Paper short abstract:

The expansion of diverse forms of agricultural credit in the post-WWII era were key financial and political technologies that enabled the rapid growth of pesticides and fertilizers on American farms despite chronic surplus production.

Paper long abstract:

Between 1945 and the early 1970s, US farm production grew at rate without historical precedent, due in large part to the massive influx of industrial chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers. The consumption of farm products, however, did not keep pace and large surpluses quickly accrued. This paper is about the role that the expansion of agricultural credit played in expanding an agriculture of high input use and maintaining chronic overproduction in the post-WWII era. In particular, I explore how the expansion of public and private credit gave farmers the ability to pay for industrial chemicals despite falling market prices, but also importantly, how newly created forms of public credit offered farmers the financial mechanisms to “sell” their crops for a profit without ever actually selling them. Taken together, I argue that the expansion of multiple forms of agricultural credit were key financial and political technologies that enabled the rapid growth of industrial chemicals on American farms despite chronic surplus production.