COTTON PLANTED IN 1949 TO BE EXCLUDED IN JANUARY 31, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. PACE, from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany H. R. 128) The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 128) to provide that acreage planted to cotton in 1949 shall not be used in computing cotton-acreage allotments for any subsequent year, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the bill as amended do pass. The amendments are as follows: Strike out everything after the enacting clause and substitute the following: That notwithstanding the provisions of title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, or of any other law, State, county, and farm acreage allotments and yields for cotton for any year after 1949 shall be computed without regard to yields or to the acreage planted to cotton in 1949: Provided, That any farm on which cotton was not planted in 1947 or 1948 (or regarded as planted in 1947 under Public Law 12, Seventy-ninth Congress, because of the production of war crops or of serving in the armed forces of the United States) shall be regarded as having a 1948 planted acreage equal to the 1942 farm acreage allotment. STATEMENT The Secretary of Agriculture has announced that there will be no acreage or marketing quota restrictions applicable to the 1949 cotton crop. The large cotton crop in 1948 makes it probable that acreage and marketing quota restrictions will be required for the 1950 crop. This is likely to result in greatly increased acreages of cotton in 1949. A 1949 crop substantially larger than the 1948 crop would mean a relatively heavy surplus of cotton at the beginning of the 1950 crop year. This bill has as its purpose the prevention of such surplus by removing, in part, the incentive which farmers would otherwise have to plant large acreages of cotton in 1949. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, provides that, in order to be eligible for an old-farm allotment, cotton must have been produced on the farm in at least 1 year in the last 3. In addition, the acreage of cotton planted on the farm determines, in part, the size of the farm-acreage allotment. This bill would eliminate 1949 cotton acreages and yields in the establishment of State, county, and farm-acreage allotments under the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended. Provision is made, however, for those established cotton farmers who, in reliance on existing law, had not planted cotton in 1947 or 1948 but who would have to plant cotton in 1949 to preserve their status as old growers and to maintain their farm production history. The committee feels that these farmers should not be required to plant cotton this year in order to be protected and, accordingly, has provided that any farm on which cotton was not planted in 1947 or 1948 (or regarded as planted in 1947 under Public Law 12, 79th Cong.) shall be regarded as having a 1948 planted acreage equal to the 1942 farm-acreage allotment. Thus, this group of farmers would not need to plant any cotton in 1949 in order to protect their status as established producers and any acreage which they did plant in 1949 would not affect the size of their farm-acreage allotment in future years. Any farm on which cotton was planted in 1947 or 1948 is already protected under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended. Any farm for which a cotton acreage allotment was established for the 1942 crop and on which the total acreage of war crops grown in 1947 was in excess of the total acreage of war crops grown on such farm in 1941, or any cotton farm on which cotton was not planted in 1947 because the owner or operator was serving in the armed forces is protected under Public Law 12, Seventy-ninth Congress. The intent and purpose of this law is clearly shown by the following letter from the War Food Administrator: Hon. ELMER THOMAS, Chairman, Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, FEBRUARY 13, 1945. United States Senate. DEAR SENATOR THOMAS: This is in further reply to your request for a report on S. 338, a bill to amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, and sections 7 to 17 of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, to encourage the growing of war crops by protecting the allotments of producers of cotton and wheat. Under the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, the acreage available for establishment of allotments of cotton or wheat on farms on which the crop was not planted in at least 1 of the 3 years immediately preceding the year for which the allotment is established is limited to a small percentage of the total acreage allotment for the county or State. While the provisions of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act are less specific on this point, it has been found administratively desirable to use identical procedures for establishing allotments under the two acts. In the past 2 years many producers of these commodities have planted other crops more critical to the war effort instead of cotton or wheat. Such producers are now faced with the alternatives of planting cotton or wheat in 1945 or, in the event acreage allotments are established in 1946, being classified as "new growers" for allotment purposes. S. 338 would remedy this situation by authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to provide that, on any farm for which a cotton or wheat allotment was established for the 1942 crop year, acreage used for the production of a war crop in 1945 or a subsequent year during the present emergency may be considered as having been planted to cotton or wheat, as the case may be. It is believed that the effect of such a provision would be to encourage the production of war crops on farms on which, in order to protect cotton or wheat acreage allotments, cotton or wheat otherwise would be planted in 1945. Moreover, producers who might, because of the great need for certain crops, forego the planting of cotton or wheat should not be placed in the position of sacrificing possible benefits under future programs. For the reasons stated above, it is recommended, S. 338, or similar legislation which will accomplish the same general purpose, be enacted. Although S. 338 has been passed by the Senate, this report is being submitted for the files of your committee. The Bureau of the Budget advises that there is no objection to the submission of this report. Sincerely yours, MARVIN JONES, Administrator. It will be observed that in both this letter from the War Food Administrator and in Public Law 12 any farm for which a cotton allotment was established for the 1942 crop year, and on which acreage was used for the production of a war crop in 1945 or a subsequent year during the emergency, is to be considered as having planted cotton; that is, the previous cotton acreage diverted to war crops will be looked upon, treated, and considered as if it was actually planted in cotton. This requires that such diverted acreage must be taken into account and included in calculating or estimating the total acreage planted in cotton in each county and State and in making State, county, and farm acreage allotments in future years. Following the enactment of Public Law 12 the Assistant War Food Administrator did, on March 8, 1945, promulgate regulations thereunder as follows: WAR CROP DETERMINATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF COTTON ALLOTMENTS.That in establishing cotton acreage allotments under title III of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, or under the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, for anv farm for which a cotton acreage allotment was established for the 1942 crop, if the total acreage of war crops grown on the farm during 1945 or any subsequent year during the present emergency is in excess of the total acreage of war crops grown on the farm in 1941, the cotton production history for the farm for any such year will not be considered as representative of the normal history of the farm and the farm will be considered as one on which cotton was planted in such year. For the purpose of this determination, the following are designated as war crops: Soybeans for beans, peanuts picked and threshed, flax for seed, Irish potatoes, sweetpotatoes, dry edible beans, grain sorghums, sugar beets, sugarcane, rice, tomatoes for processing, peas for processing, snap beans for processing, sweet corn for processing, oats, barley, sweet sorghums, Sudan grass, biennial and perennial legumes, and mixtures containing biennial and perennial legumes. The cotton production history which would be preserved under the provisions of this bill would be used in determining the amount of the county and State acreage allotments, as well as in determining the amount of the farm acreage allotments. Under this bill, the year 1949 would be eliminated in the calculation of allotments; therefore. the 5- and 3-year periods now required to be used in the establishment of State, county, and farm allotments would, where 1949 is within any such period, be selected by substituting for 1949 the year next preceding the period which would otherwise be used; for example, if acreage allotments are put into effect in 1950 and a 5-year period is used as a basis for making allotments, then instead of the years 1945 to 1949, inclusive, being used, the years 1944 to 1948, inclusive, would be used. О |