940 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Pace. The next witness is Mr. Harold E. Bryant, general 

 manager, Maine Potato Growers, Inc., also representing the United 

 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association. 



STATEMENT OF HAROLD E. BRYANT, REPRESENTING THE POTATO 

 DIVISION OF THE UNITED FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLE 

 ASSOCIATION, PRESQUE ISLE, MAINE 



Mr. Bryant. Mr. Chairman and m.embers of the committee, my 

 name is Harold Bryant. I appear here as a representative of the 

 potato division of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association. 

 The United is a national organization whose members reside in every 

 State and several provinces of Canada. They include shippers — 

 many of whom are both producers and distributors — cooperative 

 marketing associations, brokers, jobbers, wholesalers, and representa- 

 tives of allied industries interested in the marketing of fresh fruits 

 and vegetables. I am at present chairman of the potato division of 

 this association. This division has in its membership all segments 

 of the potato industry from, the grower to the retailer. It has members 

 in all major producing areas and in all major distributing centers of 

 the United States. 



I am general manager of the Maine Potato Growers, Inc., of Presque 

 Isle, Maine. The Maine Potato Growers, Inc., is a cooperative 

 marketing association of 2,000 grower members, selling and distributing 

 annually between ten and twelve thousand carloads of potatoes. 



In this testimony, I am. speaking as a m.ember of the board of direc- 

 tors of the potato division of the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable 

 Association and give you my business connection only to show my 

 familiarity with some of the problems at the grower level in one 

 producing area. 



Naturally with a membership as widespread, and covering as many 

 different functions as does the membership of the potato division of 

 the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, we do not assume 

 that all of our members think alike on the matter of price support, 

 either as a general theory or speciafically as it may apply to potatoes. 

 However, our board of directors has just met and given careful con- 

 sideration to the subject of price support and has requested that we 

 go on record with your committee. 



As we understand it, we are not testifying concerning a specific bill, 

 but rather concerning proposals made by the Secretary of Agriculture 

 in a statement at a joint hearing of the House Committee on Agri- 

 culture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, 

 April 7, 1949. Until specific legislation designed to im.plement these 

 proposals has been introduced, we have no way of judging just what 

 their effect might be on the potato industry because some of the details 

 not yet spelled out could make a very material diflerence in the effects 

 of the program on the industry. 



Our board also believes that present price-support legislation, as it 

 applies to potatoes, should be given a fair trial before changes are made. 

 We feel this way because: 



(!) Present legislation was adopted only after the House and Senate 

 Agriculture Committees, in extensive hearings in various producing 

 areas throughout the country, had obtained a board background of 

 the views of this industry. 



