GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 283 



Secretary Brannan. Yes. 



Mr. Andresen. Will that same relationship prevail under your 

 proposal here in figuring out what the farmer in the fluid milk area in 

 the Midwest will get, wherever they produce surplus milk? 



wSecretary Braxnax. The essence of jour question, Mr. Andresen 

 is, "If you applied the production payment device would you try to 

 compute your averages on areas or national averages, or averages by 

 areas"? 



Mr. AxDRESEX. That is the way you are doing it now. 



Secretary Brannan. Yes. 



Mr. Andresen. We have national averages. That is why we are 

 so low. 



Secretary Braxnan. Yes. 



Mr. Andresen. In the marketing areas they are high. 



Secretary Braxxax. I confess to you that is one of the problems. 

 If we are in the business of doing genuine equity to everybody, and 

 also in the business of trying to increase production we would have to 

 take very careful consideration of those things. 



Mr. Axdresex. Wliat inducement will there be for a dairy farmer 

 out through the Midwest to go into this program, if he is only going to 

 receive $2.85 a hundred as compared with $4.22, the national average? 



Secretary Brannan. Of course, I admit the inducements are not so 

 high. If they were they would be very expensive to the Government. 



Mr. Andresen. Do you propose to change the calculations so that 

 the farmer, through the Midwest producing area, will get a more 

 equitable return on his income payment? 



Secretary Brannan. That is always an objective. 



Mr. Andresen. How are you going to w^ork it out? That is what 

 our farmers want to know. 



Secretary Brannan. I will tell you: All the mechanics, right down 

 to the last item of carrying out all of this program, have not been done. 

 I think we should go far enough to be as informative as possible, 

 but on the other hand to go ahead and do all the work which would 

 be required to project it to its ultimate ramifications certainly is not 

 justified at this stage of the proceedings. 



Mr. Andresen. But we have to write a law^ here. We do not have 

 much time. If this is to go into effect January 1, 1950, our com- 

 mittee will have to go over this in detail, and, of course, we are 

 expecting advice from you. In the meantime, the farmers out through 

 the Midwest want to know whether they are going to get $4.22 a 

 hundred for their milk, or whether they are going to get $2.85. What 

 can I tell them? 



Secretary Brannan. Well, I think you should tell them, Mr. 

 Andresen, that it is an objective of the proposal to do what is necessary 

 to induce the increased production of milk and that we recognize 

 those inducements interpret themselves pricewise more directly and 

 specifically than anything else. 



Mr. Andresen. They like to hear me talk dollars and cents. 

 Would they get $4.22 for their milk? 



Secretary Brannan. Mr. Andresen, I would like to tell you that 

 they would, but I am not prepared to tell you that they would at 

 this time. 



Mr. Andresen. On the other commodities, as you have told us, 

 the figure you have set for the support payment is on a national- 

 average basis? 



