EEPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 13 



in paying. Our short-time credit system has been devised rather to 

 meet the needs of business and commerce, both of which have a 

 shorter turnover than agriculture. When business conditions are 

 normal the farmer has gotten along fairly well. In times of stress 

 the forms of short-time credit upon which he is obliged to rely often 

 force him to sell his crops and live stock at severe sacrifice. There 

 should be made available to agricultural producers a credit system 

 adapted to their particular needs. Particularly there is needed a sys- 

 tem of intermediate credit under which the farmer can borrow for 

 periods of six months to three years. This form of credit is needed 

 especially for live-stock production and feeding and for develop- 

 ment purposes, such, for example, as the purchase of certain kinds 

 of machinery, the building of silos and barns, the fencing and drain- 

 ing of land, etc. The need for credit of this sort has been recog- 

 nized for a great many years. The lack of it made necessary the 

 activities of the War Finance Corporation during the past year. 

 Agriculture should not be required to depend on emergency organiza- 

 tions of this sort. 



Congress has been giving consideration to this matter of inter- 

 mediate credit. A number of bills have been before the appropriate 

 committees for some months. It is very much to be desired that 

 definite action be taken at the earliest possible moment. 



COM»fODITY AND REGIONAX COUNCILS. 



With the desire to be of the greatest possible service in the task of 

 restoring agriculture to a prosperous basis we have been making 

 comprehensive studies of the conditions which influence the profit- 

 able production of various crops, carrying on these studies through 

 what we call commodity councils. These councils are composed of 

 representatives of the various bureaus and suborganizations of the 

 department which have anything to do with the crop being studied. 

 The cotton council will serve as an illustration. Meetings of this 

 council are attended by the people who understand the soils of the 

 Cotton Belt, by those who have made a special study of varieties as 

 adapted to certain soils, by the experts in cultural methods, by 

 the entomologists who understand injurious insects, their habits 

 and methods of combating them, by specialists who understand 

 grading and marketing methods and the conditions which influence 



