DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS EIGHTY-THIRD CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE APPROPRIATIONS H. CARL ANDERSEN, Minnesota, Chairman WALT HORAN, Washington OAKLEY HUNTER, California MELVIN R. LAIRD, Wisconsin JAMIE L. WHITTEN, Mississippi Ross P. POPE, Executive Secretary to the Subcommittee PART 1 STATEMENT OF THE SECRETARY THE BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations 42898 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1954 Documents Dept. COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS JOHN TABER, New York, Chairman RICHARD B. WIGGLESWORTH, Massachusetts H. CARL ANDERSEN, Minnesota JOHN PHILLIPS, California FREDERIC R. COUDERT, JR., New York NORRIS COTTON, New Hampshire BENJAMIN F. JAMES, Pennsylvania CHARLES R. JONAS, North Carolina OTTO KRUEGER, North Dakota SAM COON, Oregon MELVIN R. LAIRD, Wisconsin ELFORD A. CEDERBERG, Michigan CLARENCE CANNON, Missouri J. VAUGHAN GARY, Virginia JOHN E. FOGARTY, Rhode Island ANTONIO M. FERNANDEZ, New Mexico OTTO E. PASSMAN, Louisiana ALFRED D. SIEMINSKI, New Jersey GEORGE Y. HARVEY, Clerk (II) HON. EZRA TAFT BENSON, SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE CULTURE O. V. WELLS, ADMINISTRATOR, AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE HOWARD H. GORDON, ADMINISTRATOR, COMMODITY STABILIZATION SERVICE JOSEPH C. WHEELER, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Mr. ANDERSEN. The committee will come to order. Gentlemen, we are glad to have with us this afternoon the Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Ezra Benson, and his staff. Mr. Secretary, I presume you have a general statement which you would like to present to the committee? Secretary BENSON. Yes, Mr. Chairman; I have a prepared stateI believe it might save the time of the committee if I might be permitted to read it. Mr. ANDERSEN. We will let you read it without interruption, Mr. Secretary. Will you please proceed? INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT Secretary BENSON. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, there have been many developments in agriculture the past year. Some of these have strongly influenced the operations of the Department of Agriculture. I am pleased to be able to meet with you at the opening of hearings on the Department's 1955 budget and to review what has taken place, as well as to look ahead into the coming year. (1) 410 I intend to discuss both policy and budget figures briefly in this opening statement. At the conclusion, if it please the committee, I will, with the help of my associates, try to answer any questions you care to raise. It will no doubt save time of the committee if I read the full statement first. AGRICULTURAL SITUATION AND OUTLOOK As this committee knows, 1953 was a year of abundant crop production. Total output was the third largest on record. A new high was likewise reached in the composite yield of all crops. With this large production and a sharp decline in exports, stocks of major commodities built up rapidly in spite of a strong domestic demand. By July 1, 1953, carryover stocks of wheat totaled 562 million bushels, more than double a year earlier. The estimated carryover on July 1 of this year is 800 million bushels. That is enough wheat to take care of our domestic requirements for more than a year. The record on cotton is similar. The cotton carryover of 5.5 million bales on August 1, 1953, was nearly double that of the previous year. It is expected to reach 91⁄2 million bales this year. would about take care of the Nation's cotton needs for 1 year. This Substantial increases in stocks of corn, fats and oils, and manufactured dairy products also were recorded. The attached chart D shows how major commodities have been accumulating in recent years. Likewise, production of livestock products moved upward. Cattle and calf slaughter increased to around 36%1⁄2 million head in 1953. This set an alltime record and was 30 percent above 1952. Some of this represented emergency marketing from drought areas. Hog slaughter was down 12 percent from 1952, reflecting small pig crops in 1952 and 1953 as a result of an unfavorable corn-hog price ratio. Milk production increased around 4 percent and in December was at a seasonal alltime high. Output of poultry products was slightly larger than in 1952. A sizable portion of the increased farm inventories wound up in the stocks of the Commodity Credit Corporation or headed in that direction through price-support loans. As this committee well knows, the CCC investment in farm products is now rapidly approaching the $6,750,000,000 limitation fixed by Congress. Emergency action is pending to reimburse the corporation for capital impairment due to losses in fiscal 1953 operations as well as for costs of the International Wheat Agreement and the foot-and-mouth-disease programs in that same year to meet the immediate situation. It has also been necessary to request that CCC's borrowing authority be increased to $8.5 billion. Attached to this statement, as schedules I and II, are reports of CCC for January 6, 1954, and January 5, 1953. They reveal an increase of more than $1.5 billion over a period of 1 year in the amount of commodities owned outright by CCC. Also attached is schedule III, which sets forth the amounts of grains and oilseeds under Government loan as of December 15, 1953, compared with December 15, 1952. The 1953 total is approximately 200 million bushels above the |