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It's a matter of history. The Agriciultural Adjustment Act of 1933 limited the amount of wheat production in an effort to prop up prices. It was challenged by farmers and went to the supreme court as Wickard v Filburn. This established that the inter-state commerce clause can be used to regulate intra-state commerce, and since all farming affects commerce, thereby farming. [1][2]

The feds generally paid farmers more than their crops were worth on the market to destroy them, so they were destroyed, and this was most definitely happening at a time when there were food shortages in the US.

There is nothing as malicious as a politician on a mission. The US also poisoned tens of thousands of people during prohibition with denatured alcohol. [3]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act [3] https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/the-little-told-story-o...




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