1242 GENERAL FARM PROGRAM 



I should like to say briefly first that the committee knows, of com'se, 

 our position from rather extensive testimony earlier. We remain of 

 the same mind as to the general outlines of the Brannan proposal. 

 We think it is very good. We should like to emphasize again at this 

 time, however, that we believe on two counts that the committee 

 should give serious consideration to the proposal that we have put 

 forward earlier. 



The first count is the use of some kind of an interchangeable 

 commodity unit in order to promote voluntary adjustments in crop 

 production. We believe that ultimately we must work out some 

 way of making it equally profitable to the producers of all agricul- 

 tural commodities so far as governmental assistance is concerned. 

 Once we do that, we will be far down the road toward voluntary 

 adjustment. 



The second is on the family farm equation. We remain firm in the 

 belief that Congress should, in the extension of governmental aids, 

 give preference to family farm units. We would like to see it done 

 thi'ough the use of this same commodity unit but so long as it is done, 

 we do not care how. 



As to the immediate subject of this hearing, the two witnesses 

 present are Mr. Mayer Parodneck, who is president of the Farmer 

 Consumer Milk Cooperative with headquarters in New York, and 

 Mr. Louis Slocum, executive secretary of the eastern division of the 

 Farmers Union with headquarters in Trenton, N. J. 



Mr. Parodneck's organization is a unique one. It includes both 

 consumers and farmers and he is therefore in a position to speak for 

 both of them today. 



I think it would interest the committee to know that this particular 

 cooperative venture has been worked out so that the consumer on the 

 one hand and the farmer on the other share in the benefits and savings 

 that accrue to members of a cooperative. 



I will now turn over to 'Mr. Parodneck the procedure at this time, 



Mr. Pace. Mr. Parodneck, we will be glad to hear from you at 

 this time. 



STATEMENT OF MAYER PARODNECK, MANAGER, FARMER 

 CONSUMER COOPERATIVE OF NEW YORK CITY 



Mr. Parodneck. Gentlemen, as Mr. Smith introduced me, I do 

 not need to repeat my name. I am from New York and I am primarily 

 interested in milk. 



We find that ever since 1946, as this committee is well aware, we 

 have been confronted with the problem of a declining milk consumption. 

 Gentlemen, we are very much interested in the proposal under con- 

 sideration because to our way of thinking this is the first proposal we 

 have seen which attempts to tackle the cause, the root of the evil, 

 rather than treating the symptoms and leaving the cause untouched. 



In the proposal at hand there is a basis for increasing consumption 

 rather than for attempting to treat with the resulting effect of under- 

 consumption. 



I would like to say at this time that our problem in this country, 

 as far as milk is concerned, is certainly not overproduction. The 

 statistics that we have today show the low3st per capita production 

 of milk that we have had in 25 years. 



