GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 963 



Mr. Pace. I have one question. It may be that you are not the 

 proper person to ask. I noticed in the Agricultural Act of 1948, which 

 becomes effective January 1, the amendment which was offered in 

 regard to the Irish potato support program at 60 to 90, it says that 

 the price of any kind of Irish potatoes shall be supported. Do you 

 have any idea what that means? 



Mr. Cox. I do not, except there are probably 50 to 75 dift"erent 

 varieties of the Irish potato. I do not know whether that was what it 

 was meant to cover or not. 



Air. Pace. They do not all ordinarily have the same price on the 

 market, do they? 



Mr. Cox. From the same producing areas, I would say they 

 usually do. 



Mr. Pace. They do have the exact same price? 



Mr. Cox. I will qualify that by this statement, that in my area 

 they do. We have only three varieties in my area and they all demand 

 the same price, approximately. 



Air. Pace. You mean that any Irish potato compares with these 

 Irish potatoes from Maine and these from Iowa that we have heard 

 so much about? 



Mr. Cox. I will qualify that statement by saying in my area. We 

 think we have the best in the world. We raise only red potatoes, you 

 see, for market. 



Air. Pace. Ordinarily the support price is on the basis of grades 

 and so forth. There is no legislative history to indicate what they 

 meant by "any kind." 



Air. Cox. I am not qualified to answer that question, Air. Pace. 



Air. Pace. Air. Case, do you know? 



Air. Case. The SteagaU amendment made no differential in regard 

 to grade. The Steagall Act said that you shall support the commodil}^. 

 The price differential between I's and 2's was an administrative ruling 

 by the Department. As to what percentage of the price it would 

 allot each grade so that the average price for all marketable potatoes 

 produced would reach the 90 percent of parity, I could not say. 

 That is a matter that the potato men have discussed with the Depart- 

 ment many times and I personally have discussed it with Alembers 

 of Congress. The support price was determined by the Department 

 for U. S. No. I's and the No. 2's were made 50 percent of that purely 

 as an administrative regulation. 



In working it out, it happened in the past 2 or 3 years that farmers 

 could sell their No. 2's above the support price when they could not 

 sell their No. I's. It resulted in this way, to illustrate: Oui- support 

 price today in the Red River Valley is $2.9G on No. I's. It is one-half 

 of that for No. 2's. The No. 2's would go on the market and bring 

 more than ,$1.45, while the No. I's would not bring the $2.90. That 

 was the basic reason why the Government got so many No. I's in 

 proportion to the No. 2's. The correction that the potato men asked 

 for in the 1949 program was that we increase the price of No. 2's, even 

 at the expense of No. I's, so that the No. 2's would turn to the Gov- 

 ernment and the No. I's to the consumer. 



The Department decided on a one-price standard, which was a 

 compromise between the price of No. I's and No. 2's and it is to that 

 that Air. Cox is referring. 



