910 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Hope. And you are basing that on the experience you have had 

 up to date in those operations? 



Mr. HoLMAN. Yes. 



Mr. Hope. Are there any marketing agreements that operate 

 outside of the fluid milk field? 



Mr. HoLMAN. Not so far as prices are concerned, Mr. Hope. 

 There are marketing agreements operating under the Agricultural 

 Marketing Act, such as the citrus agreement, the agreements of that 

 type, but they are for the purpose largely of the orderly handling of 

 the product by way of putting it on the market. 



Mr. Hope. I mean in the case of milk. For instance, in the case 

 of an operation like the creamery described by Mr. Lund, would it be 

 possible in an area of that kind for three or four creameries, perhaps, 

 to get together and in some marketing agreement program and work 

 out their problem and support prices in that way? 



Mr. HoLMAN. It is my judgment that the majority of our people 

 believe the products like cheese and butter, for example, are best 

 handled on the national markets and by means of a stabilization 

 purchase program rather than to attempt to set up marketing agree- 

 ments for them. I do not think it is entirely practical with particular 

 reference to cheese and butter. 



Mr. Andresen. Mr. Hope suggested that Mr. Lund's creamery 

 and three or four others, or half a dozen others, could get together 

 and form sort of a marketing agreement in regard to the sale of their 

 products. 



Mr. HoLMAN. They would get into trouble if they did. 



Mr. Andresen. But, as I see it, with several thousand creameries 

 in the country, you would have to do it on a national scale in order 

 to make the program effective. Of course, you could do that on a 

 national scale. I do not know whether the law permits it or not, but 

 that would be a monopoly authorized by law and would be operated 

 properly. But I think it would be pretty hard to get 3,500 or more 

 creameries into an organization where they would form this marketing 

 agreement. 



Mr. HoLMAN. There are certain other factors that militate against 

 it rather than just getting together on a marketing agreement. One 

 is the flow of milk fat from one plant to another according to the 

 market price. Suppose you set up a marketing agreement and it 

 was legal — I think the Department of Justice would have something 

 to say about it — you would have to set up another one for cheese and 

 another one for evaporated milk. In fact, you would practically 

 have to have them all m some set-up in order to keep some balance 

 of supply for the plants and some balance of income for the producers, 

 and it is a pretty big and complicated task to do so. 



Mr. Murray. Is it not true we have had marketing agreement on 

 evaporated milk? It may be in existence today. 



Mr. HoLMAN. It was not a marketing agreement in the true sense 

 of a marketing agreement; it was an agreement largely administered 

 with the consent of the Secretary by the evaporators themselves, 

 and about the principal provision in it, as I recall, was a requirement 

 to adjust their prices. 



Is that true, Mr. Reed? 



