(2) The operation of such plan will result in as substantial a furtherance of such accomplishment as may reasonably be achieved through the action of such State. (16 U. S. C. 590g (e).)

ALLOCATION OF FUNDS FOR STATE PLANS

(f) Upon approval of any State plan for any year the Secretary shall allocate to such State such sum (not in excess of the maximum amount fixed in pursuance of subsection (g) for such State for such year) as he finds necessary to carry out such plan for such year, and thereupon shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment to such agency of the State as the Secretary of Agriculture certifies is designated in the plan, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay to such agency, one-fourth of the amount so allocated. The remainder of the amount so allocated shall be similarly certified and paid in such installments (payable prior to the end of the calendar year) as may be provided in the plan. No such installment shall be certified for payment if the Secretary of Agriculture finds that, prior to the due date of such installment, there has been a substantial failure by the State to carry out the plan according to its terms, or that the further operation of the plan according to its terms will not tend to effectuate. the purposes of this section. No amount shall be certified for payment under any such installment in excess of the amount the Secretary finds necessary for the effective carrying out of the plan during the period to which the installment relates. (16 U. S. C. 590g (f).)

APPORTIONMENT OF FUNDS FOR SUCCEEDING YEAR STATE PLANS

(g) On or before November 1 of each year, the Secretary shall apportion among the several States the funds which will be available for carrying out State plans during the next calendar year, and in determining the amount to be apportioned to each State, the Secretary shall take into consideration the acreage and value of the major soil depleting and major export crops produced in the respective States during a representative period and the acreage and productivity of land devoted to agricultural production (including dairy products) in the respective States during a representative period: Provided, however, That any such apportionment of funds available for carrying out State plans during any year prior to 1942 may be made at any time prior to or during the year to which such plans relate. Notwithstanding the making of an apportionment to any State for any calendar year, the funds apportioned to any State for which no plan has been approved for such year, and any amount apportioned to any State which is not required to carry out an approved plan for such State for such year, shall be available for carrying out the provisions of sections 7to 14, inclusive, of this Act. (16 U. S. C. 590g (g).)

AUTHORITY OF SECRETARY TO MAKE PAYMENTS OR GRANTS OF AID DIRECTLY TO FARMERS

SEC. 8. (a) In order to carry out the purposes specified in section 7 (a) during the period necessary to afford a reasonable opportunity for legislative action by a sufficient number of States to assure the

effectuation of such purposes by State action and in order to promote the more effective accomplishment of such purposes by State action thereafter, the Secretary shall exercise the powers conferred in this section during the period prior to January 1, 1963, except with respect to farming operations commenced in any State after the effective date of a State plan for such State approved pursuant to section 7. No such powers shall be exercised after December 31, 1962, except with respect to payments or grants in connection with farming operations carried out prior to January 1, 1963. During the period prior to January 1, 1963, the Secretary shall carry out the purposes specified in section 7 (a) through State action as rapidly as adequate State laws are enacted and satisfactory State plans are submitted. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this section and section 7, the provisions of this section with respect to the State, county, and local committees of farmers shall continue in full force and effect for purposes other than the administration of State plans. (16 U. S. C. 590h

(a).) 3

BASIS FOR PAYMENTS AND GRANTS OF AID; LOCAL, COUNTY, AND STATE COMMITTEES; CONSERVATION MATERIALS AND SERVICES

(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), (4), and (5) 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 the year 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) their equitable share, as determined by the Secretary, of the normal national production of any commodity or commodities required for domestic consumption; or (4) their equitable share, as determined by the Secretary, of the national production of any commodity or commodities required for domestic consumption and exports adjusted to reflect the extent to which their utilization of cropland on the farm conforms to farming practices which the Secretary determines will best effectuate the purposes specified in section 7 (a); or (5) any combination of the above. Clauses (1) and (2) above shall be construed to cover water conservation and the beneficial use of water on individual farms, including measures to prevent runoff, the building of check dams and ponds, and providing facilities 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 sec

3 The Secretary's authority to administer the program on a national basis was extended until December 31, 1962, by the Act of July 25, 1958, Pub. L. 85-553, 72 Stat. 414.

tion. 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-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 soil-building 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 soil-building services, furnished to producers, or who render services to the Secretary in deliver

ing to producers approved conservation materials, for the carrying out, by the producers, of soil-building or soil-conserving practices approved by the Secretary. The price at which purchase orders for any conservation materials or services are filled may be limited to a fair price fixed in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary.

Appropriations are hereby authorized for the purchase in advance of the program year for which the appropriation is made of seeds, fertilizers, lime, trees, or any other farming materials or any soilterracing services, and making grants thereof to agricultural producers to aid them in carrying out farming practices approved by the Secretary in programs under this Act; for the reimbursement of any Federal, State, or local government agency for fertilizers, seeds, lime, trees, or other farming materials, or any soil-terracing services, furnished by such agency; and for the payment of all expenses necessary in making such grants, including all or part of the costs incident to the delivery thereof. (16 U. S. C. 590h (b).)

[Agricultural Act of 1954. SEC. 503. Nothing contained in section. 8 (b) of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, or in any other provision of law, shall be construed to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to impose any limitations upon the number of terms for which members of county committees established under such section may be reelected. (16 U. S. C. 590h-3.)]

[Department of Agriculture Organic Act of 1956. SEC. 6 (b) Payments of grants under sections 7 to 17 of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, as amended, may be conditioned upon the utilization of land with respect to which such payments or grants are to be made in conformity with farming practices which will encourage and provide for soil-building and soil- and water-conserving practices in the most practical and effective manner and adapted to conditions in the several States, as determined and approved by the State committees appointed pursuant to section 8 (b) of such Act, for the respective States. (16 U. S. C. 590h-4.)]

[PUBLIC LAW 85-278-That, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of section 8 of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, two county committees shall be elected annually under such subsection for the counties of Otter Tail, Polk, and Saint Louis, in the State of Minnesota, and for the county of Pottawattamie, in the State of Iowa, and that the actions heretofore or hereafter taken by each of such committees shall be given the same effect in the area served by it as is given to the actions of the county committee in a county served by a single county committee.]*

(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

Material in italics added by Pub. L. 85-278, 71 Stat. 601, September 2, 1957, 16 U. S. C. 590h note.

See page 49 for the Act of February 28, 1945, which provides for the effect of production of war crops, or military service, on allotments.

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. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the allotments established, or which would have been established, for any farm acquired in 1940 or thereafter by the United States for national-defense purposes shall be placed in an allotment pool and shall be used only to establish allotments for other farms owned or acquired by the owner of the farm so acquired by the United States. The allotments so made for any farm, including a farm on which wheat has not been planted during any of the three marketing years preceding the marketing year in which the allotment is made shall compare with the allotments established for other farms in the same area which are similar except for the past acreage of wheat. (16 U. S. C. 590h (c).)

(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.

(4) (Repealed by 53 Stat. 573, April 10, 1939.)

(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 average yield for the ten years upon which the existing normal yield per acre for the county was based.

(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,