Some of them would immediately get the idea of hordes of hunters and fishermen streaming over their land and causing a whale of a lot of problems. In that connection, I might add that at our next convention, we will be discussing that particular aspect of any soil-bank program that is adopted, because any soil-bank program is going to increase the fish and wildlife values in this country, the production of game species. We think that in that part of it, the wildlife organizations, the conservation organizations, such as the Izaak Walton League, the Wildlife Federation, and others, have responsibility. We see the opportunity as well as responsibility in our State game and fish departments to cooperate in this program so that the maximum values are achieved with the minimum of costs and the minimum of, let us say, nuisance, and so on. We anticipate that we will have broad representation at that conference, and we hope that we can come out of it with a plan and a positive program which will be applicable in all sections of the country to relieve any problem that might develop in that connection. I would like, with your permission, as quickly as its drafting can be completed, to furnish you with a digest of the Izaak Walton League conception of the soil-bank plan, with specific language. The CHAIRMAN. Can we have it in our hands by next Monday? Mr. PENFOLD. I will do my best. That will be up to our committee chairman. I will do my best. The CHAIRMAN. We hope to close these hearings next Monday. The CHAIRMAN. And if you can let us have it by that time, we will appreciate it. The proposed plan referred to above is as follows:) A BILL To stabilize agricultural production, stimulate forestry and wildlife, and conserve the Nation's soil and related resources Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act be cited as the Soil Reserve Act. PURPOSES It is the purpose of this Act to provide a soil reserve in which soil resources now utilized for but not now needed for agricultural production shall be placed and held in a reserve under such conditions to to insure their stabilization and restoration until such time as they may be needed. It is further proposed to stimulate and encourage forestry and/or wildlife on such parts of the soil reserve as is best suited to forestation and/or wildlife. It is further proposed to provide compensation for needed adjustments in the mode of living of farmers who discontinue farming operations as a result of land being placed in the soil reserve. DEFINITIONS "Farm" means all the land on which some agricultural operations are performed by one person either alone, with family or hired help. Less than three acres are not a farm unless the agricultural products are worth $250 per year or more. "Farmer" means an individual personally engaged in the operation of a farm and deriving more than 50 per centum of his income, either as owner, part owner, or tenant. "Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture. "Department" means the United States Department of Agriculture. "Tenant-operator" means a farmer who rents all of the farm he operates. "Owner-tenant-operator" means a farmer who owns part and rents part of the land he farms. OPERATION OF THE ACT SECTION 1. The Secretary shall offer to rent for cash sufficient tilled land or grazed land and transfer same to a land reserve so that agricultural production on the land remaining in production shall be in approximate balance with demand at rewarding prices to the producers. The rental offered per acre shall be such that on land much in need of stabilization and restoration or where natural hazards of production are great the rental will equal the probable return in net income to the owner if planted or grazed in a manner common to the region, assuming that the commodities commonly produced in that region were at parity prices. The Secretary shall establish five land classes based on their comparative vulnerability to natural erosion and their relative production hazards from natural forces, under conditions of conventional use. The classes shall be so defined that approximately 20 per centum of the total tilled and grazed acres in use shall fall into each class. For that class of land offered the greatest erosion and production hazard he shall offer a cash rental equal to the probable net income when farmed in the manner common to that region if parity prices prevailed. He shall offer respectively 90 per centum, 80 per centum, 70 per centum, and 60 percentum for each of the consecutively better classes of land. The Secretary may devise other methods of computing the rental offered as long as the method achieves the objectives outlined in the above. All contracts shall be for a minimum of five years. In areas deemed to be semiarid or cyclically arid the minimum shall be for ten years but the payments shall be reduced to 80 per centum of the initial payments in the second five-year period. Where forestation is the planned use of the land in the reserve the contract shall be for a period of twenty years. During the second five years the rental payments shall be reduced to 40 per centum of the first five years and during the second ten-year period the payments shall be 20 per centum of the first fiveyear annual rate. All land placed in the soil reserve shall be conditioned by any needed soil amendments and planted to approved vegetative cover which may be forest trees and/or wildlife forage species in accordance with specifications provided by the Secretary. The Secretary shall provide the soil amendments, seed, and trees required and the landowner shall condition and plant the land in accordance with specifications. The Secretary shall also specify and the landowner shall apply such measures of weed, brush, and insect control and such protection from grazing, fire, and other hazards as the Secretary may specify for the proper maintenance of the desired vegetative cover. SEC. 2. To compensate in part for necessary personal adjustments in mode and place of living which may result from inclusion of entire farms in the soil reserve, the Secretary is authorized and directed to pay to farm owner-operators. tenant-operators, or owner-tenant-operators the sum of $400 where the operator discontinues all farm production beyond the personal needs of himself and his family, and he will also pay the sum of $200 where it is necessary or desirable that he move off of the farm. The above compensations may not be paid to any one person more than once in each five years. The CHAIRMAN. Is there anything else? Any further questions? Mr. CALLISON. Mr. Chairman, I should just like to add to what Mr. Penfold has said about the possibility of some farm folks misinterpreting our interest in this from the standpoint of wildlife. It was for that reason that we went and talked to the major farm organizations, including the Farm Bureau, the Grange, and the Farmers Union, about this idea. The CHAIRMAN. The land is their own, and even though he had it in a pasture, so what? Mr. CALLISON. We believe that the trespass control should be in the hands of the farmer and the farm operator, just as it is now, with no change. The CHAIRMAN. That would be a local matter. We do not want to put anything in there about that. All right. Any further questions? (No response.) The CHAIRMAN. If there are no further questions, and no other witnesses, the committee will stand in recess until tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. (Whereupon, at 4 p. m., the committee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a. m., Friday, January 20, 1956.) PRICE-SUPPORT PROGRAM FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 1956 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to recess, at 10 a. m., in room 324, Senate Office Building, Senator Olin D. Johnston presiding. Present: Senators Ellender (chairman), Johnston, Anderson, Eastland, Humphrey, Scott, Aiken, Young, Thye, Mundt, and Schoeppel. Senator JOHNSTON (presiding). The committee will come to order. The first witness at the hearing this morning is M. W. Thatcher, general manager of the Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association, at St. Paul, Minn. We will be glad to hear from you, Mr. Thatcher. You may identify yourself for the record and read your paper, or handle it just as you see fit. STATEMENT OF M. W. THATCHER, GENERAL MANAGER, FARMERS UNION GRAIN TERMINAL ASSOCIATION, ST. PAUL, MINN. Mr. THATCHER. My name is M. W. Thatcher, general manager of the Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association, St. Paul, Minn. Mr. Chairman, I should like, if the chairman and the members of the committee find it desirable, for you to permit me to proceed and read my whole statement first, which is not very long, and which may provoke discussion that will be helpful to this committee. Senator JOHNSTON. Just proceed. Mr. THATCHER. I appreciate this opportunity to place before you some facts and observations for your consideration in drafting legislation to help the farm families of America. Some of the very important facts I shall presently place before you are the results of our family farm income survey in the five States in which the Farmers Union Grain Terminal Association operates. This 5-year survey of the farming operations of some 4,320 families demonstrates vividly the timeliness of this committee's interest in raising farmers' net income. The typical family farmer is dipping into his depreciation reserves for his living today. In meeting this situation, we have two major problems for which we must find an immediate answer: 1. How to reduce the cost to the Government of its surplus holdings. 2. How to raise net farm income substantially. In regard to the surplus problem, the public, unfortunately, has a very distorted and unrealistic picture. Certainly, everybody should recognize that we cannot do away with the entire carryover of farm |