Number of Market News Service employees (technical and clerical) in branch field offices as of Oct. 18, 1948

Number of Market News Service employees (technical and clerical) in branch field offices as of Oct. 13, 1948-Continued

1 Temporary offices operated only during marketing season. Opening date for Jackson, Miss., March 1949.

3 News office operated by processed foods inspector. Salary cost handled on offset basis. Technical employee being recruited to replace vacancy caused by death.

Technical work performed by fresh inspector at Fort Worth.

Technical employees are shown at city of headquarters. Those headquartered at temporary stations operate other temporary stations during balance of market season. One additional technical employee (agent) is stationed at Montgomery, Ala., a State market news office.

In addition, through cooperative arrangements broiler reports are issued covering markets at Montgomery, Ala.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Dover, Del.; Salisbury, Md.; Raleigh, N. C.; and Harrisonburg, Va. Other reports are issued at Denver, Colo; Baltimore, Md.; Fort Worth, Tex.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Columbus, Ohio.

Employees paid from this fund and working on this project are located in cotton acts offices.

Grand Junction, Colo.; Freewater, Oreg.; and Grand Forks, N. Dak., are not in operation during current season. In addition to the seasonal station shown, Federal-State market news reports are issued under cooperative agreement largely at State expense at Bakersfield, Calif.; Salinas, Calif.; Santa Maria, Calif.; and Yuma, Ariz.

Mr. NEWELL. Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out this small increase here does not provide for any increase in program operations. In fact, with the rising costs it is likely, in 1950, we will have to make some retrenchments to stay within this figure.

Mr. WHITTEN. The type of service you render in each of these places is in line with what you have discussed at Thomasville, Ga., with the exception in your big central markets it is on a larger scale and you give more regular information through releases?

Mr. NEWELL. That is generally correct. At the central markets, we do have to have a larger force to cover the markets and to put out more detailed information with respect to the various crops.

BENEFITS OF MARKET NEWS SERVICE

Mr. WHITTEN. What is the prime benefit of such a service? Mr. NEWELL. The benefit is related directly to orderly marketing. It is related to the returns the farmers get and the orderly distribution of agricultural crops. The purpose is to give farmers and handlers of farm commodities timely and reliable market information on supplies, prices, and conditions affecting the markets.

For a good many years, as we have seen, new agricultural programs come into being, it is rather significant that one of the first things

that comes with them has been a request for more market information. That is true with respect to a great many of our programs, even going back when the old Farm Board was established, when cooperative marketing came into the picture strongly. One of the first demands made was for additional marketing information. It is a fundamental basic service. It gives farmers a basis for knowing whether or not they are receiving the true market price for their products.

There are many examples that could be cited as to where the market news service has tended to even out and protect producers from the inequities between markets in relatively short distances.

One of the recent examples was in connection with the development of the market news service in the Lake Okeechobee area in Florida, where before the market news was established, markets within a very short distance would find themselves flooded with produce. Another market would be short. The trucker and others would make profit by that, moving into the heavy production area and moving only a relatively few miles into another area and selling at a profit. Of course, the farmer had lost that benefit when that was done.

With the inauguration of the market news service, those markets evened out, the receipts evened up, and the inequities between the markets with respect to price straightened out.

The fact that a market grows after a market news service is established is indicative to me, at least, that farmers and others want to deal in a market where they know what the market is doing. And the market news service provides that information.

Mr. WHITTEN. I do not think anything could be more important right now than to help in any way we can toward marketing. I think the Congress has recognized that in passing various legislation. We have tried to do it in providing funds through this committee, of course, with the approval of the Congress.

COOPERATION WITH STATES

How much recognition is there on the part of the States to the extent that they contribute funds and work out cooperative agreements with you?

Mr. NEWELL. Mr. Whitten, we have 44 cooperative agreements with 36 States for the conduct of market news service under the various categories.

The States, we estimate, and this has to be an estimate, contributed for the fiscal year 1948 about $273,000 of their money in supplementing and adding to the service on market news being performed under cooperative agreements to improve the service for their local areas.

These cooperative agreements have, some of them, been in effect for a good many years, and it is quite indicative of the interest that the local people have in the service.

EXTENT OF SERVICE EXPECTED IN 1950

Mr. WHITTEN. In your over-all, I believe, as you stated before, you contemplate carrying on only services in the areas that you have been in before.

Mr. NEWELL. That is correct. That is all we can do with what we have.

As I said, with the rising cost of the service, I am not sure but what we will have to retrench in some way to get by under the funds next year.

CURRENT TRENDS AND RECENT CHANGES IN PROGRAM

Mr. WHITTEN. In that connection, I notice you have on page 267 through 270, information with regard to the changes in trends, and so forth, which I think would be of interest, and we would like to have those included in the record at this point.

(The documents are as follows:)

EXAMPLES OF CURRENT TRENDS AND RECENT CHANGES IN THE PROGRAM

1. Livestock, meats, and wool

(a) On August 8, 1948, a complete livestock market news service was initiated at Memphis, Tenn. The market news service covering Florida livestock markets, reporting through the Thomasville, Ga., market news office, was extended on September 1, 1948, as authorized by Congress.

(b) The leased wire was extended to the Los Angeles office from San Francisco, as authorized, and became a part of the coast circuit of the leased-wire teletype system which now connects all of the principal livestock markets and five of the major meat markets of the country.

(c) Under cooperative agreements the States of Florida and Alabama provided additional funds to expand the program in those States. Information collected by State employees was relayed to the Montgomery, Ala., and Thomasville, Ga., offices and combined with the information being disseminated.

(d) The San Francisco office began the preparation of a weekly review covering the livestock and the wholesale meat markets in the entire Pacific coast area. This review was released at the Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offices and was used by newspapers and radio stations in editions and programs on each Friday.

(e) The increase in commercial trading in wool in 1948 created a greater demand for market information and made wool market-reporting much more difficult than during the previous year when a higher proportion of the domestic production was sold through the Commodity Credit Corporation.

(f) Comparability of price quotations released at all markets and greater uniformity in activities between offices is expected as a result of the preparation and distribution of a handbook for technical and clerical employees outlining policies and giving detailed instructions for specific activities.

2. Fruits and vegetables

(a) The Los Angeles office was expanded to provide for issuance of complete citrus reports adapted to the needs of the California citrus industry, as authorized by Congress.

(b) On September 7, 1948, a market news office was established at Jackson, Miss., to provide for reporting of fruit and vegetable market news of the Jackson market and the Crystal Springs-Hazelhurst area.

(c) Lack of sufficient funds to carry the full work load made necessary the discontinuance on August 2, 1947, of the market news reports covering the Washington, D. C., market.

(d) New cooperative agreements or revisions in existing agreements were made with the following States: (1) California, (2) Illinois, (3) Texas, (4) North Dakota, (5) Louisiana, (6) Maryland, (7) Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginiaa four-way agreement wherein these States collectively paid one-half of the cost of an extended service at Martinsburg, W. Va., to cover the ShenandoahCumberland peach marketing season, (8) Michigan, (9) Idaho, (10) North Carolina, (11) Tennessee, and (12) Utah.

(e) New summarization of carlot shipments which indicates the total movement by commodities from any particular county or waybilling station was made possible by the flexibility of IBM operations. These summaries should prove very valuable to those interested in the production, marketing and distribution of fruits and vegetables.

(f) Submission of data on unloads by railroads were resumed on major selected fruits and vegetables in 100 United States and 5 Canadian cities during the

year as compared to only 66 cities when the reports were discontinued in 1940. These data were compiled into reports and released currently each month through market news field offices and were summarized for the year and published by the Washington office.

(g) Peanut reports went to approximately 1,100 peanut growers, shellers, millers, dealers, and others. The honey report was mailed to about 2,500.

3. Dairy and poultry products

(a) New offices were established at Cleveland, Ohio, St. Louis, Mo., and Madison, Wis. Amendment of the Ohio cooperative market news agreement added Columbus as a Federal-State office. Market reports on dairy and poultry products are now issued from 28 offices. Recruitment problems have delayed initiation of the dairy and poultry market news service at Jackson, Miss. (b) Service was extended in existing offices as follows: (1) Dressed poultry market reporting was added at New York, (2) reporting of dressed poultry and local wholesale prices of cream used for ice cream was added at Atlanta, (3) turkeys were added to the poultry list at Chicago, covering receipts at 225 primary markets in 17 Midwest States, (4) arrangements were completed for weekly reports on carlots of eggs and butter moving into the Pacific coast area from the Midwest, (5) radio and press outlets were further expanded, (6) the teletype system was extended to New Orleans, and (7) the service at Boston, Mass. was strengthened this fiscal year by including daily reports of f. o. b. prices of live poultry at the more important poultry processing plants in nearby New England. (c) Discontinuance of the report covering the Washington, D. C., market was necessary in fiscal year 1948 due to lack of funds.

(d) A new cooperative agreement with the Maryland State Department of Agriculture, which provides for increased State participation, has been prepared as a means of improving the service in the Baltimore area.

4. Grain and grain products

(a) Requests for market information from farmers, feeders, and the agricultural industry as a whole increased as trading in grain, feed and related commodities became more nearly normal. State marketing officials showed a renewed interest in the development of Federal-State market news service to assist in meeting marketing problems resulting from expansion in grain production.

(b) Cooperative arrangements were in effect with the American Rice Growers Cooperative Association and the Rice Millers Association for the dissemination of rice statistics and market information released by the Department. Cooperative agreements with seven States were also in effect.

(c) Special market reports and summaries were prepared for extensive radio and press dissemination.

(d) More than 500 statistical series, including production, stocks, market movement, utilization and prices of the principal grains, grain byproduct feeds, oilseed meals and rice, were maintained for current use in the preparation of market reports and in replying to special requests.

5. Cottonseed

(a) Cottonseed market reviews were issued from Atlanta, Dallas, and Memphis throughout the active marketing season. These reports show (1) the high, low and average grades by counties, (2) average wagon-lot prices paid farmers, and (3) general information on cottonseed market conditions throughout the industry. These reports were used by farmers as guides in selling and by county agents and other agricultural workers to assist farmers in obtaining fair prices for seed. Ginners and oil mill operators also used these reports as guides in buying and selling seed.

6. Cold-storage reports

(a) Monthly cold-storage reports issued during the fiscal year 1948 show stocks of approximately 87 different items in about 1,800 refrigerated warehouses having a total of 650,000,000 cubic feet gross cold-storage space. These reports, released in mimeograph form, were wired to 65 market news branch offices for use by farmers, processors, members of the trade, bankers, research agencies, and others. The value attached to these reports is indicated by the large demand for them and the prominence with which they are featured in the press and trade publications.

(b) Special reports are issued from time to time to assist in overcoming unusual cold-storage problems. For example, in the summer of 1947 apple crop prospects indicated that fairly large demands would be made upon suitable storage space.