Evening star., 1954-01-11

methods, including price sup
port levels. within limits es-
tablished by law. This will
enable the administration to
foresee and foreStall new diff
f1culties in our agriculture,
rather than to attempt their
legislative cure after they have
arisen
8. Adjustment to q new
farm program must be ac-
complished gradually in the
interest of the Nations farm
ing population and in the in
, tereSt of the economy of the
Nation as a whole.
9. Research and education.
basic functions of the Depart
ment of Agriculture since its
beginning. are still indispen-
sible if our farmers are to i'm
prove their productivity and
enlarge their markets.
10. The soil, water, range
and forest resources of the
United States are the natural
foundation of our national
economy. From them come
our food. most of our clothing.
much of our shelter. How well
We protect and improve these
resources will have a direct
bearing on the future stands
ard of living of the whole
Nation. FrtsEtf
The Present Agricultural =.
Situation
Present laws discourage in
creased consumption of wheat.
corn, cotton and vegetable oils
and encourage their excessive
production. The huge and
growing surpluses held by the
Government act as a constant
threat to normal markets for
these products Thus, present
law produces results which in
turn are hurtful to those whom
the laws are intended to help.
Partly because of these excess
sive stocks, farm income has
fallen steadily over the past
three years.
The urgency in this situation
may be illustrated by a few
basic facts. During the past
year, the investment of the
Commodity Credit Corp. in
farm commodities more than
doubled. increasing by about
So billion. AS a result the
financial obligations of the
corporation are pressing hard
against the $6,750,000.000 lin
itation on its borrowing author
ity. In order to assure that
present price support commit
ments on 1853 and 1854 crops
will be covered. I shall request
the Congress to take early &C
ton to restore the, corpora
tion's capital losses as Of June
80, 1858, and to increase its
borrowing authority to $8.5
. billion, effective July /. 1854.
The Governments commod-
ity holdings are enormous. 1t
has investments in more than
So billion worth Of wheat
alone. This includes 440 mil
lion bushels owned outright.
About 400 million additional
bushels are under loan, the
greater share of which the
Government can expect to ac-
quire. This is more than the
domestic wheat requirements
of the entire Nation for a full
year.
The cotton carry-over will
amount of about 8 million
bales. Here again the carry
over is approximately equal to
the domestic needs of the en-
tire Nation for a full year.
The carry-over Of vegetable
oils may be about is billion
pounds, roughly double the
carry-over that should nor
mally be maintained.
Because such tremendous
supplies are already in hand,
acreage allotments and mar
keting quotas have had to be
applied to wheat and cotton.
An appeal by the Government
| for sharp acreage reductions
for corn appears unavoidable.
These allotmentS are expected
to reduce the acreage planted
to these crops in 1854 by the
following amounts: wheat,
16.5 million acres; corn. be-
tween and 6 million acres;
cotton, 3.5 million acres. With
out the most careful handling,
a diversion within a single year
of Is million acres of produc-
tive crop land-about 8 per
cent of the total-from their
accustomed use could have the
most unfortunate impact on
the total economy.
Even these reductions prob
ably will not appreciably lower
the surpluses of wheat and cot
ton because Of the likelihood
of increased yields that will be
sought from the reduced acre
age, and because markets will
continue to shrink as a con-
sequence of rigid price sup
ports. AS for corn. it is es-
timated that enough diverted
land will be used for oats, bar.
ley and sorghums to hold total
supplies of feed grains at pres
ent levels, thus largely Offset
ting the purpose of the corn
acreage reduction. It is, also
expected that some 3 million
diverted acres may be planted
to soybeans, thus aggravating
the tremendous oversupply of
vegetable oils. The likely pro-
duction from other diverted
acres threatens producers of
potatoes. sugar beets, rice, al
falfa, flaxseed. vegetables and
many other crops. Therefore.