"as a way of raising long-depressed cotton prices, the agricultural adjustment act (aaa), established during roosevelt's first 100 days in office, paid farmers to plant less cotton as a means of restricting the supply and driving up the price. the bankhead cotton control act of 1934 controlled cotton production even more tightly. in 1929, at the start of the depression, farmers had received twelve cents a pound for cotton. by 1932 cotton had fallen to five cents a pound. by setting quotas to limit the acreage of farmland planted with cotton, the price quickly returned to twelve cents, and by 1936 it had reached fifteen cents a pound." - from "new deal" in the new georgia encyclopedia