(The information referred to follows:) ADMINISTRATION AND COORDINATION OF STATE MATCHING FUND PROGRAM The small staff of three full-time professional employees engaged in the administration and coordination of this State matching fund program must of necessity spend most of its time on administrative activities. When this is done, the equivalent of about 1 man-year of time is available for direct work with the States in developing, conducting, and improving their programs. To the extent possible several types of assistance are given. Representatives of the States come to Washington for assistance in planning their program to improve its effectiveness. A member of the staff will discuss their problems with them, make suggestions for handling them, arrange for the State man to see the research man in the Department whose results can be helpful, point out how the problem was handled in other States, and help draw up an outline of the approach to be followed. Last year it was possible for some member of staff to visit 19 States to see firsthand what was being done, check on the results with marketing firms concerned, and suggest ways of improving the program. Where several States are trying to solve the same problem, we arrange a joint meeting or workshop for the persons concerned to gain knowledge and exchange views. Once a year we help a committee from the States develop a program for a 3-day national short course on a specific field of work, find competent speakers, and assist in the conduct of the program. Occassionally arrangements are made for a specialist from some other agency to visit a State and help set up an activity. Our own staff constantly reviews the research reports that are coming out and sends them to each State working on problems in the field of the report. When the work plans are submitted each year, a member of the staff studies them, and, on the basis of his knowledge of the subject and of conditions in the State, makes suggestions for improving them. Similarly, at the end of the year the reports on the activities under each project are studied to see what were the results, and suggestions for improvement are sent by mail to the States. The results of the work in the States are discussed with 14 advisory committees, meeting in Washington, and the criticisms and recommendations of these committees sent to the commissioner of agriculture of each State concerned. Activities of this kind help the States get the best use of their money, but the assistance is limited by the size of the staff. Many requests for help cannot be met, and it is impossible for the staff members to specialize by subjects. Nevertheless it is upon the activties of these people that we depend for general guidance and direction of the program. These efforts to help the States are of course in addition to such administrative activties as investigating and approving projects, reviewing, and approving work plans, proposing allotments of funds for each project, checking to prevent duplication of effort among State agencies, checking fiscal reports from the States on each project, publishing an annual report on the work done in each State, preparing and publishing the proceedings of the annual workshop, preparing and publishing guides and instructions, and handling many other administrative details. The expense of all these activities is not paid from the item "Payments to States, Territories, and possessions," but comes from item "(e)" under the "Marketing services" appropriation, called “Administration and coordination of State payments." Funds are not transfered between these two items. Mr. NATCHER. That is all I have on this one, Mr. Chairman. Mr. HORAN. I have no questions except to express the thought that this looks like it may be most useful in getting the most for our money. Mr. CROW. The States have reported it to be very helpful. Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Vursell, do you have any questions? Mr. VURSELL. Yes, just a few. Mr. Crow, I am glad to have the opportunity of being here when you come before the committee today. However, I did not get here for the first part of your remarks, and I wonder if you would go over the first opening remarks and restate a little further the benefit of this to the consumers and to the farmers. Mr. CROW. I will be glad to. Mr. VURSELL. Just a few words. SUMMARY OF MARKETING SERVICE WORK IN THE STATES Mr. CROW. The whole purpose of the marketing service work in the States is to solve marketing problems and bring about improved practices that should be adopted by the farmer, marketing firms, and agencies; and show them how to apply improved techniques in solving their particular problem. In one place the problem may be that of remodeling a poultry processing plant. The State people will show the plant operator how to do it. In another, the problem may be a surplus of peaches. There State specialists will develop a program to help them find outlets for this surplus. Another area may have a problem with off-quality milk. Here the State marketing men will pick up samples of that milk, find out what is wrong with it, and show the operator what to do about it. In another place they may pick up samples of cotton, find that the gins have chopped it to pieces, determine the cause and show the operator how to correct it. It is that type of approach, where they attack local problems and show the people what to do to solve them. Does that answer your your question? Mr. VURSELL. Yes. I know of your work along that line and I think you are doing an excellent job. I only wish we could get more done in the distribution and taking care of these things that would be an aid to the farmer. I am sure you and your organization are doing a good job along that line. Mr. CROW. Thank you. Mr. VURSELL. That is all. Mr. MARSHALL. We are always interested in your comments before the committee. The committee will stand adjourned until 1 o'clock tomorrow. Mr. WELLS. Mr. Chairman, before we adjourn I would like to ask permission for Mr. Newell to file his statement and to include other statements on other AMS programs covered by the budget. Mr. MARSHALL. We will be glad to have his statement and the other material. I'm pleased to note that an old friend of mine Roy A. Bodin, our State statistician received a well-merited recognition from the turkey growers in Minnesota. (The statements referred to follow:) STATEMENT BY S. R. NEWELL ON THE CROP AND LIVESTOCK ESTIMATING PROGRAM There are no changes recommended in the Budget for the crop and livestock estimating program for the coming fiscal year. I should, of course, report on two activities for which some increases were allowed in the current fiscal year but first I would like to comment briefly on the crop and livestock estimates program as a whole. This committee is fully aware of the program and I hardly think it necessary to go into great detail. For the record, however, I would like to point out once more that this service was started by farmers for farmers. The need for reliable and accurate statistics on various phases of agriculture is self-evident. It is universally recognized that accurate statistics on acreage, yield, production, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, number and classes of livestock and poultry, stocks of commodities in storage, and the number of farms are all fundamental basic facts. These facts are essential to (1) the proper functioning of the American system of free enterprise; (2) the determination of agricultural policies and the recommendations for agriculture legislation; (3) the determination of the areas in which research is needed for production and marketing, and to guide such research and measure the results thereof; and (4) the administration of the several programs for the benefit of agriculture including soil bank, price supports, export programs, soil conservation, etc. The crop and livestock estimating work of this agency is directed toward providing these basic statistical facts. These statistics are the official source of current information on the various phases of agriculture and they constitute the final record of the progress of agriculture and its position in the national economy. It is, therefore, a matter of national concern that the facts provided for by this item be as comprehensive and as accurate as possible on this the Nation's No. 1 industry. Naturally we, in this Agency, are proud of our service and pleased with the extensive use that is made of the basic data which we supply and the contribution the reports make toward orderly marketing and distribution of farm and food products. We are nonetheless concerned with the great responsibility that rests upon us in providing these facts, particularly so when we are constantly reminded of the reliance farmers place on them and the large expenditures that are made on the basis of these statistics. For this reason we are constantly doing our utmost to improve the accuracy and reliability of the data which it is our responsibility to supply. During the past year we have continued our research and development work with the additional funds that were provided for this program. Our studies of methods of securing more reliable statistics on acreage and livestock numbers have progressed to the point where we believe these new techniques can be successfully applied in an operating program. Our studies on objective yields of several of the important crops-cotton, corn, wheat, and soybeans-have progressed to the point where we feel that they are susceptible of practical application in the service. We plan to expand this phase of our work and extend it to other commodities as rapidly as funds and facilities will permit. In approving the budget allowance for the "Marketing research and agricultural estimates" subappropriation for 1959, the Bureau of the Budget indicated, in connection with the general effort of the Government to improve its statistics, that the pilot program for the measurement of agricultural prices by enumerative surveys should be carried on within available funds under this subappropriation. We are exploring the costs and feasibility of this undertaking and will move in this direction to the extent that sufficient funds are available under this subappropriation. Turning now to some of the work of the current fiscal year I should like to point out that with the increased funds provided this year, we have expanded the joint weather-crop bulletins to cover all States. Our office will be responsible for the agricultural portion of the report. This program will be in full operation for the coming crop season. We have added one man to our staff in Washington to aid in the coordination of the program at the national level and to work with the Weather Bureau in preparing the national Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin. Another addition to the service this year has been the beginning of the work on strengthening the reports on poultry and egg production. With the limited funds available we have started work in seven of the important egg-producing States where we are intensifying our effort to build up complete reporting lists, particularly of the large producers, and increase the returns from those lists. This program is moving in the direction of improving the estimates but it is limited in scope to the pilot States at the present time. OTHER ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT UNDER THE MARKETING RESEARCH AND In addition to the items on "Marketing research” and “Crop and livestock reporting service," the subappropriation "Marketing research and agricultural estimates" also finances the work on economic and statistical analysis. This project covers the gathering, analysis, and interpretation of information on agriculture as a whole and for specific items including many statistical series relating to farm income, price, population and labor, and agricultural situation reports for important crop and livestock products which was discussed earlier in these hearings. The major objective of the work is to keep farmers and others concerned with agriculture fully informed on both the present and prospective agricultural situation through regular reports and special analyses for specified commodities and geographic areas. The presentation by Mr. O. V. Wells on the overall economic situation for agriculture reflects the type of work done under this project. The budget provides for continuation of this activity at the current level. The other subappropriation, "Marketing services," finances several other important activities in addition to those for which requested increases have been discussed. These are as follows: MARKET NEWS SERVICE The market news service provides timely and reliable information on the supply, movement, and current prices of agricultural commodities. It assists farmers in obtaining equitable returns for their products, and aids in orderly marketing and prevention of waste resulting from local surpluses. This service is used principally by (a) producers to determine where and when to sell and at what prices; in other words, it puts producers on a more equitable bargaining basis with buyers; (b) dealers and processors to determine where they can buy and at what price, and to formulate buying, selling and storage policies; and (c) banks to determine value for loan purposes. INSPECTION, GRADING, CLASSING, AND STANDARDIZATION In addition to the poultry and grain inspection services previously discussed, inspection, grading, classing and standardization services are also provided for cotton and cottonseed; fruits and vegetables; livestock, meats and wool; naval stores; tobacco; rice, hay, beans and similar commodities and poultry grading. These activities assist farmers in obtaining returns for their products commensurate with quality and assist consumers by providing a basis for assuring that products purchased comply with prescribed quality. This is accomplished by establishing official United States standards that accurately describe quality and condition and by providing a basis for the application of the standards to specific commodities. FREIGHT RATE SERVICES This activity assists in obtaining and maintaining equitable transportation rates and service on farm products and farm supplies through the Department's participation in cases before the Interstate Commerce Commission and other regulatory bodies and informal negotiations with carriers and groups of carriers. REGULATORY ACTIVITIES In addition to the Packers and Stockyards Act previously discussed, these activities include administration of the Standard Container, United States Warehouse, Federal Seed, Tobacco Plant and Seed Exportation Acts and the regulatory features of the Naval Stores Act. These acts regulate various marketing activities, and the administration of each includes two or more of the following: (1) licensing or registration, (2) supervision of operations of licensees, (3) collection and testing of samples, and (4) handling of violations. These several important activities under the "Marketing services" subappropriation have been budgeted at the same level as for the current fiscal year. |