[CHAPTER 425-1ST SESSION]

[H. R. 452]

AN ACT

To amend the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act relating to marketing agreements and orders.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Agricul tural Adjustment Act, as amended, and as reenacted and amended by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended, is further amended as follows:

By adding at the end of section 2 (U. S. C., 1940 edition, title 7, sec. 602) the following:

"(3) Through the exercise of the powers conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture under this title, to establish and maintain such minimum standards of quality and maturity and such grading and inspection requirements for agricultural commodities enumerated in section 8c (2), other than milk and its products, in interstate commerce as will effectuate such orderly marketing of such agricultural commodities as will be in the public interest."

SEC. 2. Section 8c (6), as amended (U. S. C., 1940 edition, title 7, sec. 608c (6)), is amended to read as follows:

"(6) In the case of fruits (including pecans and walnuts but not including apples, other than apples produced in the States of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and not including fruits, other than olives, for canning or freezing) and their products, tobacco and its products, vegetables (not including vegetables, other than asparagus, for canning or freezing) and their products, soybeans and their products, hops and their products, honeybees, and naval stores as included in the Naval Stores Act and standards established thereunder (including refined or partially refined oleoresin), orders issued pursuant to this section shall contain one or more of the following terms and conditions, and (except as provided in subsection (7)) no others:

"(A) Limiting, or providing methods for the limitation of, the total quantity of any such commodity or product, or of any grade, size, or quality thereof, produced during any specified period or periods, which may be marketed in or transported to any or all markets in the current of interstate or foreign commerce or so as directly to burden, obstruct, or affect interstate or foreign commerce in such commodity or product thereof, during any specified period or periods by all handlers thereof.

"(B) Allotting, or providing methods for allotting, the amount of such commodity or product, or any grade, size, or quality thereof, which each handler may purchase from or handle on behalf of any and all producers thereof, during any specified period or periods, under a uniform rule based upon the amounts sold by such producers in such prior period as the Secretary determines to be representative,

or upon the current quantities available for sale by such producers, or both, to the end that the total quantity thereof to be purchased, or handled during any specified period or periods shall be apportioned equitably among producers.

"(C) Allotting, or providing methods for allotting, the amount of any such commodity or product, or any grade, size, or quality thereof, which each handler may market in or transport to any or all markets in the current of interstate or foreign commerce or so as directly to burden, obstruct, or affect interstate or foreign commerce in such commodity or product thereof, under a uniform rule based upon the amounts which each such handler has available for current shipment, or upon the amounts shipped by each such handler in such prior period as the Secretary determines to be representative, or both, to the end that the total quantity of such commodity or product, or any grade, size, or quality thereof, to be marketed in or transported to any or all markets in the current of interstate or foreign commerce or so as directly to burden, obstruct, or affect interstate or foreign commerce in such commodity or product thereof, during any specified period or periods shall be equitably apportioned among all of the handlers thereof.

"(D) Determining, or providing methods for determining, the existence and extent of the surplus of any such commodity or product, or of any grade, size, or quality thereof, and providing for the control and disposition of such surplus, and for equalizing the burden of such surplus elimination or control among the producers and handlers thereof.

"(E) Establishing or providing for the establishment of reserve pools of any such commodity or product, or of any grade, size, or quality thereof, and providing for the equitable distribution of the net return derived from the sale thereof among the persons beneficially interested therein.

"(F) Requiring or providing for the requirement of inspection of any such commodity or product produced during specified periods and marketed by handlers.

"(G) In the case of hops and their products, in addition to, or in lieu of, the foregoing terms and conditions, orders may contain one or more of the following:

"(i) Limiting, or providing methods for the limitation of, the total quantity thereof, or of any grade, type, or variety thereof, produced during any specified period or periods, which all handlers may handle in the current of or so as directly to burden, obstruct, or affect interstate or foreign commerce in hops or any product thereof.

"(ii) Apportioning, or providing methods for apportioning, the total quantity of hops of the production of the then current calendar year permitted to be handled equitably among all producers in the production area to which the order applies upon the basis of one or more or a combination of the following: The total quantity of hops available or estimated will become available for market by each producer from his production during such period; the normal production of the acreage of hops operated by each producer during such period upon the basis of the number of acres of hops in production, and the average yield of that acreage during such period as the Secretary

determines to be representative, with adjustments determined by the Secretary to be proper for age of plantings or abnormal conditions affecting yield; such normal production or historical record of any acreage for which data as to yield of hops are not available or which had no yield during such period shall be determined by the Secretary on the basis of the yields of other acreage of hops of similar characteristics as to productivity, subject to adjustment as just provided for.

"(iii) Allotting, or providing methods for allotting, the quantity of hops which any handler may handle so that the allotment fixed for that handler shall be limited to the quantity of hops apportioned under preceding section (ii) to each respective producer of hops; such allotment shall constitute an allotment fixed for that handler within the meaning of subsection (5) of section 8a of this title (U. S. C., 1940 edition, title 7, sec. 608a)."

SEC. 3. Section 10 (b) (2) (U. S. C., 1940 edition, title 7, sec. 610 (b) (2)) is amended to read as follows:

"(2) (i) Each order relating to milk and its products issued by the Secretary under this title shall provide that each handler subject thereto shall pay to any authority or agency established under such order such handler's pro rata share (as approved by the Secretary) of such expenses as the Secretary may find will necessarily be incurred by such authority or agency, during any period specified by him, for the maintenance and functioning of such authority or agency, other than expenses incurred in receiving, handling, holding, or disposing of any quantity of milk or products thereof received, handled, held, or disposed of by such authority or agency for the benefit or account of persons other than handlers subject to such order. The pro rata share of the expenses payable by a cooperative association of producers shall be computed on the basis of the quantity of milk or product thereof covered by such order which is distributed, processed, or shipped by such cooperative association of producers.

"(ii) Each order relating to any other commodity or product issued by the Secretary under this title shall provide that each handler subject thereto shall pay to any authority or agency established under such order such handler's pro rata share (as approved by the Secretary) of such expenses as the Secretary may find are reasonable and are likely to be incurred by such authority or agency, during any period specified by him, for such purposes as the Secretary may, pursuant to such order, determine to be appropriate, and for the maintenance and functioning of such authority or agency, other than expenses incurred in receiving, handling, holding, or disposing of any quantity of a commodity received, handled, held, or disposed of by such authority or agency for the benefit or account of persons other than handlers subject to such order. The pro rata share of the expenses payable by a cooperative association of producers shall be computed on the basis of the quantity of the agricultural commodity or product thereof covered by such order which is distributed, processed, or shipped by such cooperative association of producers. The payment of assessments for the maintenance and functioning of such authority or agency, as provided for herein, may be required under a marketing agreement or marketing order throughout the period the marketing agreement or order is in effect and irrespective of whether particular provisions thereof are suspended or become inoperative.

"(iii) Any authority or agency established under an order may maintain in its own name, or in the name of its members, a suit against any handler subject to an order for the collection of such handler's pro rata share of expenses. The several district courts of the United States are hereby vested with jurisdiction to entertain such suits regardless of the amount in controversy."

SEC. 4. Section 8c (2) (U. S. C., 1940 edition, title 7, sec. 608c (2)) is amended by inserting the words "or freezing" immediately after the word "canning" wherever said word "canning" appears in said section. Approved August 1, 1947.

[CHAPTER 440-1ST SESSION]

[S. 1326]

AN ACT

To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subsection (a) of section 508 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows:

"(a) Commencing with crops planted for harvest in 1948, for the purpose of determining the most practical plan, terms, and conditions of insurance for agricultural commodities, if sufficient actuarial data are available, as determined by the Board, to insure, or to reinsure insurers of, producers of such agricultural commodities under any plan or plans of insurance determined by the Board to be adapted to any such commodity: Provided, That reinsurance for private insurance companies shall be limited to contracts covering farms in not to exceed twenty counties selected by the Board. Such insurance shall be against loss of the insured commodity while in the field due to unavoidable causes, including drought, flood, hail, wind, frost, winter-kill, lightning, fire, excessive rain, snow, wildlife, hurricane, tornado, insect infestation, plant disease, and such other unavoidable causes as may be determined by the Board. Any insurance offered against loss in yield shall not cover in excess of 75 per centum of the recorded or appraised average yield of the commodity on the insured farm for a representative period subject to such adjustments as the Board may prescribe to the end that the average yields fixed for farms in the same area, which are subject to the same conditions, may be fair and just: Provided, That, if 75 per centum of the average yield represents generally more protection than the investment in the crop in any area, taking into consideration recognized farming practices, the Board shall reduce such maximum percentage so as more nearly to reflect the investment in the crop in such area. Insurance provided under this subsection shall not cover losses due to the neglect or malfeasance of the producer, or to the failure of the producer to reseed to the same crop in areas and under circumstances where it is customary to so reseed, or to the failure of the producer to follow established good farming practices. In 1948 insurance shall be limited to not more than seven crops (including wheat, cotton, flax, corn, and tobacco) and to not more than three additional crops in each year thereafter. Insurance provided for any agricultural commodity, except wheat, cotton, flax, corn, and tobacco, shall be limited to producers in not to exceed twenty counties. Insurance for wheat, cotton, corn, flax, and tobacco shall be limited to producers in not to exceed two hundred counties in the case of wheat, fifty-six counties in the case of cotton, fifty counties each in the case of corn and flax, and thirty-five counties in the case of tobacco. Counties selected by the Board shall be representative of