APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1960 HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE EIGHTY-SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 7175 MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF 36637 Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations UNITED STATES WASHINGTON: 1959 The subcommittee met at 10:30 a.m., in room 1114, New Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard B. Russell, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Russell, Hayden, Robertson, Stennis, McGee, Young, Dworshak, Hruska, and Aiken. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE STATEMENTS OF HON. EZRA TAFT BENSON, SECRETARY OF GENERAL STATEMENT Senator RUSSELL. The committee this morning begins the hearings on the estimates of the appropriations requested for the operation of the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year 1960. We will open the hearings this morning with the distinguished Secretary of Agriculture, the Honorable Ezra Taft Benson, appearing as the first witness. Mr. Secretary, we will be happy to have you make any statement which you see fit to make relative to the present status of agriculture in this country and the probable conditions during the coming year, and any suggestions which you may have to offer as to how this committee, which is, of course, not a legislative committee, might improve that condition. Secretary BENSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 1 I have a statement here which I can go through, rather quickly, I think, about 15 pages double spaced. Senator RUSSELL. Very well. REVIEW OF AGRICULTURAL SITUATION Secretary BENSON. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it is always a welcome responsibility to come before you to review the agricultural situation and to discuss the proposed estimates of appropriations this time for fiscal year 1960. American farmers, in general, made substantial economic progress in 1959. Farm production was at the highest level in history. So were gross and per capita farm incomes. Farm ownership is at its highest level, and farmers' net equities are estimated at $177.4 billion-up $56.7 billion since 1950. Transportation, telephones, television, and electricity are now more widely available than ever before and the standard of living on our farms is the highest we have ever known. The efforts of our farmers continue to enable Americans to be the best fed, best clothed, and best housed people in the world. This does not mean that agriculture's major difficulties have all been solved; far from it. We have bigger surpluses of wheat and feed crops than ever before. The cost-price squeeze is still pinching our farm people. There are many farm families in the underemployed, low income category. There are a few crops for which outmoded programs have been continued too long with results harmful to agriculture as a whole. To me, the answer to this program problem is clear: We should eliminate as rapidly as practicable ineffective controls and use price supports at levels that will preserve and build markets. Mr. Chairman, as we see it, our duty is to point out the problems that exist and to suggest, if we can, answers such as are in the President's message of January 29. But, obviously, the changing of the law is up to the Congress. Now let us look at the situation in more detail. FARM INCOME The per capita income of our farm people, from all sources, rose 10%1⁄2 percent, to $1,068. This was a new high. It was 9 percent above the previous record of $983 in 1951. The per capita income of our farm people had a more favorable relationship to the income of nonfarm people last year than it did in 1952. Farm operators' realized net income rose $13.1 billion in 1958, the highest in 5 years. The gain over 1957 was $2.2 billion, or 20 percent. This reflected a rise of 11 percent in realized gross farm income, which was only partly offset by higher production expenses. Gross farm income in 1958 set a new record of $38 billion. The rise in gross income was due to four things: (a) Higher prices of livestock; (b) Larger marketings from record crop production (which augmented the flow of commodities to CCC); (c) Delayed marketings of 1957 crops; and (d) Some increase in payments for acreage placed in the soil bank. The total income of the farm population from all sources rose nearly 13 percent to $22.2 billion. This figure includes $1.8 billion of farm wages; $6.2 billion of income from nonfarm sources, and $14.2 billion from farm operations. What is significant in all these comparisons is that the net income trend was definitely upward. Mr. Chairman, attached to my statement are two maps with figures showing income by States and regions last year. I would like to ask that they be inserted in the record at the conclusion of this statement. Senator RUSSELL. These documents will appear in the record at the conclusion of the Secretary's statement. Secretary BENSON. Thank you. PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY Secretary BENSON. Farmers in 1958 made further progress in the use of technology, such as the use of fertilizers and herbicides, and improved crop and livestock strains and other practices. Though the acreage planted was the smallest in 40 years, crop production was 11 percent higher than ever before and total farm output surpassed all previous records by 8 percent. Farmers are eager to take advantage of new advances in productivity. The technological revolution in agriculture is still in full swing. Weather in most areas was nearly ideal in 1958, and record yields were obtained for the major crops. Total supplies of feed grains and of wheat and oilseeds are at record levels. Cotton and tobacco supplies are reduced from a year ago. A record tonnage of hay was stored on farms at the beginning of 1959, 4 percent above the previous high a year earlier. Milk production declined by about 700 million pounds in 1958 to a level of approximately 126 billion pounds. The dairy industry, on the whole, was in good balance last season. With a rise in population, a significant increase in cheese consumption and little per capita change in the use of other products, total commercial use of milk products increased in 1958. CCC outlays for price support purchases of dairy products are down substantially and uncommitted supplies have been sharply reduced. There was high production of poultry and poultry products, of fruits, and of vegetables. It was a year of abundance for nearly all farm commodities. Crop plantings for 1959 are likely to be about 2 percent above the low levels of the past 2 years, but about 5 percent below the average of the 1950s. Farmers in the nine Corn Belt States intend to increase spring hog farrowings 10 percent over those of the spring of 1958. Hogs and pigs on farms as of March 1 totaled 37,430,000, up 12 percent from a year earlier. As of January 1, the cattle inventory totaled 96.9 million head, an increase of 4 percent from a year earlier. It was about the same as the previous record reached in January 1956. |