PROPORTIONATE SHARES FOR GROWERS

CONTINENTAL BEET AREA

Excessive stocks of beet sugar, following 3 years of record production, made necessary in 1941 the first acreage reduction in the continental beet area as a whole since the sugar quota system began in 1934. The Sugar Act specifically prevents payments to growers on more sugar than is needed to enable their area to fill its marketing quota and provide a normal carry-over inventory. On January 1, 1941, the effective inventory of beet sugar totaled more than 1,750,000 short tons, raw value, as compared with 1,415,000 tons on January 1 of the preceding year, and with approximately a million tons in earlier years. The initial 1941 marketing quota for the beet area was 1,549,898 tons.

The 820,000 acres for distribution in the beet area in 1941 represented a reduction of 16.2 percent from the 1940 acreage, and, in order to distribute this acreage equitably, officials of the Sugar Division first sought the views of growers and processors at a series of public meetings in the various parts of the beet area.

The formula used to divide the total national beet acreage among the various sugar-beet-growing districts was substantially the same as that employed in 1939, the only other year under sugar-control legislation in which restrictive acreage allotments to beet growers were required, although the total beet acreage distributed that year did not represent any reduction. In accordance with the provisions of the Sugar Act, the formula gave consideration to the factors "past production" and "ability to produce." "Past production" for each district was measured in terms of its largest average planted acreage for any consecutive period, varying from 3 to 10 years and ending with 1940, and "ability to produce" by its largest planted acreage in any one of 3 years, 1938, 1939, 1940. The two factors were given equal weight in the formula.

A slight adjustment from the results of the application of the formula was made to prevent a few districts, with exceptionally consistent records of sugar-beet plantings, from having to sustain reductions greater than the national average for each of the three periods mentioned.

In 1939, acreage allocations had been made by beet-sugar factory districts without reference to State boundaries. With a view to improving the coordination between the sugar program and the agricultural conservation program, the 1941 allocations, in the greater part of the continental beet area, were made by districts consisting of one or more counties within each State.

The division of district allocations among individual farms in 1941 was made by local acreage-allotment committees selected by State agricultural conservation committees.

Because of the very great increase in the demand for sugar, and because of shipping and other uncertainties due to the defense program, the Secretary announced on September 8, 1941, that sugar-beet and sugarcane acreage restrictions would probably be unnecessary in 1942. Under these circumstances it was deemed undesirable to require growers either to destroy or to feed to livestock the sugar beets produced in 1941 on acreage in excess of the allotments previously

established. Consequently, on October 2, it was announced that growers would be permitted to market sugar beets in excess of such allotments without being disqualified for conditional payments. It was provided, however, that growers should not receive payments on the excess acreage.

The acreage actually planted to beets in 1941 was about 775,000 acres, and it was expected that this acreage would yield a crop of about 1,600,000 tons of sugar. The beet industry exceeded such a production level in only one year prior to the operation of the sugarquota system.

MAINLAND CANE AREA

On September 7, 1940, proportionate shares or acreage allotments to Louisiana and Florida sugarcane growers were announced tentatively because many growers wished to plan their 1941 sugarcane plantings so as to be certain to qualify for conditional payments if the Sugar Act of 1937 was extended to cover the 1941 crop. The extension of the act was approved on October 15, 1940, and the formal determination of proportionate shares for farms in the mainland cane-sugar area was issued on November 29, 1940.

The 1941 proportionate shares were based on estimated quota and normal carry-over requirements of approximately 500,000 tons of sugar, and they made available to growers about 300,000 acres of sugarcane, including cane for seed. In 1940, 285,000 acres of sugarcane had been harvested in Louisiana and Florida in the production of 336,000 tons of sugar. This included production in excess of 1940 proportionate shares, which was permitted, with certain payment deductions, under Public Resolution No. 104, 76th Congress, approved October 10, 1940.

The 1941 proportionate-share determination reinstated the relationship between growers which existed under the 1938 determination. This relationship had always been considered fair by all parties concerned, but it was altered somewhat in 1939 and 1940 when acreage adjustments were necessary on the part of all but growers with family-sized farms. New growers and small growers in 1941, as in previous years, were entitled to a minimum proportionate share of 5 acres and could qualify for not more than 10 acres, depending on the acreage on the farm suitable for sugarcane. In 1941, tenants and sharecroppers were again protected by a provision preventing changes in leasing and cropping agreements for the purpose of diverting to landowners any payment formerly made to tenants or sharecroppers.

On October 2, the 1941 proportionate-share determination was revised to permit the marketing of excess-acreage sugarcane for sugar without disqualifying growers for conditional payments, although it was provided that no payments would be made on such excess acreage. The reasons for this action have already been given in the section dealing with sugar-beet allotments.

The 1940 crop in Louisiana was well below normal as the result of freezing weather, floods, and storms. The 1941 crop in that State was also below normal.

HAWAII

In view of the fact that the quantity of sugar produced in Hawaii since the sugar quota system has been in effect has not been in excess of

that needed to fill the Territory's local and United States consumption quota and establish normal reserves, proportionate shares or allotments each year have been the individual producer's actual production.

PUERTO RICO

The 1940-41 proportionate shares for established growers in Puerto Rico were, as in previous years, in terms of sugar and were determined by adjusting their 1939-40 proportionate shares to the consumption requirements for Puerto Rico and continental United States, plus normal reserves during the 1941 calendar year.

New growers in 1940-41 were limited to those on land purchased or leased under the programs of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration or the Farm Security Administration. Such growers were permitted to qualify for up to 3 acres of sugarcane for harvest in 1941.

MINIMUM WAGES

During the year there were issued six determinations establishing minimum wages for beet and cane field workers in the various domestic areas.

Two of the determinations concerned the continental sugar-beet area, the first one issued being applicable to California, where the season starts early, and the second one covering all other beet States.

Both of these determinations continued in 1941 the basic wage rates established for the 1940 crop for persons employed in the production, cultivation, or harvesting of beets. However, in 1940 the California piece piece rate for harvesting operations remained unchanged after sugarbeet yields reached 20 tons an acre, while the 1941 rate provided for a 1-cent-a-ton reduction for each additional ton between 21 and 25 tons, after which no further reductions were made. Another change from the 1940 determination for California provided that a producer and laborer could agree in writing that the laborer was to receive the sum of the piece-rate payments specified for blocking and thinning and the first and second hoeings, for all such work prior to harvest regardless of the number of hoeings actually required.

The 1941 wage determination for the other beet States made only two changes from that issued in 1940. One of these changes was to include Kansas, which was formerly a separate district, in the district comprising Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and southern Wyoming. The effect of this change was to increase the rate for each hoeing in Kansas by 50 cents an acre. The second change was to provide hourly as well as piece rates for the districts comprising Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, southern Wyoming, and Kansas.

In the mainland sugarcane area, comprising Louisiana and Florida, there were issued two determinations, one covering the harvesting of the 1940 crop of sugarcane between September 1, 1940, and June 30, 1941, and the second providing the rates for the production and cultivation of cane during 1941. The harvesting-wage determination did not change the rates established for the harvesting of the 1940 crop in Florida. In the case of Louisiana, although the daily harvesting wages and the piece rates for small-barrel green cane were the same as in the previous year, somewhat lower rates were

established for cutting and loading large-barrel green cane. Rates for cutting small- and large-barrel burnt cane in Louisiana also were provided. The establishment of differential rates for several types of cane in Louisiana was in keeping with the practice that had been followed in Florida. No change from 1940 was made in the minimum wages to be paid laborers in the production and cultivation of sugarcane in this area in 1941.

The 1941 Hawaiian wage determination established for the first time in the Territory wage rates for workers between the ages of 14 and 16 and for semiskilled machine operators. It was again provided that the annual average payment to all workers taken as a group was not to be less than $2 and $1.50 a working day of 8 hours for harvesting and nonharvesting operations, respectively. The 1940 determination also provided that each individual worker was to be paid an average of not less than $1.40 a day for each pay period of not more than 1 month. This rate was continued in the 1941 determination but was restricted to nonharvesting operations. For harvesting operations a new average rate of not less than $1.60 was established.

The 1941 Puerto Rican wage determination established the same rates as were in effect in 1940 and again provided for a bonus system which was to become effective during the first 6 months of the year when the price of raw sugar reached 3 cents a pound. Inasmuch as this price was above that level during most of this period, the bonus provision was operative. The rates established in the determination correspond with the terms of the collective agreement between the Association of Sugar Producers of Puerto Rico and the Free Federation of Working Men of Puerto Rico.

FARMING PRACTICES

The soil-conserving and soil-improving practices established under the 1941 sugar program for growers in the various domestic sugarproducing areas who wish to receive Federal sugar payments were substantially the same as those for the 1940 program.

In the continental beet area the practices included the seeding or maintenance of legumes or grasses, the plowing under of greenmanure crops, and the application of animal or chemical fertilizers to the soil.

Several relatively minor changes were made for the 1941 California beet crop. One of these enabled growers who wished to qualify their crop by the application of lime, barnyard manure, and leguminous crop residues to land on which sugar beets were to be planted, to do so in the late summer and early fall of 1940, rather than at a later period. This was done by permitting the crop year to be considered as a 12-month period beginning 120, instead of 100 days prior to the normal planting for the community. In many instances growers do not plant their beets until late winter or early spring. Another change permitted the application of gypsum or its sulfur equivalent as a soil-conserving practice. In certain areas in California, the application of gypsum expedites water penetration by improving the soil structure, and, in other areas, where a deficiency of sulfur exists, it corrects the deficiency of this plant-food element.

The practices for the mainland cane area were the same as in 1940. They provided that any grower who wished to qualify for a Federal conditional payment was required to have an acreage of the designated practices equal to at least 30 percent of his acreage in sugarcane, and the practices were to be carried out on land adapted to sugarcane production. The approved practices consisted chiefly of seeding or turning under legumes or other crops beneficial to the soil. The farming practices to be met by Hawaiian sugarcane producers who wished to receive Government payments on the 1941 crop were the same as those for 1940, with one exception. The minimum amount of plant food in chemical fertilizer required to be applied per acre of sugarcane land was reduced from 150 to 125 pounds because experiments had indicated that good farming practices did not require fertilizer applications as large as were customary in the past. As in 1940, it was required that the acreage fertilized be at least as large as the acreage on the farm on which sugarcane was planted, or a stubble crop of sugarcane started, at any time in 1941.

In Puerto Rico growers were required to apply chemical fertilizer in varying amounts to farms with more than 10 acres of sugarcane. In the case of farms with 10 acres or less of cane, growers instead were permitted to apply the tops and trash cut from sugarcane harvested or to carry out any of the soil-building practices specified in the 1941 Agricultural Conservation Program bulletin for Puerto Rico.

GROWER-PROCESSOR RELATIONS

Processor-producers who grow a substantial portion of all domestic sugarcane receive relatively large conditional payments under the Sugar Act if they comply with the several requirements set forth therein. Consequently, the terms of the fair-price determinations, which embody one of the requirements to be met by processor-producers if they are to qualify for conditional payments, become the general basis for the purchase of sugarcane. This is to a lesser degree true in the sugar-beet area since sugar-beet processors produce only a negligible portion of the beets processed by them and in consequence receive less than 1 percent of the conditional payments made in that

area.

The determination of fair and reasonable prices for the 1940 and 1941 crops of sugar beets was made following public hearings and after a tentative determination for the 1940 crop had been submitted to interested parties. Growers and processors submitted memoranda setting forth their views on the tentative determination.

With respect to the 1940 crop of sugar beets the determination in effect approved final contracts used in many areas since the terms of these agreements had in many cases been brought into conformity with the tentative recommendations previously issued by the Department. The rates to be paid growers under these revised 1940 contracts represented an increase over those established in the previous contracts. The schedule of rates provided for in the determination, in addition to certain general increases, eliminated the clause contained in many contracts under which provision was made for an accelerated rate of reduction in payment per ton of sugar beets to growers when net proceeds from the sale of sugar fell below $3.25 per hundredweight. Moreover, the determination provided that in