The sweeping rhythm of this painting, enhanced by the shapes of the clouds that repeat the undulating lines of the composition, is characteristic of Thomas Hart Benton’s style. Ploughing It Under not only reflects the artist’s interest in rural America, but also reveals his political perspective.

The title and subject matter refer to the response of many farmers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). This New Deal program was intended to help farmers by increasing the prices of staple crops through restricting the amount of product on the market. Farmers who reduced their output received subsidies. For many, this meant “plowing under” their harvest in order to receive AAA monies and avoid tax penalties. However, subsidies went mostly to landowners, not tenants and sharecroppers; and when landlords reduced their acreage in production, they reduced their tenant farmers as well. In choosing an African American laborer as his subject, Benton made a political statement about the often selective rewards of New Deal government policies.