Mr. ABBITT. I hope you mean in form of service. Mr. Jones? Mr. JONES. Nothing except to thank the gentleman for appearing and submitting an interesting statement and I defer to your knowledge and leadership in the tobacco field and I hope that we can come out with a bill that will solve some of the problems without doing any damage whatsoever to the total program. Mr. WATTS. Well, I certainly appreciate all of your statements. We have had problems ever since I came to Congress with tobacco. We have successfully solved most of them and I an sure we will continue to do so. It is a pleasure to be here. Mr. ABBITT. Thank you very much. A little while ago we called on Mr. Fred S. Royster, managing director, Bright Belt Warehouse Association, Henderson, N.C. Mr. Royster, we are mighty pleased that you could get here. We know of your great interest in the tobacco program and all of our problems. You have been most helpful to this committee. We will be pleased to hear from you at this time. STATEMENT OF FRED S. ROYSTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, BRIGHT BELT WAREHOUSE ASSOCIATION, INC., HENDERSON, N.C. Mr. ROYSTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity of appearing and I must apologize to the committee for being late but it so happens that I had the first puncture this morning I have had in 60,000 miles of driving. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I am F. S. Royster, managing director of the Bright Belt Warehouse Association, Inc. appear here this morning in opposition to the sale of tobacco allotments. I appear also in opposition to the lease and transfer across county lines. We have no objection to the continuing of the lease arrangements, we have no objection to the amendment as I understand it, that has been passed for some of the other types on a 5-year basis. We think that should be done. We have no objection to increasing the amount that can be leased. I think the 50 percent of the cropland factor is all right. That is our position, Mr. Chairman, and I have the permission from the distinguished gentleman who did precede me to associate myself with this very splendid statement and I beg leave of the chairman to do that. Mr. ABBITT. I think that is fine. Appreciate your statement, Mr. Royster. As I understand it, you feel that the present lease law has worked to some advantage? Mr. ROYSTER. The present lease law has. Mr. ABBITT. And, you think it should be kept within the counties? Mr. ROYSTER. Yes, sir. Mr. ABBITT. And, with all the safeguards we have already enacted, except possibly increase it to 50 percent of the cropland? Mr. ROYSTER. I think that is all right. Mr. ABBITT. You think that ought to stay in there, 50 percent of the cropland, not go higher? Mr. ROYSTER. It certainly would be a mistake to go higher. Mr. ROYSTER. I think that should be done. Mr. ABBITT. As you will recall, we were just as careful and cautious as we could be so as to keep in bounds when we first went into what was quite a new idea, leasing to another farmer, and I think that with the help of everybody we got a very good bill and I agree with you that possibly now is the time to amend it to permit longer period of leasing. Mr. ROYSTER. Yes, sir. Mr. ABBITT. Any questions? Mr. JONES. No questions, except to recognize my former colleague from North Carolina State Senate and thank him for appearing. I regret he had a puncture but maybe after 60,000 miles you should get new tires. [Laughter.] Mr. ROYSTER. Mr. Chairman, may I again express my gratitude for the opportunity to appear and also to say again how indebted I am and the warehousemen are to the chairman and the other members of this committee for all the tremendous efforts that you put forth successfully on behalf of the tobacco program. Mr. ABBITT. Thank you very much. Next, I have on this list Mr. William L. Lanier, president, Georgia Farm Bureau, Macon, Ga. We are certainly pleased to have you here, Mr. Lanier, and appreciate your coming. We will be pleased to have your statement at this time. STATEMENT OF WILLIAM L. LANIER, PRESIDENT, GEORGIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, METTER, GA. Mr. LANIER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is William L. Lanier. I am president of the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation. I appreciate this opportunity to visit with you and your committee to express the wishes and the desires of the Georgia tobacco growers. I believe that I could more adequately explain our position if I had the privilege of having the subcommittee in any of the many communities that are presently harvesting tobacco in Georgia or to visit around some country filling stations and hear these growers explain to the committee the difficulty that they are witnessing in harvesting this present crop. And, gentlemen of the committee, it boils down to this, that the average size of the allotment is such that the producer cannot afford the cost of mechanization. With minimum wage and the shortage of labor, we feel that we have no other alternative other than a sale of allotment or a long-term lease whereby a producer of tobacco can get together a number of acres that we consider an economical unit, that he can go to his bank or other financial institutions and get enough finances to purchase this equipment. And, of course, they are not going to let him have the funds unless he has the number of acres to substantiate his request for his loan. Now, I have had the privilege now of serving about 3 years as president of the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation and prior to that, three and a half years as State director of ASC in Georgia and prior to that, 12 years in the Georgia House with 8 years as chairman of the house agriculture committee. I believe with this association and connection and being a tobacco farmer myself, that I understand something of the problems that these people have. Now, we have a precedent on lease and sales of a commodity allotment and that is cotton, and this has been operating two seasons. We have not had the first complaint in the Georgia Farm Bureau office coming direct or through our field servicemen or county officers, objecting to this lease and sale of cotton allotment. So. I think the same thing would be applicable to tobacco. So, it just boils down that we are going to have to get it in economical units. Now, gentlemen of the committee, from time to time the so-called leadership in any area or any commodity, feel that they possess enough vision and wisdom to look down the road and see a problem coming and to perfect legislation to meet it by the time it arrives. But this is not true in the legislation that is before this committee presently. The wolf is already here. The wolf is here for the harvesting season of 1967. I am sure that when you have the privilege to go back home and visit in your respective congressional districts and visiting with the boys who are harvesting tobacco this year, and hearing them explain the difficulty that they have had due to lack of mechanization and lack of number of acres that they are presently tending, I believe that we will look with favor upon long-term lease and sale of allotments. I would like to say to you that Georgia Farm Bureau Federation favors lease and sale across county lines. Hearing some of the testimony this morning, there is some strong objection to that, but I think we are going to have to come face to face with reality and I do not believe that we are going to solve the problem that we seek to with too many restrictions as to how this tobacco can be transferred. We do oppose the transfer by lease or sale across State lines. So, Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen of the committee, it is my pleasure to have had this opportunity to visit with you and to share with you the feeling of the Georgia tobacco growers. Mr. ABBITT. We appreciate so much that statement. Do you think an increase of the leasing arrangement up to 5 years would be of assistance to your people? Mr. LANIER. I think it would be a little help. Now, let us look at this, Mr. Chairman. Let us look at a county, and I have this information in my folder-would you permit me to go back for just a moment? Let us look at what we would actually have here in two counties in Georgia. There are more than this but I did not have the time, frankly, to do enough research on this. Look at Candler County and Evans County, Ga. In 1966 Candler County had a quota of 2,814,550 pounds and they actually sold 1,783, 356. In Evans County, 1,941,027 pounds and they sold 901,066. All right. Now, keep in mind that these producers in these counties have relatively small allotments and the mechanization is-maybe this is the average but certainly not above average. But what you are going to do in my judgment, where you prohibit the lease across county lines and after you have had a short crop under your poundageacreage provision, you are going to have a considerable increase in the production in the county if it cannot cross the county lines, you are going to cause chaos and confusion in the different communities. Then, you are going to pit neighbor against neighbor even more than they have ever been for labor and in running up the price on each other and you are going to cause some confusion in your community that is not in the best interest of the welfare. So I say, sir, that you would help some and we would like to see you go further but we would appreciate that much, but we think that you could do more than just long-term lease of a 5-year lease within a county. Mr. ABBITT. Thank you very much. Mr. Wampler? Mr. WAMPLER. Mr. Lanier, I believe at the conclusion of your statement you said something to the effect that the Georgia Farm Bureau favored leasing across State lines. Did you mean to say county? Mr. LANIER. If I said that, I hope this lady will correct that because I like to live in Georgia. Mr. WAMPLER. Did I hear wrong? Did you say State? Mr. LANIER. The Georgia Farm Bureau Federation favors crossing county lines in lease and in sale but they are opposed to lease or sales across State lines. Mr. WAMPLER. I wanted to be sure the record was correct. Mr. ABBITT. Do you touch on Florida? Is your State contiguous to Florida? Mr. LANIER. Yes, sir. Mr. ABBITT. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. MCMILLAN. I would like to state that the gentleman has correctly stated the condition existing in South Carolina at the present time, the labor problem and small acreage allotments. We find it is really not economically sound for some farmers to continue producing tobacco. I think he expressed the exact problem we have in the State of South Carolina. Mr. LANIER. Mr. McMillan, let me share with you-in Georgia we have 2,000 farms with allotments of five-tenths of an acre or less, and some as low as a tenth of an acre, and we have 5,000 farms with allotments of 1 acre or less. So, these people really they have been holding onto these allotments hoping lightning would strike in their favor, that one day they would have an economical unit, and it has not happened. So, we would be doing them a favor by long-term lease or permitting them to sell. Mr. ABBITT. Any other questions? Mr. JONES. One question, please, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Lanier, the two counties to which you referred a moment ago, am I correct in assuming they are basically rural counties? Mr. LANIER. Yes, sir. Mr. JONES. No industry to speak of? Mr. LANIER. There is some industry, yes, and some of these producers, maybe the wife has a job in a garment plant. Mr. JONES. Well, what I am trying to develop is this, that if we permitted sales across county lines and these two counties became sellers rather than purchasers, what would it do to the tax value of your county? Mr. LANIER. I think we are going to go up regardless, sir. You mean ad valorem tax? Mr. JONES. Yes, sir. Mr. LANIER. I think they are going to go up with or without it. We have had a tax reevaluation in my home county that tobacco allotments, cotton allotments, peanut allotments, were given no consideration. My taxes last year were $5 plus three times the year before. So, I think that taxes are going to go up regardless of this. But, let us keep this in mind. You are assuming, sir, I believe, that every county is going to sell. I do not anticipate there will be a tremendous amount of sale of allotments, these real small allotments and maybe some border counties. But even if he is permitted to, it is not mandatory that he sell. It is not mandatory that he lease but it is permissive. And the reason that we take the position that we do on the referendum, if you and I negotiate a tobacco allotment, either lease or sale, we have already had a referendum and it passed unanimously because it met the approval of the two parties concerned. Mr. ABBITT. Thank you very much. Mr. Herman C. Odom, chairman of the Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Tobacco. STATEMENT OF HERMAN C. ODOM, CHAIRMAN OF THE GEORGIA AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY COMMISSION FOR TOBACCO; ACCOMPANIED BY HOMER S. DURDEN, JR., SWAINSBORO, GA. Mr. ODOм. May I call Mr. Durden? Mr. ABBITT. Certainly. I did not know he was with you. Glad to have you. Mr. DURDEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. ODOм. Mr. Chairman, members of the House subcommittee, I am Herman C. Odom, Route 2, Claxton, Ga. I am appearing today as a Georgia tobacco farmer and as chairman of Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Tobacco. Individually and as Chairman of the Tobacco Commission, I strongly recommend the passage of legislation permitting the sale, lease and transfer of tobacco allotments across county lines within a State. For the past several years tobacco farmers have been faced with the problem of increasing costs of production of tobacco with a relative steady level of receipts for his finished product. Due to these factors the profit margin has been cut considerably and with farm labor being placed under wage and hour law the resulting increase in the cost of production will probably make it unprofitable for the average tobacco farmer to continue planting tobacco. I see the possibility that within the next few years the growing of tobacco in this country will cease altogether unless some relief is given the tobacco farmer. Pardon an individual reference, but in my farming operation I have been growing tobacco since 1948 on an allotment of 10 acres, with a poundage quota of 21,000 pounds. In addition for the crop year 1967 may I add for the last 10 years I am renting 95 acres with a poundage quota of 200,150 pounds. These various allotments are in three counties in Georgia. În order to supervise these crops in these various counties it is necessary that I travel a distance of 225 miles each day. On its face, it is obvious that this is an inefficient and uneconomical manner of growing tobacco. It speaks for itself that my farming operation would be far more efficient and economical if I could transfer these various allotments across county lines and consolidate them into one operation. May I ad lib a moment there. By that, I may want to plant all of them in one county due to a disease problem, 1 year, for rotation, and maybe the next county the next year. During the year 1966 in Georgia, 62,000 acres of tobacco were planted with a yield of 95,736,445 pounds which was sold for $67,747,658.17. During the year 1966 Georgia had an acreage of 65,025 acres and a poundage quota of 125,025,000. Thus, for various reasons the Georgia tobacco farmers were unable to plant 3,000 acres of their quota and failed to produce 29 million pounds of their quota. In my |