And it will benefit those who need help the most, the thousands of farmers with very small tobacco allotments, those with allotments too small for the farmer to operate profitably.

The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture now allots a total acreage of 932,755 acres for the growing of tobacco. This is broken down to 538,390 individual allotments, or an average tobacco allotment of only 1.73 acres per farm.

Circumstances beyond the control of the farmer have made it impractical for him to grow 1.73 acres of tobacco-and of course, many of our farmers have even much less than that amount-and come out with a profit. Tobacco, by its very nature, is a high labor crop. It takes more than 400 man-hours to produce and sell an acre of Flue-cured tobacco.

With a small acreage allotment, a farmer cannot afford the investment-if he could get the credit-to mechanize his planting, harvesting, curing, and marketing of tobacco. Added to his dilemma in not being able to mechanize his operations is his difficulty in finding available labor to help plant, harvest, cure, and market his tobacco, even under the new increased minimum wage structure.

For example, as one of my constituents informed me earlier this year, he went on to say:

I have over seven acres of tobacco allotment and even though I have the equipment, barns, et cetera, I had to give up growing tobacco because the farmer can make more money working in a mill eight hours a day, plus the fringe benefits, than he can working in the hot tobacco fields.

So, I contend that if we are going to retain our family farms, we have to help make it possible for some of our farmers to stay on their farms and to make a decent living. Although my bill and those similar to it are not and cannot be a final solution to our dwindling farm population, they certainly could be a help to those who are still willing to stay on the farm and make it a career. Tobacco acreage cuts in 1963, 1964, and 1965 have reduced many growers' allotments to the point where they are economically unfeasible. This is particularly true in the area of North Carolina which it is my privilege to represent. In the three counties of the Sixth Congressional District, there is a total of 14,411.36 acres of tobacco allotted to 6,437 farms. More than four-fifths of the total acreage is allocated to farms with 3 acres or less of tobacco. And only 193 out of the 6,437 allotments are more than 7 acres. In today's economy, these allotments cannot support a family. Since 1962, farmers have been permitted to lease their tobacco acreage. Experience under the limited lease and transfer authoritywhich heretofore has been restricted to 1 year with a 5 acre limit to a farm-has shown that flexibility is desirable. Extensive use has been made of leasing agreements. Just last year some 80,000 acres were leased.

My bill, H.R. 6508, would simply extend the transfer provision and make these yearly rental or lease agreements permanent. It would allow a farmer to buy enough additional acreage so that he could make his farm unit more economical. On the other hand, it would permit another farmer to sell his allotment and thereby be reimbursed for an asset which for some has become a liability. As one farmer said in a letter to me: "we are not tobacco farmers. Our tobacco allotment is a burden to our farm operation."

Another farmer, in my home county, wrote me and said: "It has become almost impossible to secure farm labor. With this shortage of labor, we are faced with two alternatives: sell out, and go to public work; or mechanize and remain in the farming business. I prefer to farm. However, I cannot afford to mechanize for Flue-cured tobacco farming without an allotment large enough to make it a sound investment. I will need to purchase more allotment if I am to continue tobacco farming."

The bill I have offered would restrict the sale and purchase of tobacco allotments within the county where the allotment is located. I want to emphasize, Mr. Chairman, this particular limitation, for I cannot support any legislation that would permit the sale of tobacco allotments outside the county of the location of the allotment. The vast majority of the farmers of my district support this position.

In summary, let me again thank you for the courtesy of allowing me to appear here today and offer my support for legislation which will greatly aid the tobacco farmer.

Recently, I received a letter from a North Carolinian, who is a newspaper publisher by profession, but who also is a farmer on the side and has a tobacco allotment. He has asked that I offer his letter to this subcommittee for inclusion in the record. And with your permission, Mr. Chairman, I offer the letter from Mr. W.E. Horner, Sr., of Sanford, N.C.

Thank you very much.

Mr. ABBITT. Without objection, it will be made a part of the record. (The letter referred to follows:)

Hon. HORACE KORNEGAY,

Member of Congress,

·House Office Building,

Washington, D.C.

THE SANFORD DAILY HERALD,
Sanford, N.C., August 9, 1967.

DEAR SIR: Thank you for your letter of July 21 stating hearings on your bill to permit sale of tobacco allotments would be held August 16-17, and inviting me to

appear.

I will be out of the country on those dates.

Please file this letter with the committee, and perhaps you will read it to them: 1. As a tobacco farmer, 11 acres, I am in favor of the principle of selling tobacco allotments with proviso they must remain in the county of origin.

2. I am dealing with Lee County Board of Education on my farm. We find the school board, if they buy the farm, cannot sell the allotment. It can be transferred to me to another farm, but I wish to get out of farming. It surely appears reasonable that on any farm land sold to any public body having the rights of eminent domain that they could sell the allotment without it having to follow the previous owner around.

It is my sincere hope the committee will approve your bill. It is a good bill, and in my opinion desired by just about every tobacco grower that I know of.

Yours truly,

W. E. HORNER, Sr. Mr. ABBITT. We appreciate so much your fine statement and your interest in the work of our subcommittee. Any questions?

Thank you very much.

Mr. KORNEGAY. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. ABBITT. I cannot recall Congressman Lennon missing a single open meeting of our Tobacco Subcommittee since he has been a Member of the House. He called me this morning to say he was chairman of a very important subcommittee that started hearings at 10 o'clock this morning and could not be here. I understand one of the

members of his staff, Mr. Jones, is here with a statement from Mr. Lennon and if you will bring that statement up to the clerk, without objection, we will enter that as a part of the record. Appreciate Mr. Lennon's deep interest in our problem. He has helped us over the years he has been a Member of the Congress. Thank you very much. (Congressman Lennon's statement follows:)

STATEMENT OF HON. ALTON LENNON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate the opportunity to make a statement concerning H. R. 11883, the Chairman's bill, H.R. 10963, the bill I introduced, and related bills.

As the Chairman and some of the Committee Members know, since becoming a Member of the House eleven years ago, I have been vitally interested in all matters concerning flue-cured tobacco. You, Mr. Chairman, have, from time to time, graciously commented upon my regular attendance at the Tobacco Subcommittee meetings related to our flue-cured tobacco program.

It is easy to identify myself with all aspects of the flue-cured tobacco program, as this commodity is grown in all eight counties in southeastern North Carolina which I have the honor to represent. There are a total of 17,832 flue-cured allotments in my Congressional District with an acreage allotment of 48,489 acres and a poundage allotment for these counties of 98,532,862 pounds. After adjustments for undermarketings and overmarketings, there are 54,990 acres allotted with a poundage allotment of almost 113 million pounds.

I am aware that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Administrator of the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service have on several occasions, both officially and otherwise, stated that we should move to a program that would permit the sale and lease of crop allotments across county lines and, for that matter, anywhere within the boundaries of a state. I also know this Committee will consider legislation introduced by Members of the House Committee on Agriculture, as well as Members of this Subcommittee, which would permit the sale or lease of tobacco quotas within a county, across contiguous county lines, and anywhere within a state.

With this information, I felt obligated to ascertain the basic thinking of the tobacco growers in my District. Accordingly, I introduced H.R. 10963 and mailed copies of same to approximately one hundred persons, along with a legislative analysis of the five principle objectives in the bill. These individuals included members of the Boards of County Commissioners, members of the ASCS Committees, County Farm Agents, the Presidents of the Farm Bureaus and the Masters of the Grange at the county and township levels, as well as numerous growers throughout the District.

The answers indicated an almost unanimity of opinion with respect to the proposal to remove the 5-acre limitation, and, while there was a slight degree of division of opinion, generally those favoring the present leasing system indicated strong views that leases should be extended at least three years and even possibly five years.

The replies to our inquiries clearly indicated support of the basic five objectives of the bill with the exception of one county which, incidentally, has the largest number of tobacco allotments although having less tobacco acreage than one of the other counties.

One of our counties has 3,056 allotments. with an acreage allotment of 6,269 acres, and it has 1,090 allotments with an acreage allotment of one acre or less. There are a total of 4,869 allotments of one acre or less in our District, which constitutes 27% of the allotment total.

It is possible that the Subcommittee will make a determination that no action should be taken at this time. On the other hand, the Subcommittee may deem it wise to report a bill to the full Committee to extend the leases to three and possibly even five years and also to remove the 5-acre limitation restriction.

If the Committee finds it is in the best interest of our growers that allotments be sold, then under no conditions should the sale be authorized to cross county lines; neither should such purchased allotments be resold within a period of 3 to 5 years, in order to reduce the possibility of speculation.

As you know, the question of leasing allotments across county lines involves various factors, as some knowledgeable growers have indicated. Careful consideration should be given any legislation that would permit the sale of allot

ments within the boundaries of counties, as well as the leasing of allotments across county lines, since many growers feel this ultimately will substantially affect land values and collateral businesses in their respective counties.

It has been suggested, and, I believe properly so, that in the event legislation is enacted to permit allotment sales or leases within a county or across county lines, it should be subject to a farmers' referendum.

I have complete confidence in the Subcommittee, several of whose Members have a personal and intimate knowledge of all the factors involved in this type of legislation. I am certain this Subcommittee is going to make a judgment from its study as to what is in the best interest of the total flue-cured tobacco economy and the majority of our tobacco growers.

Mr. ABBITT. Now, fortunately we have Mr. Horace Godfrey, who we all know and we are pleased you could come here and will be glad to hear from you and anybody you care to have with you. STATEMENT OF HORACE D. GODFREY, ADMINISTRATOR, AGRICULTURAL STABILIZATION AND CONSERVATION SERVICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ACCOMPANIED BY WEAR SCHOONOVER OF THE OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL; CLAUDE TURNER AND JOE TODD OF THE TOBACCO POLICY STAFF Mr. GODFREY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.

I am Horace Godfrey, Administrator, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. I have with me today, Wear Schoonover of the Office of General Counsel and Claude Turner and Joe Todd of our Tobacco Policy Staff.

We are glad to appear before the committee to present the Department's views with respect to a number of bills relating to tobacco marketing quotas. I would like to make a brief statement first, and then we will attempt to answer any questions the members of the

committee care to raise.

First, let me state the Department's position on the bills authorizing the transfer of tobacco acreage allotments and acreage-poundage marketing quotas by lease and sale. The Department has, on a number of occasions, recommended legislation to authorize the transfer by lease or sale of acreage allotments and quotas for all commodities. It is our view that the transferability of allotments will reduce production costs and improve the incomes of small producers who desire to continue to produce a commodity by permitting them to acquire additional allotments without the heavy costs of buying additional land. At the same time, it will make it easier for those who do not wish to continue the production of the commodity to transfer their resources into other enterprises.

Public Law 90-51, approved July 7, 1967, amended the Triple A Act by adding a new section 318, which authorizes leases for a period not to exceed 5 years and the sale and transfer, to other farms in the same county, of farm acreage allotments and acreage-poundage quotas for Fire-cured, dark air-cured, or Virginia sun-cured tobacco. In testimony before the committee on April 18, 1967, we recommended that the bill then being considered be amended by deleting the words "Fire-cured, dark air-cured, and Virginia sun-cured", so that the authority would apply to all kinds of tobacco.

The Department's position remains unchanged. We favor legislation to authorize the transfer, by lease or sale, of farm acreage allot

ments and acreage-poundage quotas, for all kinds of tobacco. A number of bills relating to transfers have been referred to the committee.

Some of the bills would authorize the transfer by lease or sale of allotments and quotas for all kinds of tobacco to other farms in the same State. Others apply only to Flue-cured tobacco and limit transfers within the same county. Still others authorize transfers across county lines-if the counties are contiguous--and in the same State. There are other bills which would authorize the transfer of burley tobacco allotments by annual lease-to other farms in the same county. The Department favors H.R. 11883 over the other bills which would authorize the transfer of tobacco acreage allotments and acreage-poundage quotas. This bill amends the new section 318 of the Triple A Act to include Flue-cured tobacco, with Fire-cured, dark Air-cured and Virginia Sun-cured tobacco. It also provides that transfers will be on a pound-for-pound basis--when acreage-poundage quotas are in effect-as they are now for Flue-cured tobacco. This is consistent with the provision now in effect under the authority to transfer Flue-cured allotments and quotas on an annual basis. The bill adds a restriction that the total acreage of all kinds of tobacco allotted to any farm after transfer shall not exceed 50 percent of the acreage of cropland in the farm. Present legislation already provides that not more than 10 acres of Fire-cured, dark Air-cured or Virginia Sun-cured tobacco allotments can be transferred to any farm. This is not changed.

The Department recommends two amendments to H.R. 11883. First, we recommend that the words "Flue-cured, Fire-cured, dark air-cured, or Virginia Sun-cured" in line 10 on page 1 and line 1 on page 2 be deleted-in order to make the authority to transfer allotments and quotas by lease or sale apply alike to all kinds of tobacco.

We recommend also that the bill be amended to permit the transfer of allotments and quotas across county lines-within the same Statewhen approved by two-thirds of the producers in the county-voting in a referendum. This provision is now in effect for cotton and is working well.

I would like to make some comments on H.R. 11990, which Congressman Stubblefield introduced at the request of the Department. Since this bill does not pertain to the transfer of allotments and quotas-but rather to the simplification of present legislation relating to apportionment of the national marketing quota among the several States the committee may prefer to ask questions and hear from other witnesses concerning the transfer of allotments and quotasbefore taking up this bill.

Under present legislation, the national marketing quota-in pounds-less a small reserve for establishing allotments for "new" tobacco farms-is apportioned among the several States-on the basis of the total production of the particular kind of tobacco in each State during the preceding 5 years-plus in applicable years, the normal production on the acreage diverted under previous agricultural adjustment and conservation programs-with such adjustments as the Secretary determines to be necessary to make correction for abnormal conditions of production-for small farms-and for trends in production giving due consideration to seed bed and other plant disease during the 5-year period.

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