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TABLE 4.-Numbers of county agricultural conservation associations formed in 1936, and members of such associations 1 by States

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1 Membership estimated on the basis of applications made for payment.

The number of participating farmers in the Northeast Region in 1936, estimated on the basis of applications for payment, is the number who would have been eligible for membership in county associations had they been organized in that year.

The county agricultural conservation associations succeeded the more than 4,000 county agricultural adjustment associations that were formed to assist in administering the commodity-adjustment programs in 1933-35. These commodity-adjustment associations, upon the termination of the production-adjustment programs were charged with a share of the administrative work in the liquidation of these programs.

Formation of the county agricultural conservation associations begins with community meetings of producers who expect to participate in the programs. Each producer who is eligible to receive a grant under the program is eligible to membership in the association and to vote in elections of officers and committeemen.

ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES OF COUNTY ASSOCIATIONS

Prior to June 24, 1936, administrative expenses of the county associations were paid with Federal funds through a letter of authorization issued to the executive official in each State. On that date there was approved Public Resolution No. 131, Seventy-fourth Congress, which authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to advance funds against the grants to producers which were to be made within the various counties, and to deduct administrative expenses of county associations from these advances, the administrative expenses to be prorated among the producers to whom grants would be paid.

This procedure was adopted in all regions except the Southern and Northeast Regions in 1936. It will be followed in all regions under the 1937 program.

IV. OPERATING THE PROGRAM

When the recommendations from farmers of all regions and all types of farming have been assembled and coordinated into a national farm program designed to serve the welfare of farming as a national industry and of the national economy as well, the provisions of this program are administered by an organization responsive to the requirements of different regions and even of individual farms. The outline of the organization in Washington has been given above.

STATE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION

In all regions there is established in each State a committee, usually of five members, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture upon the recommendation of the director of the regional division after consultation with the State Director of Agricultural Extension and frequently with State officials and with officials of the principal farm organizations. Only farmers are chosen as members, except that in the North Central Region, one member, selected by the State Director of Extension, is from the staff of the State agricultural extension service and in a few States in other regions one member of the committee is a representative of the State college of agriculture. Rotation and tenure of membership vary among regions and among States. One member of the committee is designated by the director of the regional division as chairman, and has charge of the State office and of coordinating administration in the State.

In the North Central Region the State committee has charge of the administration of the program in the State, and its duties include assigning and enforcing quotas to counties, handling the details of checking performance in connection with applications for payment, approving county administrative expenses, hearing appeals from decisions of county committees, and recommending changes in the program and assisting in the development of new programs.

In other regions the State committee advises the regional division director, the State Director of Extension, and the State executive officer on general policy within the State; makes recommendations with regard to modifications in the program and, with the approval of the State technical committee or after consultation with State experiment station and State extension service specialists, recommends specifications for soil-building and range-building practices; reviews the recommendations of county committees with regard to soil-depleting bases and productivity indexes for the counties, and recommends county limits; hears appeals of producers from decisions of the county appeals body; and recommends time limits for filing work sheets and applications for payment.

STATE EXECUTIVE OFFICER

In each State there is a State executive officer. In the North Central Region the chairman of the State committee, designated by the director of the regional division, serves as State executive officer and in

that capacity has charge of the State office; administers the program in the State in accordance with the policies of the State committee and the instructions of the director of the regional division, and performs, as its agent, some of the duties assigned to the State committee. In the Western, Southern, Northeast, and East Central Regions, the State executive officer, who may also be designated as executive secretary or administrative officer, is appointed upon the recommendation of the regional division director after consultation with the State Director of Extension and the State committee, as a full-time employee of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, or of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the State extension service or the State agricultural college.

In these regions the State executive officer has charge of the State office; directs the examination of applications for payments; calls meetings of the State committee and serves as its secretary; has custody of all material submitted by county committees; directs the analysis of base-acreage, yield, and other data and prepares the results of such analysis for consideration by the State committee and the regional division director; and recommends for approval by the director, the budget for each county association.

In all States in the Western Region except Kansas, a State technical committee consisting of members of the State agricultural college staff and the Department of Agriculture field staff has been appointed to advise with the State executive officer and the State agricultural conservation committee on technical problems. Members of these technical committees receive no compensation from the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. In all other States technical advice is obtained by informal contact with State experiment stations and State extension service specialists.

In other regions the State Director of Extension advises with the director of the regional division in making recommendations for appointments to the State committee and in the selection of the State executive officer. Detailed supervision of administrative work for which county and State committees are responsible, such as assigning bases and checking performance, may or may not be handled by the Director of Extension, depending upon arrangements with the individual States.

COMMUNITY AND COUNTY OFFICERS

In all regions where county agricultural conservation associations were organized in 1936 there were elections in each community, at which producers elected by popular vote a community committee consisting of a chairman, two additional members, and an alternate. The community committeemen assist in preparing, checking, and approving forms and documents filed in the community in connection with the program; recommend bases, productivity indexes, and normal yields for farms in the community; and assist in checking performance in connection with applications for grants. In the Northeast Region in 1936 farmer committees were appointed to assist in local administration.

Chairmen of the community committees constitute the board of directors of the county association. In counties with a small number of communities, both the chairmen and vice chairmen of the community committees, and even all members of the community committees,

may serve on the county board of directors. The county board of directors elects all elective officers of the association, and the members of the county committee. The board also prepares and submits the annual budget of the association. It may recommend changes in the boundaries of communities. In the Western and East Central Regions it hears appeals of members of the association from recommendations of the county committee. In the Southern Region the board appoints a committee to hear such appeals.

The president and vice president of the county association are elected by the county board of directors, and must be members of that board. The county board also elects a secretary and treasurer, who are not required to be members of the board, in all regions except the Southern Region, where the county agricultural extension agent serves as secretary of the association, and the assistant in agricultural conservation, or an employee of the county agent's office, serves as treasurer. In other regions county agents are eligible in nearly all States to be secretaries of county associations. counties in these States county agents have been elected to this position. In no case is the county agent eligible to serve as treasurer of the county association.

In most

The president and vice president of the county association, and one other member of the board of directors, elected by the board, constitute the county committee in all regions except the Northeast, where the third member need not be a director. In the North Central Region in 1937 the county agricultural extension agent also serves, ex officio, as a member of the county committee without a vote, and in range counties in this region, ranchers have a special member representative on the county committee. In other regions additional members of the committee may be elected with the approval of the division director.

The county committees review all forms and other documents filed in their counties in connection with the program; supervise the establishment of bases, productivity indexes, and normal yields for farms in their counties; supervise preparation of applications for payment; and perform other administrative work in connection with the employment of clerical and other workers.

In all of the States in the East Central Region, most States of the Western and Northeast Regions, and some States of the North Central Region, the county agricultural extension agent, by virtue of his position of leadership in the agricultural work of the county, takes an active part in the administration of the program. In the Southern Region the county agent is primarily responsible for the administration of the program in his county, being designated in the articles of association as the representative of the Secretary of Agriculture in all matters relating to the agricultural conservation program within the county.

CHAPTER 3

MARKETING PROGRAMS

SALIENT FACTS ABOUT MARKETING PROGRAMS

1. Number of marketing programs in effect at the end of calendar year 1936:

For dairy products.

For other products.

2. Number of producers affected by marketing programs for com-
modities other than dairy products in 1936..
3. Value of commodities produced by these growers..

25

18

90, 000

$119, 000, 000

Unregulated competitive shipment of certain agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, milk, and truck crops means that oversupplies follow scarcities on the same market, from day to day. When the market is over supplied, prices drop to the point at which the grower may not obtain a return sufficient even to pay his marketing costs, let alone his producing costs. The glut may be so great that the goods cannot be sold even at ruinously low prices, and are completely wasted.

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Too small a supply, on the other hand, brings a wide swing and a sudden and unreasonable increase in the price to the consumer. tends to discourage consumer demand for the product concerned. the long run the consumer who is assured of a steady supply of farm goods at a uniform price, is better off than if he profits temporarily by a low price that injures producers, and then has to pay extremely high prices when the supply is inadequate.

Marketing costs are relatively inflexible. Packaging, freight, and similar charges are about the same, per unit of produce marketed, regardless of the price that the produce brings. When the price falls too low the grower has little or nothing remaining when the marketing costs are paid. When the price is too high the consumer is unable to purchase the same volume of goods that he would purchase if the price were reasonable.

Stabilizing supplies and prices at a balanced level benefits both grower and consumer, and prevents waste of the product. This stabilization, through adjustment of shipments to market demand, has been the principal objective of marketing programs undertaken through cooperative group action by producers over a period of more than 20 years. Experience in these cooperative programs has demonstrated that with proper adjustment of shipments to demand it is possible to market a greater quantity of a given product over a marketing season, at a price fair to consumers yet more remunerative to

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