[H. R. 11059, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

[H. R. 11060, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

[H. R. 11061, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

[H. R. 11062, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants, or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

[H. R. 11063, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

[H. R. 11064, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

[H. R. 11065, 85th Cong., 2d sess.]

A BILL To amend section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, relating to tobacco acreage allotments

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 313 (g) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new sentence: "If in any calendar year more than one crop of tobacco is grown from (1) the same tobacco plants or (2) different tobacco plants, and is harvested for marketing from the same acreage of a farm, the acreage allotment next established for such farm shall be reduced by an amount equivalent to the acreage from which more than one crop of tobacco has been so grown and harvested."

SEC. 2. The amendment made by this Act shall become effective beginning with the 1958 crop of tobacco.

Mr. ABBITT. They deal with the so-called sucker tobacco problem. I think we would like to hear from Mr. Joe Williams.

STATEMENT OF JOE R. WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR, TOBACCO DIVISION; ACCOMPANIED BY JEFF. D. JOHNSON, Jr., DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FRANK R. ELLIS, CHIEF OF THE PRICE SUPPORT SECTION, AND JOSEPH J. TODD, MARKETING QUOTA SECTION, TOBACCO DIVISION, COMMODITY STABILIZATION SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF

AGRICULTURE

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am Joe R. Williams, Director of the Tobacco Division, CSS. I have with me this morning Mr. Jeff D. Johnson, Jr., Deputy Director of the Tobacco Division; Mr. Frank R. Ellis, Chief of the Price Support Section; and Mr. Joseph J. Todd, head of the Marketing Quota Section of the Tobacco Division, CSS.

Any one of us will be glad to answer any questions that any member of the committee has to ask.

I would like to apologize at this time to the committee for my inability, due to the short period of time to get an official Department report on these series of bills that we have before the committee today. I will comment, if the committee wants me to, on what these bills intend to do, and how it affects us in the administration of the program.

Mr. ABBITT. My understanding is that they are all identical and similar bills introduced by these people who are vitally interested in the subject. And I wish you would just briefly tell us what to do and what your problem is, if it can be solved by these bills.

Mr. WILLIAMS. They are identical bills, and I presume that the Department in the official report will give an identical report to each of these bills.

These bills deal with second-crop tobacco growing on the same allotment. It applies to all types of tobacco, and in 1957 for the first time the production of suckers, or a second-crop tobacco, on the allotment became a serious problem.

We have had through the years exceptions where you had particularly early crops, such as 1957, and with a late fall season farmers could produce a second crop of tobacco. But it has been very rare. But with irrigation and in cases where you have an extreme early spring and a late fall, it has reached such proportion that in 1957 it became quite a serious problem.

We had an overall meeting of the tobacco leaders in Lexington, Ky., early this year, at which time there was about 100 persons representing all segments of the tobacco industry present.

We were unable to get exact figures as to the amount of suckers produced in 1957. However, the estimates ran anywhere from 5 million up to 15 million pounds.

This has two serious implications in the administration of our program: In the first place, we make an acre allotment of tobacco. Whether or not it was the intent of Congress under the present law to include more than 1 crop of tobacco on that 1-acre allotment is not clear. We did look into it from the administrative standpoint to determine whether or not we could limit a farmer to production of 1 crop in any 1 year by administrative ruling. Our legislative counsel for the Department of Agriculture advised us under present legislation that it was doubtful whether or not we could stop second-crop production by administrative action. Therefore, in order to prevent a farmer from producing two crops, a sucker crop after raising a regular crop, it appears we will have to have legislation.

Suckers, in our opinion, was a problem in 1957, and as farmers continue to increase irrigation it will be a more serious problem.

If we had 12 to 15 million pounds of suckers last year, that is the equivalent to about 2 percent of the production. So if we multiply that by 2 years, that is 4 percent. In the absence of the production of these suckers it would mean that we could give to the farmers an overall increase of approximately 4 percent in their allotment and let all of them produce more tobacco.

The thing that I think is more important even than that is the fact that American tobacco in all types is sold primarily in the world. market due to superior quality from the flavor and aroma standpoint.

Mr. POAGE. At this time I want to give Congressman Smith an opportunity to say a few words because he has to go to a committee meeting of his own.

STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK E. SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS OF THE THIRD DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

Mr. SMITH. You will recall earlier hearings we had on this problem about a month or a week ago; it was our hope then that we could get some administrative relief that would perhaps make it unnecessary to have any legislation in the field.

There has been quite a bit of action by the Farmers' Home Administration and by the Farm Credit Administration to improve this problem, but despite all they have done I think it is still essential that we are going to provide the necessary help for the farmers who were caught in this tragic credit squeeze that we should enact legislation along the line as proposed by Mr. Jones, or whatever proposal is or can be worked out that will provide some long-term credit for our farmers.

As you perhaps know, the Farmers' Home Administration has liberalized its loan provisions, to enable some minor payments on certain types of debts that farmers have, but their restrictions are still very rigid in certain fields.

The Farm Credit Administration has made additional capital available to the production credit organizations; at least, the 4 in my district have all been given $250,000 to $300,000 additional capital to make additional loans, but those loans would be made just for the members of that organization who have been participating and have been financed by them in the past.

I would like to call attention to the situation that exists with one of our largest farm financing organizations in my area and in the whole Cotton Belt, I am sure. It is in Greenwood, Miss. They have given notice to their borrowers that states in part:

We enclose check for the first disbursement of your 1958 loan, and in this check desire to call your attention that these funds are advanced to you for the sole purpose of producing a crop in 1958, and not to be used to pay bills or accounts or other past due obligations.

In other words, these past due obligations of the farmers involved are not going to be met, unless there is some arrangement for a longterm loan made available to them. If those obligations remain outstanding there is going to be, no matter what the future holds in the way of our current year's crop or how things develop in the future, there will be considerable trouble for our farmers and considerable turnover in farm ownership unless we get some action along this line.

So I hope that the committee will see fit to bring out Mr. Jones' bill or something similar that will provide some long-term loans for these farmers where they can meet the discretion and obligations that they incurred in 1957 due to the disastrous weather conditions.

Mr. POAGE. We are very much obliged to you.

Are there any questions?

If there are no questions, we appreciate your coming before us.

Mr. WILLIAMS. No, sir.

Mr. ABBITT. But by putting the bottom leaves on up to the top, for 3 or 4 weeks. Therefore, they are not as susceptible of producing suckers later on as you would have in the burley or dark tobaccos.

Mr. WILLIAMS. I think with irrigation and heavy fertilization it is a problem that will face all types of tobacco. It just happened to lead off in burley. But I think in certain areas of the flue-cured areas where we have good irrigation, our farmers will soon learn what they are doing in the burley and it will be a serious problem there. Mr. ABBITT. Your experience tells you that the second crop or sucker crop is definitely a much inferior tobacco than the first crop? Mr. WILLIAMS. Taken as a whole, yes. There may be some instances where the first crop would be inferior, but as a whole, the second crop is far inferior to the original.

Mr. ABBITT. You say in 1957 you had approximately 15 million pounds?

Mr. WILLIAMS. That was the estimate of the leadership that we had at the Lexington meeting.

Mr. ABBITT. That was in burley?

Mr. WILLIAMS. That was in burley tobacco alone. We took about 2 percent in the soil bank and the estimate as I detected down there, it was probably offset with suckers, what we took in the soil bank.

Mr. WATTS. Mr. Williams, I believe the practice became more pronounced this year than it did in times in the past; did it not? Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir; there were more suckers harvested this year than at any former year that I know anything about

Mr. WATTS. I think you probably agree with me that if the practice were permitted to continue that it will grow year by year? Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir; I think so.

Mr. WATTS. In other words, if farmer A saw farmer B harvesting crop of suckers getting four or five hundred dollars an acre out of it, he will plan on doing the same thing next year?

a

Mr. WILLIAMS. I think that is only reasonable. You can sell it for 60 cents a pound and then harvest five or six hundred additional pounds and you can get 37. I think there is enough incentive that farmers will do it.

Mr. WATTS. In the long run, it will have a tendency, will it not, to cheapen and lower the grade of all types of tobaccos because farmers would be prone to cut the first crop of little bit earlier, in order to get the second crop started growing?

Mr. WILLIAMS. If you were going to willfully try to grow two crops it would have that effect. That is very important. It is important on every type of tobacco that you let it stay on the land long enough to properly ripen.

Mr. WATTS. And this year, there were some farmers who did do it intentionally, as you said, and some who took advantage of a long fall season?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.

Mr. WATTS. And cut the sucker crop?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes.

Mr. WATTS. Those that did it intentionally, as I understand it, cut the crop a little early, went in and recultivated the land, refertilized it, irrigated it, and produced a pretty good second crop of suckers?