COOPERATIVE AGRICULTURE 91


 The Agricultural Partnership
 Perhaps the most important change in the farm situa-
 tlon between 1932 and 1934 was that during that period
 the farmers of America organized collectively to deal with
 their collective interests

 Cotton growers signed 1,026.514 adjustment contracts in
 1933: their signature represented 73 percent of the total
 cotton acreage.

 Wheat growers signed more than 550.000 adjustment
 contracts for the 1933-34 crop; their signatures represented
 77 percent of the total area sown to wheat.

 Tobacco growers signed approximately 275,000 adjust-
ment contracts for the 1934 crop, their signatures repre-
sented 95 percent of the tobacco acreage of the country.

 Corn-hog farmers signed 1.000.000 contracts to be effec-
tive in 1934; their signatures represented more than 75
percent of the hogs in the country.


 Economic Democracy In The Control
 Associations
 In many other countries where control of production
has been undertaken as a result of the depression, control
has been imposed from above. In the United States, produc-
tion has been adjusted by democratic procedure.

 The county production control associations formed by
the signers of adjustment contracts are local expressions of
economic democracy. It is through these associations that
collective action can be taken to make farm output fit
available markets. It is through these associations that
farm opinion can be formulated as to what markets should
be made available to the American farmer, and what
methods should be followed in adjusting production to
them.