GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 603 



ern Colorado right now on wheat land. Do you think our Govern- 

 ment would be justified in keeping those men in business unless they 

 take the precaution to protect the lands, to keep them from blowing, 

 as we know they will blow, when the weather gets dry again. 



Mr. Davis. "Well, of course, in the past we have made compliance 

 with soil-conservation practices a contingency for participation in 

 the soil-conservation aids. I think that is sound. 1 think in addi- 

 tion to that you should have a general over-all policy that might be 

 tied in with the whole soil-conservation program. But what I have 

 reference to here particularly is the details of operations year by 

 year on the farm. We would like to hold them down to the minimum, 

 and it seems to us that if you put all of these together under the 

 same officials at the State and county level, it places a tremendous 

 amount of authority over farm operations. 



Mr. PoAGE. I think j^ou are right, but I am wondering just where 

 you would draw the line, because it would .seem rather clear that 

 we just cannot p^j out without regard to soil-conservation practices 

 in the farm program. In other words, we cannot afford to establish 

 a wheat price that will encourage somebody to plow up a lot of land 

 that should not be plowed up. 



Mr. Davis. That is right. 



Mr. PoAGE. I agree full well that the more you combine these pro- 

 grams the greater the power vested in the administrative official. 

 Do you think it would help in that situation if we required a certifi- 

 cate of operation from the soil-conservation service that the farmer 

 has supported whatever the program is, in order to participate with 

 the P. & M. A. That is, the farmers must all be dealing with the 

 Soil Conservation Service and have a certificate covering what you 

 might call the general soil-conservation practices? 



Mr. Davis. You might do something like that. Our feeling with 

 reference to soil conservation is that insofar as it is practical, we should 

 encourage the formation of soil-conservation districts in order to en- 

 courage farmers to actually take the initiative in determining poli- 

 cies within their own area. 



Mr. PoAGE. I agree with you 



Mr. Davis. We look upon these methods as somewhat analogous 

 to the cooperative methods in marketing. 



Mr. PoAGE. I agree with you 100 percent there. 



Mr. Davis. Yes. 



Mr. PoAGE. Would it be your thought that we should require from 

 the farmers a certificate from the Soil Conservation Service indicating 

 that at least they had carried out the minimum soil-conservation prac- 

 tices before they would be eligible to any price support ? 



Mr. Davis. I have not thought that through; I think that might be 

 a reasonable requirement. Certainly I think we should have the same 

 over-all objective for soil conservation as we have for price stabiliza- 

 tion and for credits, and for extension service, and so on. Certainly 

 all of these should have the same objective and move in the same direc- 

 tion. There should be a consistent over-all program. I do not think 

 we ought to have any program — if I understood you correctly — that 

 woukl result in more regimentation than is necessary. 



Mr. PoAGE. That, of course, is the great problem, just how to get 

 team work without the concentration of power. 



Mr. Davis. That is right. 



