TABLE II.-Conversion of program volume to work units, labor, and fund This appropriation account for administrative expenses of ASCS National, Commodity, State, and county offices is to finance programs administered by, and functions delegated to, the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service. This appropriation account includes transfers from the Commodity Credit Corporation and miscellaneous advances from other accounts. A brief description of the programs financed from the appropriation and the volume of work performed during fiscal year 1962 under some of the major programs are set forth below. Where available, the 1963 estimated volume of work is shown. Acreage allotments and marketing quotas.-The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, authorizes production adjustment for designated basic commodities (tobacco, peanuts, wheat, cotton, and rice) through acreage allot ments and adjustment of supplies through marketing quotas. Marketing quotas must be proclaimed, in the case of wheat, cotton, and rice, when the total supply reaches a specified level in relation to normal supply, for tobacco, when the total supply exceeds the reserve supply level, and for peanuts, each year regardless of the supply situation. Acreage allotment and marketing quota programs are in effect on the 1963 crop of all designated basic commodities. It is assumed that they will also be in effect on the 1964 crop of all designated basic commodities. The following data relate to the 1963 fiscal year. Agricultural conservation program. The objectives of this program, authorized by sections 7 to 16(a), inclusive, and section 17 of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, include (1) restoring and improving soil fertility, (2) reducing erosion caused by wind and water, and (3) conserving water on the land. Cost-sharing assistance is furnished to individual farmers and ranchers in the 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands for carrying out approved soilbuilding and soil- and water-conserving practices on their farms. This assistance represents only a part of the cost of carrying out the practice. The farmer bears the balance of the cost and in addition, furnishes the labor and management necessary to carry out the practice. The following data relate to the 1961 ACP: Number of payees. Total number of farms___. Number of participating farms_. Number of counties in program. 1 Excludes Naval Stores and emergency practices. 1 1 1, 257, 079 4, 973, 484 1, 216, 556 3,070 Conservation reserve program.-This program, authorized by the Soil Bank Act, is a program under which farmers voluntarily contracted to take land out of production for a specified number of years and to devote such land to conservation uses. The 1960 program was the last program under which new contracts were authorized. Under the program, producers receive annual payments for the contract period on the land taken out of production and assistance in cash or conservation materials and services for carrying out approved conservation practices. It is estimated that by the end of fiscal year 1963 almost all of the practices to be carried out under the contracts will have been completed. Data for the 1962 program are as follows: Number of farms having contracts_. 269, 644 25,655, 625 2,872 Special feed grain and wheat stabilization programs.-Public Law 87-5 authorized a special agricultural conservation program for the 1961 crop of corn and grain sorghums. The Agricultural Act of 1961 continued the program and broadened it to include barley and also provided for a special program for the 1962 crop of wheat. The Food and Agriculture Act of 1962 provides for special programs on the 1963 crop on corn, grain sorghums, barley, and wheat. The chief objectives of these programs are to (1) increase farm income, (2) prevent further buildup of surplus stocks and, if possible, to reduce such stocks, and (3) reduce program costs of price-support activities. Feed grain program, 1962 Number of farms with base acreage.. Number of farms signed up-- Number of intended diverted acres‒‒‒‒‒ 3, 182, 269 1,341, 601 32, 684, 300 Wheat stabilization program, 1962 Number of farms with base average_. Number of intended diverted acres--- 1,811, 066 821, 845 15, 065, 300 Sugar Act program.―This program, authorized by the Sugar Act of 1948, as amended, is designed to (1) provide an assured supply of sugar for U.S. consumers at stable and reasonable prices, (2) make it possible, as a matter of national security, to produce a substantial part of domestic sugar requirements within the continental United States without the consumer penalizing device of high level protective tariff, and (3) serve important foreign policy objectives. Estimated workload for the 1962 crop is as follows: Estimated number of farms__. Number of counties--- Estimated planted acreage.. 42, 703 287 2,247, 830 Price-support program.—Activities include reinspection of farm-stored loans, including reseal loans, processing loan repayments, acquiring commodities under loan or purchase agreements, and sale of grain under the livestock feed program. Data for the fiscal year 1962 are: Number of warehouse-stored loans_. Number of reinspections of farm-stored commodities___ Number of loans and purchase agreements under which CCC acquired the commodity-. Number of repayments-- 426, 402 385, 651 1,263, 894 593, 726 223, 596 Grain storage structures program.-Activities include erection of storage structures, preparation of new bin sites and expansion of existing bin sites, and maintenance and operation of structures. Workload data for the fiscal year 1962 follow: Number of storage structure sites__. 3, 821 236, 910 National Wool Act program.-Under the provisions of the National Wool Act of 1954, incentive payments are made to producers to encourage the annual domestic production of about 300 million pounds of shorn wool. Incentive pay ments are made to eligible producers on a percentage basis, reflecting the amount required to bring the national average received by all producers to the announced incentive level. The incentive level, by law, cannot exceed 110 percent of parity. Number of applications for payment--- 445, 840 14, 652 COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION Mr. WHITTEN. We shall insert at this point the justification pages for the Commodity Credit Corporation. (The pages are as follows:) COMMODITY CREDIT CORPORATION PURPOSE STATEMENT Purpose. The Commodity Credit Corporation engages in buying, selling, lending, and other activities with respect to agricultural commodities, their products, food, feeds, and fibers, for the purpose of stabilizing, supporting, and protecting farm income and prices; assisting in the maintenance of balanced and adequate supplies of such commodities; and facilitating their orderly distribution. The Corporation also makes available materials and facilities required in connection with the production and marketing of such commodities. Origin.-The Corporation was organized October 17, 1933, under the laws of the State of Delaware, as an agency of the United States, and was managed and operated in close affiliation with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. On July 1, 1939, it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture by the President's Reorganization Plan I. On July 1, 1948, it was established as an agency and instrumentality of the United States under a permanent Federal charter by Public Law 80-806, as amended. Its operations are conducted pursuant to this charter and other specific legislation. Management.-The Corporation is managed by a Board of Directors, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, subject to the general supervision and direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, who is ex officio, a Director and Chairman of the Board. In addition, it has a bipartison advisory board of five members appointed by the President to survey the general policies of the Corporation and advise the Secretary with respect thereto. Personnel and facilities of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, ASCS State and county committees, and other USDA agencies are used to carry out Corporation activities. The services and fleet facilities of the Maritime Administration are used in some of its commodity storage operations, and the facilities of the General Services Administration are used in its activites relating to barter of agricultural commodities for strategic materials. Normal trade facilities are used to the maximum extent practicable. Cooperatives, local banks, and other financial institutions handle phases of its loan operations. Loan collateral and stocks acquired by the Corporation are stored in many commercial facilities. Operations. The budget is based on the price-support and related programs and special activities. Price-support and related programs.-Price-support operations are carried out under the Corporation's charter powers (15 U.S.C. 714) and in conformity with the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1421), section 125 of the Agricultural Act of 1956 (7 U.S.C. 1813), and other applicable legislation, including the Food and Agriculture Act of 1962. Under the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended, price support is mandatory for the basic commodities-corn, cotton, wheat, rice, peanuts, and tobaccoand specific nonbasic commodities, namely, tung nuts, honey, milk, butterfat, and the products of milk and butterfat, barley, oats, rye, and grain sorghums. Price support for wool and mohair is mandatory under the National Wool Act of 1954, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1781-1787), through the marketing year ending March 31, 1966. Price support for other nonbasic agricultural commodities is discretionary except that whenever the price of either cottonseed or soybeans is supported, the price of the other must be supported at such level as the Secretary determines will cause them to compete on equal terms on the market. This program may also include operations to remove and dispose of or aid in the removal or disposition of surplus agricultural commodities for the purpose of stabilizing prices at levels not in excess of permissible price-support levels. Support is made available through loans, payments, purchase agreements, purchases, and other operations. Operations to remove and dispose of or aid in the removal or disposition of surplus agricultural commodities for the purpose of stabilizing prices at levels not in excess of permissible price-support levels are also authorized. Dispositions of commodities acquired are made in compliance with various statutory authorities and limitations. Under section 308 of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, as amended, such purchases of animal fats and edible oils and products thereof are authorized as will tend to maintain the support level for cottonseed and soybeans without requiring the acquisition of such commodities under the usual loan and purchase operations of the price-support program. Under section 416 of the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended, private stocks may also be made available for donation in order to prevent waste. The incentive payment program on wool and mohair is described under special activities. Commodity export.-The Corporation promotes the export of agricultural commodities and products through sales, barters, payments, and other operations. Other than in barters for stockpiling purposes, such commodities and products may be those held in private trade channels as well as those acquired by the Corporation in its price-support operations. In order to encourage movement of cotton, corn, barley, grain sorghums, oats, rye, and rice from free-market supplies into export channels, export payments are made in the form of these commodities from the Corporation's stocks, or in some cases, in cash. Cotton held in the Corporation's inventory is also sold for unrestricted use on a competitive price basis. |