PART II AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED AN ACT To provide for the conservation of national soil resources and to provide an adequate and balanced flow of agricultural commodities in interstate and foreign commerce and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938". (7 U. S. Č. 1940 ed. 1281, February 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 31.) DECLARATION OF POLICY SEC. 2. It is hereby declared to be the policy of Congress to continue the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, for the purpose of conserving national resources, preventing the wasteful use of soil fertility, and of preserving, maintaining, and rebuilding the farm and ranch land resources in the national public interest; to accomplish these purposes through the encouragement of soilbuilding and soil-conserving crops and practices; to assist in the marketing of agricultural commodities for domestic consumption and for export; and to regulate interstate and foreign commerce in cotton, wheat, corn, tobacco, and rice to the extent necessary to provide an orderly, adequate, and balanced flow of such commodities in interstate and foreign commerce through storage of reserve supplies, loans, marketing quotas, assisting farmers to obtain, insofar as practicable, parity prices for such commodities and parity of income, and assisting consumers to obtain an adequate and steady supply of such commodities at fair prices. (7 U. S. C. 1940 ed. 1282, February 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 31.) 1 1 TITLE I-AMENDMENTS TO SOIL CONSERVATION AND DOMESTIC ALLOTMENT ACT 1 This title contains amendments to the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended. These amendments are set forth in Part I of this compilation. TITLE II-ADJUSTMENT IN FREIGHT RATES, NEW USES AND MARKETS, AND DISPOSITION OF SURPLUSES ADJUSTMENTS IN FREIGHT RATES FOR FARM PRODUCTS SEC. 201. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make complaint to the Interstate Commerce Commission with respect to ties for applying water to the land. In determining the amount of any payment or grant measured by (1) or (2) the Secretary shall take into consideration the productivity of the land affected by the farming practices adopted during the year with respect to which such payment is made. In carrying out the provisions of this section in the continental United States, the Secretary is directed to utilize the services of local and State committees selected as hereinafter provided. The Secretary shall designate local administrative areas as units for administration of programs under this section. No such local area shall include more than one county or parts of different counties. Farmers within any such local administrative area, and participating or cooperating in programs administered within such area, shall elect annually from among their number a local committee of not more than three members for such area and shall also elect annually from among their number a delegate to a county convention for the election of a county committee. The delegates from the various local areas in the county shall, in a county convention, elect, annually, the county committee for the county which shall consist of three members who are farmers in the county. The local committee shall select a secretary and may utilize the county agricultural extension agent for such purpose. The county committee shall select a secretary who may be the county agricultural extension agent. If such county agricultural extension agent shall not have been elected secretary of such committee, he shall be ex officio a member of the county committee. The county agricultural extension agent shall not have the power to vote. In any county in which there is only one local committee the local committee shall also be the county committee. In each State there shall be a State committee for the State composed of not less than three or more than five farmers who are legal residents of the State and who are appointed by the Secretary. The State director of the Agricultural Extension Service shall be ex officio a member of such State committee. The ex officio members of the county and State committees shall be in addition to the number of members of such committees hereinbefore specified. The Secretary shall make such regulations as are necessary relating to the selection and exercise of the functions of the respective committees, and to the administration, through such committees, of such programs. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary-shall, as far as practicable, protect the interests of tenants and sharecroppers; is authorized to utilize the agricultural extension service and other approved agencies; shall accord such recognition and encouragement to producer-owned and producer-controlled cooperative associations as will be in harmony with the policy toward cooperative associations set forth in existing Acts of Congress and as will tend to promote efficient methods of marketing and distribution; shall not have power to acquire any land or any right or interest therein; shall, in every practicable manner, protect the interests of small producers; and shall in every practical way encourage and provide for soil-conserving and soil-rebuilding practices rather than the growing of soil-depleting crops. Rules and regulations governing payments or grants under this subsection shall be as simple and direct as possible, and, wherever practicable, they shall be classified on two bases: (a) Soil-depleting crops and practices, (b) soil 8b building crops and practices. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in making available conservation materials consisting of seeds, seed inoculants, fertilizers, liming and other soil-conditioning materials, trees, or plants, or in making available soil-conserving or soibuilding services, to agricultural producers under this subsection, the Secretary may make payments, in advance of determination of performance by the producers, to persons who fill purchase orders covering approved conservation materials or covering soil-conserving or soilbuilding services, furnished to producers at not to exceed a fair price fixed in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary, or who render services to the Secretary in delivering to producers approved conservation materials, for the carrying out, by the producers, of soil-building or soil-conserving practices approved by the Secretary. (16 U. S. C. 1940 ed. 590h (b).) 1 Matter from " to a substituted February 16, 1938, by Sec. 101 of 52 Stat. 31, in lieu of the following: "(b) Subject to the limitations provided in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary shall have power to carry out the purposes specified in clauses (1), (2), (3), and (4) of section 7 (a) by making payments or grants of other aid to agricultural producers, including tenants and sharecroppers, in amounts, determined by the Secretary to be fair and reasonable in connection with the effectuation of such purposes during th eyear with respect to which such payments or grants are made, and measured by, (1) their treatment or use of their land, or a part thereof, for soil restoration, soil conservation, or the prevention of erosion, (2) changes in the use of their land, (3) a percentage of their normal production of any one or more agricultural commodities designated by the Secretary which equals that percentage of the normal national production of such commodity or commodities required for domestic consumption, or (4) any combination of the above. In determining the amount of any payment or grant measured by (1) or (2) the Secretary shall take into consideration the productivity of the land affected by the farming practices adopted during the year with respect to which such payment is made. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary shall, as far as practicable, protect the interests of tenants and share-croppers. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary is authorized to utilize county and community committees of agricultural producers and the agricultural extension service, or other approved agencies. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary shall not have power to enter into any contract binding upon any producer or to acquire any land or any right or interest therein. In carrying out the provisions of this section, the Secretary shall, in every practicable manner, protect the interests of small producers. The Secretary in administering this section shall in every practical way encourage and provide for soil conserving and soil rebuilding practices rather than the growing of soil depleting commercial crops." (February 29, 1936, 49 Stat. 1150.) 2 See last proviso item entitled "Conservation and Use of Agricultural Land Resources", Department of Agriculture Appropriation Act, 1939, p. 125. 3 b b 'Matter from " to " added June 21, 1941, by 55 Stat. 257. [PUBLIC, No. 430, 75th Cong.-SEC. 105. The amendments made by sections 101, 102, 103, and 104 shall first be effective with respect to farming operations carried out in the calendar year 1938. Notwithstanding such amendments, payments with respect to farming operations carried out in the calendar year 1938 and based upon any soildepleting crop for which special acreage allotments are established shall be made at not less than 90 per centum of the rates announced by the Secretary prior to the enactment of this Act. Nothing contained herein shall require reconstituting, for 1938, any county or other local committee which has been constituted prior to February 1, 1938. (February 16, 1938, 52 Stat. 36, as amended on April 7, 1938, by 52 Stat. 202.)] 1(c) (1) In apportioning acreage allotments under this section in the case of wheat and corn, the National and State allotments_and the allotments to counties shall be apportioned annually on the basis of the acreage seeded for the production of the commodity during the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which the national acreage allotment is determined (plus, in applicable years, the acreage diverted under previous agricultural adjustment and conservation programs), with adjustments for abnormal weather conditions and trends in acreage during the applicable period. (2) In the case of wheat, the allotment to any county shall be apportioned annually by the Secretary, through the local committees, among the farms within such county on the basis of tillable acres, crop-rotation practices, type of soil, and topography. Not more than 3 per centum of such county allotment shall be apportioned to farms on which wheat has not been planted during any of the three marketing years immediately preceding the marketing year in which the allotment is made. (3) In the case of corn, the allotment to any county shall be apportioned annually by the Secretary, through the local committees, among the farms within such county on the basis of tillable acreage, type of soil, topography, and crop-rotation practices. (2) (5) In determining normal yield per acre for any county under this section in the case of wheat or corn, the normal yield shall be the average yield per acre therein for such commodity during the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which such yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions and trends in yields. If for any reason there is no actual yield, or the data therefor are not available for any year, then an appraised yield for such year, determined in accordance with regulations of the Secretary, shall be used. If, on account of drought, flood, insect pests, plant disease, or other uncontrollable natural cause, the yield in any year of such ten-year period is less than 75 per centum of the average (computed without regard to such year), such year shall be eliminated in calculating the normal yield per acre. Such normal yield per acre for any county need be redetermined only when the actual average yield for the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which such yield is being reconsidered differs by at least 5 per centum from the actual acreage yield for the ten years upon which the existing normal yield per acre for the county was based a 6 Ба (6) In determining normal yield per acre for any farm under this section in the case of wheat or corn, the normal yield shall be the average yield per acre thereon for such commodity during the ten calendar years immediately preceding the calendar year in which such yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions and trends in yields. If for any such year the data are not available, or there is no actual yield, then the normal yield for the farm shall be appraised in accordance with regulations of the Secretary, taking into consideration abnormal weather conditions, the normal yield for the county, and the yield in years for which data are available. (16 U. S. C. 1940 ed. 590h (c).) 1 Italicized subsection (c) was substituted February 16, 1938, by Sec. 101 of 52 Stat. 32, in lieu of the following: "(c) Any payment or grant of aid made under subsection (b) shall be conditioned upon the utilization of the land, with respect to which such payment is made, in conformity with farming practices which the Secretary finds tend to effectuate the purposes specified in clause (1), (2), (3), or (4) of section 7 (a)." (February 29, 1936, 49 Stat. 1150.) 2 Subsection (4), which read as follows: "(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, if, for any reason other than flood or drought, the acreage of wheat, cotton, corn, or rice planted on the farm is less than 80 per centum of the farm acreage allotment for such commodity for the purpose of payment, such farm acreage allotment shall be 25 per centum in excess of such planted acreage." (February 29, 1936, 49 Stat. Stat. 1150), was repealed April 10, 1939, by 53 Stat. 573. 3 The words "for any county" were substituted April 7, 1938, by 52 Stat. 204, in lieu of the words, "on any farm". The word "therein" was substituted April 7, 1938, by 52 Stat. 204, in lieu of the word "thereon". "Matter from a to added July 2, 1940, by 54 Stat. 727. Subdivision (6) of subsection (c) was added April 7, 1938, by 52 Stat. 205. [PUBLIC, No. 430, 75th Cong., p. 7.] 1(d) Any payment or grant of aid made under subsection (b) shall be conditioned upon the utilization of the land, with respect to which such payment is made, in conformity with farming practices which the Secretary finds tend to effectuate any one or more of the purposes specified in clause (1), (2), (3), (4), or (5) of section † (a). Any payment made under subsection (b) with respect to any farm (except for lands which the Secretary determines should not be utilized for the harvesting of crops but should be permanently used for grazing purposes only) shall, if the number of cows kept on such farm, and in the county in which such farm is located, for the production of milk or products thereof (for market), exceeds the normal number of such cows, be further conditioned upon the utilization of the land, with respect to which such payment is made, so that soilbuilding and soil-conserving crops planted or produced on an acreage equal to the land normally used for the production of soil-depleting crops but, as a condition of such payment, not permitted to be so used, shall be used for the purpose of building and conserving the fertility of the soil, or for the production of agricultural commodities to be consumed on the farm, and not for market. Whenever it is determined that a county, as a whole, is in substantial compliance with the provisions of this paragraph, no payment shall be denied any individual farmer in the county by reason of this paragraph; and no payment shall be denied a farmer by reason of this paragraph unless it has been determined that the farmer has not substantially complied with the provisions of this paragraph. Whenever the Secretary finds that by reason of drought, flood, or other disaster, a shortage of feed exists in any area, he shall so declare, and to the extent and for the period he finds necessary to relieve such shortage, the operation of the condition provided in this paragraph shall be suspended in such area and, if necessary to relieve such shortage, in other areas defined by him. As used in this paragraph, the term "for market" means for disposi tion by sale, barter, or exchange, or by feeding (in any form) to dairy livestock which, or the products of which, are to be sold, bartered, or exchanged; and such term shall not include consumption on the farm. An agricultural commodity shall be deemed consumed on the farm if consumed by the farmer's family, employees, or house 311685-41 |