The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (P.L. 74-46 of February 26, 1936) is a United States federal law that allowed the government to pay farmers to reduce production so as to "conserve soil", prevent erosion, and accomplish other minor goals. It was a piece of legislation passed in response to the Supreme Court's declaration that the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was unconstitutional. These two acts were passed as legislation in an attempt to cut crop and livestock surplus.
This new Act attempted to correct some of the problems with the previous Act, most notably its failure to protect sharecroppers and tenant farmers. Landlords were now required to share the payments they received from the government for cutting back production with those who worked on their land.
The act also gave directives to conserve the soil in the "high plains" - soil that was being raised into huge dust bowls during the 1930's. This period, known as the Dust Bowl, coupled with the economic hardships of the Great Depression, hit farmers particularly hard. The act attempted to correct earlier government policy that encouraged farmers to use their land without concern to the repercussions. The result of these agricultural methods (mostly the way farmers plowed their land) made it vulnerable to the winds. The dry ground, now exposed, rose up to create the "black storms".
The Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act both educated farmers on how to use their lands without damaging them, and took immediate action to contain the dust bowl's effects - notably by planting trees and native grass.
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Act into Law on March 1, 1936.[1]
Three years after the Act was adopted, soil erosion (soil being raised by winds) had dropped 65%.