990 



GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



Mr. Pace. Is there anything further? 



Mr. Bryant. Mr. Chairman, I would Hke to say in behalf of the 

 potato industry, in view of the fact that Mr. Case is gone, that we 

 appreciate your courtesy in hearing us and we also will give very 

 serious consideration to your suggestion on marketing quotas and 

 setting acreage formulas. 



Mr. Pace. I certainly must assure you that the hearing has been 

 very helpful to the committee. I hope that if an agreement can be 

 reached you may be able to reach it within 15 days and give us a report. 



We will stand adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock when 

 we will begin the hearings on wheat. 



(Whereupon, at 4:40 p. m., the committee adjourned, to reconvene 

 on Thursday, May 5, 1949, at 10 a. m.) 



(The agreement reached by the National Potato Council and sub- 

 mitted under date of May 27, 1949 follows:) 



The National Potato Council, 



Washington, D. C, May 27, 1949. 

 Hon. Stephen Pace, 



Chairman Special Subcommittee, House Comm,ittee on Agriculture, 



Washington 25, D. C. 

 Dear Mr. Pace: The National Potato Council wishes to supplement its testi- 

 mony of May 4, 1949, with this additional statement in order to meet the requests 

 of the subcommittee chairman and the chairman of the full committee for more 

 specific recommendations in regard to white potatoes in a long-range farm program. 

 The recommendations herein contained were agreed upon at two special 

 meetings in Washington of representatives of potato farmers from virtually every 

 ma,.ior producing area in the Nation. 



in studying the potato situation, these grower representatives were impressed 

 by the tremendous voluntary reduction in potato acreage that has taken place 

 since 1943. 



Table 1. — •Potatoes: Planted acreage and decreases since 1943 

 [1,000 acres] 



As you will note from table No. 1, potato farmers themselves have voluntarily 

 reduced their acreage in each of the years from 1943 through 1948. This vol- 

 untary decrease in the last 5 years amounts to 36.5 percent, or approximately 

 1,227,000 acres. 



It should be noted that this sharp voluntary decrease in acreage came in spite 

 of the fact that during this period potatoes were supported at 90 percent of parity. 



Increased per acre yields have offset, to a considerable degree, the more than 

 one-third reduction in acreage, but, as a group, potato farmers have complied 

 virtually 100 percent with the Department's acreage goal program. 



