122 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



ratio of such average acreage of corn to the cropland in the county or 

 community, as the case may be. 



Mr. PoAGE. Does that mean that nobody could be below the average 

 of the county or community? 



Mr. Walker. If the historical acreage is larger than that acreage 

 and the county committee felt that it was larger because of the failure 

 of other crops, foi- instance, they can cut it down; if they find that it is 

 unusual because of a change in the rotation practices followed, thej^ 

 can adjust the historical acreage but they cannot exceed the commu- 

 nity's average limitation when making such adjustments. 



Mr. PoAGE. That is what I meant. 



Mr. Walker. It is limited to that provision. 



Mr. PoAGE. Now where they want to reduce it, and where the num- 

 ber of acres in corn is less than the average of the historical acreage — — 



Mr. Walker (interposing.) I am getting ahead of myself. When 

 it is less than the average histoi'ical acreage, the committee can 

 appraise the usual acreage in the community, but only if it was less 

 because of some unusual condition. 



Mr. PoAGE. But does that mean that anybody, even though he 

 has been planting less than his neighbor, will be entitled to plant 

 up to What his neighbor has been planting? 



Mr. Walker. Not unless he has claimed, or unless his historical 

 acreage is determined to be unusual for that farm. If it is usual for 

 the farm it becomes his base. 



Mr. PoAGE. Of course, if I had been planting less corn than my 

 neighbor and now I want to plant up to the county average, my 

 contention would naturally be that my historical acreage was unusual, 



Mr. Walker. Then you could appeal to the county committee for 

 a reconsideration of the allotment. 



Mr. PoAGE. The county committee would have the power to give 

 me the county average? 



Mr. Walker. They would have the power to give you what the 

 appeal procedure provides. Now let us see just what the appeal 

 procedure is. I believe it would work out something like this: Where 

 a man has appealed to the county committee for a higher acreage, 

 because he has changed his type of farming and needs more acres, the 

 county committee would take, say, tlii-ee comparable farms that are 

 engaged in the same type of farming that the appealing f aimer is 

 engaged in, and they will determine the average of those three farms, 

 and they will say to this man, who has appealed, that that is his 

 revised allotment; and it is based upon that comparison. 



Mr. PoAGE. That would get me up to the average of the neighbor. 



Mr. Walker. Yes ; under the appeals procedure, but not where it is 

 under the regular procedure. 



Mr. Pace. In the next statement you used the words "For those 

 farms for which the acreage normally planted to corn is less than the 

 average". How do you arrive at that; what period of years do 

 you use? 



Mr. Walker. That is the same base period that is used for deter- 

 mining the farm allotment, the four years that we were referring to 

 a moment ago. 



Mr. Pace. Just the 4 years. 



Mr. Parker. That is* the same term used, in arriving at the 

 acreage, on the preceding page? 



