agriculture in the Great Plains.
Atlantic states endured droughts the next year, while
floods and extreme winter weather affected western
states, requiring hay relief deliveries for livestock.
Southwestern and southern states experienced
drought conditions later that decade. Hurricanes
destroyed southern and Atlantic agriculture.
Such severe climatic situations caused many farm-
ers to cease agricultural activities. Other farmers
became frustrated by the consolidation of agricul-
tural production. When producers such as Smith-
field Foods purchased other hog-producing com-
panies, they threatened pork farmers who relied
on selling their stock to packers at competitive
prices. At the 1999 National Pork Forum, swine
farmers complained about industrial mergers that
lowered prices.
In the 1990’s, many young adults chose nonagri-
cultural professions despite their families’ farming
traditions. Attempting to encourage young agricul-
turists, some states offered financial assistance such
as loans granted by the Illinois Farm Development
Authority’s Young Farmer Guarantee Program.
Conferences such as Farmers for the Next Century,
held several times in the 1990’s, aided people start-
ing to pursue agriculture.
As part of a reorganization, the USDA developed
civil rights policies during the 1990’s to recognize
the diversity of people associated with agricultural
work. In 1990, the USDA celebrated the centennial
of the African American land-grant institutions es-
tablished by the Morrill Act of 1890. The depart-
ment funded scholarships for students at both Afri-
can American and Native American land-grant
institutions. African American farmers filed law-
suits, claiming they had experienced discrimination
from the USDA, which had denied their federal loan
and subsidy requests. By April, 1999, approximately
18,000 farmers presented evidence to receive com-
pensation from the $2 billion settlement.
After more than a century of publication, the
USDA ceased issuing annual agricultural yearbooks
after 1992. Secretary of Agriculture Espy stated that
the yearbooks could not compete with other sources
of agricultural news and educational media to dis-16 Agriculture in the United States The Nineties in America