Pa^e Fourteen 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



to warrant, the Department has sound- 

 ed warnings against increased produc- 



. tion that would result in larger crops 

 than the potential market could absorb. 



- Not enough attention has been paid by 

 farmers in the past to these outlook re- 

 ^x)rts. I am not going to suggest the 

 reason, but merely call that fact to 

 your attention. The time has come 

 when farmers must not only do some 

 thinking on this subject but some act- 

 ing as well if they wish to improve 

 their financial position. 



Sheep Industry Cited 



"An instance of how producers have 

 ignored warnings against overproduc- 

 tion and are now suffering from that 

 lack of action is furnished in the sheep 

 industry. As early as 1927 sheep pro- 

 ducers were warned against an impend- 

 ing surplus unless greater caution was 

 used in increasing their herds. There 

 was no response and the warning was 

 repeated in 1928. The same thing hap- 

 pened that year and another warning 

 was issued in 1929. A short crop last 

 year helped to defer the adverse effect 

 of the surplus until last fall when lamb 

 prices in Chicago, which had been from 

 $13 to $16, were carried down to prices 

 of $10 and lower. The lamb crop this 

 year was two million head greater than 

 that of 1929 and this increased produc- 

 tion still remains to be' disposed of be- 

 fore improvement to a more profitable 

 level can be hoped for. 



Big Crops Vs. Small 



"I am going to give you a few fig- 

 ures now on some other commodities 

 that show how big crops returned to 

 the farmer less than he got for small 

 crops. In 1928 farmers produced 49 

 . million head of hogs, which was 9 mil- 

 lion head more than the crop of 1926, 

 and the farm value was 140 million 

 dollars less than it was for the smaller 

 crop of 1926. The biggest hog crop of 

 the past six years was that of 1929 

 when 11,3 53 mil'ion pounds were 

 slaughtered under Fedcr?! inspection. 

 The smallest in that period was in 1926 

 when the slaughter was 9,633 million 

 pounds. For the crop of 1,720 million 

 pounds more in 1929 the producer re- 

 ceived 68 million dollars less. 



"Beef cattle production' in 1929 was 

 the smallest in the past six years and 

 brought the grower the most money. 

 Slaughter under Federal inspection was 

 7,940 million pounds, for which the 

 producer received 968 million dollars. 

 In 192^, it was 9,814 million pounds 

 and th« ■^'roducer got only 943 million 

 dollars, or 25 million dollars less for 

 a 25 per cent greater production. 



"The corn crop of 2,300 million 

 bushels in 1924 had a farm value of 

 300 million dollars more than one of 

 600 million bushels larger in 1925. 



Potatoes and Cotton 



"The record of returns for potato 

 crops over a period of years shows that 

 the growers get more for a crop under 

 400 million bushels than they do for a 

 crop in excess of 400 million bushels. 

 The smallest potato crop in the past six 

 years was 321 million bushels and the 

 bumper crop of that period was 463 

 million bushels in 1928. The 1928 

 crop of 142 million bushels more 

 showed a return to the farmer of 242 

 million dollars less. 



"The smallest cotton crop of the 

 past ten years was that of 1923, being 

 only 10,140,000 bales. The biggest was 

 in 1926, amounting to 17,977,000 

 bales. The cotton farmers got 589 

 million dollars more for their crop in 

 1923 than they did in 1926, when they 

 had 7,837,000 more bales of cotton. 



Duties of Board 



"Among the duties imposed upon the 

 Farm Board by the Agricutural Mar- 

 keting Act are these: 



1. To ket^^ advised from any 

 available sources and make report 

 as to crop prices, experiences, pros- 

 pects, supply and demand at home 

 and abroad; 



2. To investigate conditions of 

 overproduction of agricultural 

 commodities and to advise as to 

 the prevention of such overpro- 

 duction. 



"Thus it will be seen that in urging 

 farmers to adjust their production as 

 nearly as possible to the potential con- 

 sumer demand we are simply doing a 

 part of the job entrusted to us by Con- 

 gress. In addition to helping supply 

 farmers with all available information 

 on supply and demand conditions at 

 planting time together with suggestions 

 in regard to adjustments that may ap- 

 pear desirable, the Board will do what 

 it can to assist cooperatives in expand- 

 ing and extending the markets for for- 

 eign products at home and abroad. 



Reduce Wheat Acreage 



"We have recommended to farmers 

 that wheat acreage be reduced gradual- 

 ly until production is on a domestic 

 basis, the purpose being to give the 

 grower the benefit of the tariff pro- 

 tection voted him by Congress. We 

 have done this because the facts be- 

 fore us indicate that there will be no 

 substantial improvement in the world 

 wheat market the next few years com- 

 pared to the past few years. In our 

 opinion the prospective world price 

 does not offer a profitable return to the 

 American grower, but so long as he pro- 

 duces more than the domestic market 

 will consume he must be content to ac- 

 cept for his entire crop the price his 



surplus commands in foreign markets. 



"There are some who think a way 

 should be found to dispose of the sur- 

 plus abroad so that that surplus will 

 not afT3ct the price on that part of the 

 crop sold at home. Among the sug- 

 gestions put forward are the equaliza- 

 tion fee and debenture plan, both of 

 which contemplate subsidizing the ex- 

 portation of the surplus; that is, dump- 

 ing it on th£ world market. Anything 

 that savors of dumping, as we see it, 

 will not be effective for the very good 

 reason that most of the importing 

 countries have very strict defensive 

 measures against such a procedure. Like 

 the United States, these countries have 

 their own firm problems, and are de- 

 termined to protect their growers 

 against dumping of farm products. 

 That is in harmony with our attitude 

 since Congress has given the farmers 

 of this country special protection 

 against subsidized imports. Various 

 other proposals have been made for 

 dealing with the wheat surplus prob- 

 lem, but after giving them all careful 

 study and serious consideration we 

 have come to the infinite conclusion 

 that adjustment of production offers 

 the only real hope for the wheat 

 grower to get his business on a profit- 

 able basis. - , ^ • - 

 Must Be Willing 



"It the farmer is willing to help him- 

 self, the AgriciJtural Marketing Act 

 will go a long way towards solving the 

 farm problem. It provides government 

 assistance that will enable farmers 

 through their co-operative organiza- 

 tions to control the production and 

 marketing of their crops. The Farm 

 Board was created to administer the 

 law and is ready to extend every as- 

 sistance that is authorized. The Board, 

 however, can proceed no faster than 

 farmers are willing to go collectively 

 for it must deal with them through 

 their associations and not as individuals. 



"Believing when it undertook its 

 task, a year ago in July, that organi- 

 zation was a first essential, the Farm 

 Board has concentrated its efforts large- 

 ly on helping existing co-operatives to 

 centralize and expand their activities. 

 Co-operatives handling a particular 

 commodity were assisted in setting up 

 central co-operative marketing agencies 

 for that commodity. To date, the co- 

 operatives with the assistance of the 

 Board have established seven national 

 commodity co-operative sales agencies. 

 These include grain, live stock, wod 

 and mohair, cotton, pecans, beans and 

 sugar beets. 



Not Price Fixing 



"The function of these agencies is 

 to merchandise the products handled by 

 their member associations and not to fix 



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