Montgomery County sentinel., 1933-03-16
Name Committee
To Aid Farmers
Get Crop Loans
Announce Regulations For Sc
curing Funds For 1888
Farm Operations

rdTm OpeFdClONS
Reduction of 80 per cent in the acre
age planted to cash crops will be re-
quired this year of farmers who pro-
cure production loans, the Secretary
of Agriculture announced in making
public the regulations governing the,
1888 loans.
In making available for crop pro-
ductiOn loans this year $90,000,000 of
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
funds, Congress specified that the
Secretary of Agriculture might re-
quire, as a condition of any loan, "that
the borrower agree to reduce his acre
age or production program on such
basis, mot to exceed 80 per centum, as
may be determined by the Secretary"
The Secretary's regulations, however,
stipulate that acreage reduction will
not be required of farmers who, in
1888, plant NO more than acres of
cotton; 21s acres Of tobacco; 40 acres
of wheat; 20 acres of corn; 2h acres
of sugar beets; 8 acres of potatoes;
30 acres of rice; 8 acres of peanuts.
Farmers seeking crop production
loans this year are advised to obtain
application blanks and copies of the
regulations in their home counties,
rather than from Washington. Field
&gents of the Crop Production Loan
Office are now designating representa-
tmes in each farming county to inform
prospective borrowers of the require
anents governing loans to distribute
application blanks and other necessary
forms. These agents will assist farm
ers in filling out applications, with
out charge.
Accompanying the required 80 per
cent reduction in acreage planted to
cash crops, above the established min
inun, the 1888 regulations limit the
amount available to any farmer to
$500. In 1882, crop production loans
were made to 507,632 farmers, aver
aging $126 each. No loan in excess of
$100 will be made to any applicant
who is in arrears on as many as two
previous loans made by the Secretary
of Agriculture. AS last year, interest
is fixed at 51s per cent, to be deduct
ed when the advance is made. All
notes are due October 81, 1888. Ad-
vanees to borrowers may be made in
installments, the regulations state, in
asmueh as expenditures for crop pro-
duction are usually made over a con-
siderable period.
The remaining regulations are SIM
liar to those in force last year. An
absolute first lien on all of the crops
grown by the borrower in 1888 is re-
quired by the act. In counties where
fertilizer is not commonly used, the
rate of loans must not exceed So an
acre for general field crops, and $12
an acre for truck crops, including po-
tatoes. In counties where fertilizer is
commonly used, according to the testi-
mony Of representatives of the De-
partment of Agriculture, the rate
must not exceed $6 an acre for general
field crops, $40 an acre for tobacco,
and $50 an acre for truck crops, in
cluding potatoes. Not to exceed 81 an
acre of loans made at any of these
rates may be used for repairs and
miscellaneous expenses of crop pro-
duction other than seed, fertilizer, feed
for workstock, and fuel and oil for
tractors.
Special provision is made for addi-
tional loans-within the maxium al
lowed per farmer-for the purchase of
materials for spraying and dusting, to
protect crops from insects and di-
seases; for payment of water charges,
electric power, etc., necessary to crop
production on irrigated land; for Pro-
duction expenses including employ
ment of hand labor, on sugar beets,
sugar cane, hops and rice. Loans may
also be made this year for summer
following, not to exceed $3.50 an acre
for acreage not in excess of that
planted in 1882, provided first lien is
given on all crops growing, or to be
planted, grown and harvested in 1888
sufficient to cover the advance.
In addition to the reduction requir-
ed this year in acreage of cash crops,
borrowers must agree to plant gar
den for home use and sufficient acre
age of feed crops to supply feed for
their livestock. Acreage taken out of
cash crop production may be planted
to any soil-building crop.
Loans will be made, the regulations
further declare, ITO farmers who are
unable to obtain loans for crop pro-
duction during the year 1888 from
other sources. These loans may be
made to such individuals as are found
by the Secretary of Agriculture to
have acreage fit for seeding and who
are without means to purchase the