quate in size and productive capacity to provide a farm family with minimum living conditions under average economic conditions, but, for example, are already subject to a lien for their full mortgagable value according to cooperative or private credit standards. For this group, we endorse the type of assistance suggested by the present language of the bill; namely, credit for a long period of time but not longer than 33 years, with interest at 4 percent and with other terms comparable to the Bankhead-Jones farm-tenant credit pattern. For potentially adequate farms. There then remain among the bona fide farmers of the Nation a substantial number, those in groups III and IV described above, who from combined farm and nonfarm income are incapable of producing enough to support the family and pay for improvements to the farm. For these farmers some assistance over and above the long-term low-interest credit described in the bill is necessary in order to put them into a position to acquire and maintain acceptable housing and related facilities. The owners of farms in group III would not produce enough annual income to pay for the necessary dwelling and related improvements but are so situated that the farm income could be sufficiently increased to do so by enlarging the productive acreage, or by land treatment, such as leveling or clearing, or by a change of type of operation, such as conversion from cash crops to livestock farming, or by providing irrigation or drainage. The Department now possesses many of the facilities and authorities for assisting farmers to accomplish these purposes. The enactment of the Farmers Home Administration Act of 1946 has provided much of the needed authority. As a condition to providing housing for this group of farm occupants, the Department should require the necessary adjustment or conversion of the farm enterprise. If the applicant for housing assistance develops an adequate farm enlargement or improvement plan, either with or without special assistance from the Department, title VII, provides that annual contributions for the improvement of his housing may be made available to him during the temporary period of time that the redevelopment of his farm enterprise is being effected. These contributions will be made in the form of credits against the installment of principal and interest due for any annual installment period. They would be limited to a sum not greater than the annual installment of interest plus onehalf of the annual installment of principal. A period of 10 years is allowed within which the redevelopment of the farm should be completed and after the expiration of this period of time no further annual contributions or subsidy to the housing would need to be made because the farm enterprise would thereafter be capable of paying for the annual principal and interest cost of the dwelling and related improvements. For inadequate farms: There remain the farmers in group IV who do not possess adequate family-type farms and for whom there is no apparent means of providing an adequate farm by a process of enlargement or redevelopment within 10 years. The Department does not intend to abandon these farmers, but, on the contrary, considers them to be a segment of the farm population for which it has a special re 75674-48-20 sponsibility. I do not feel, however, that this responsibility will be properly discharged by providing them with permanent dwellings, the cost of which they cannot reasonably be expected to repay in any substantial degree. In fact, to establish permanent dwellings for farmers under these circumstances would have the tendency to perpetuate the present unsatisfactory situation. Therefore, the Department endorses the provisions of section 704 which would authorize aid to these farmers through special loans and grants for temporary improvements, such as roof repairs, a sanitary water supply, and other facilities designed to protect their health and the health of their neighbors, and to so improve their living conditions that their situation is not a threat to the public health. Let me make it clear that we do not feel the Department's responsibilities to these farmers have been fully discharged when this group has been provided with only these minimum living requirements. We are constantly endeavoring to improve their conditions by every device at our command. Moreover, if we can maintain full employment conditions in the entire economy, many of these farmers may be able to improve their living conditions by obtaining jobs off the farm. It is anticipated that these minimum improvements could be achieved with the use of not to exceed $1,000 per family unit, not over $500 of which would be a grant or a contribution, and the balance of which would be repayable on reasonable terms within the useful life of the improvements. I am sure that the committee recognizes that to initiate and carry on a Nation-wide rural housing program is a complex task. There are a great many farmers throughout the Nation who do not get their entire living from working the land upon which they are situated. Many of them have off-farm employment at particular seasons of the year. Yet, because they are in possession of an appreciable proportion of the Nation's total agricultural plant and are dependent upon that property for a part of their income, we must deal with them as farmers. Approximately 32 percent of the Nation's farms are tenant occupied and operated. The bill proposes to improve the tenant's housing situation through the landowner. One of the problems encountered in the planning of Nation-wide program for housing arises from the fact that the dwelling on the farm is an integral part of the farm and, as a general rule, must be supported entirely by the income from the farm. It is not feasible, in our opinion, to seperate, or to make possible the future separation of the dwelling from the farm. Much of our agricultural production comes from, and many of our agricultural people live on, land which does not provide the full annual income and support of the family. Such farms in suburban areas pose a problem of whether the dwelling on the farm is more a matter of concern in agriculture or a problem overflowing from the adiacent communities. Those of us who have been interested in housing from the national picture have agreed that housing on farms is so affected by the problems of agricultural production that it should be closely correlated with the other activities of the Department of Agriculture. Just where to draw the line between what is farm housing and what is nonfarm housing is some what debatable. We believe, however, that the proposal in the bill constitutes a satisfactory dividing line. Section 701 (b) defines a farm as that land operated as a single unit customarily producing agricultural commodities for sale and for home use of a gross value of not less than $400. The monetary amount could, of course, be higher or lower without destroying the usefulness of the definition." For the past 2 years or more the Comittees of Congress, representatives of the Department of Agriculture and of the housing agencies of the Government, and organizations and individuals interested in improving the rural housing situation have explored the means which would be most effective to deal with the farm-housing problems, as a part of the Nation's over-all effort to make it possible for all of its people to have adequate housing. The provisions of the Senate bill relating to rural housing reflect the combined thinking of those who have worked on this problem. We recommend that it be enacted into law. In brief, it will provide the necessary implementation to private initiative in the construction of farm dwellings by means or research and technical services, and will supplement private credit only to the extent which private credit cannot furnish assistance because the farm does not constitute an adequate base for conventional credit. It will remove some of the dangers to rural public health and safety by means of temporary repair assistance to dwellings on farms which cannot be made self-sustaining. Title VII of the bill contains the means by which the families of the Nation living on farms can begin to bring the quality of their dwellings to a par with the dwellings in urban communities. The dependency of the Nation on its agricultural population, not only for food and fiber, but for human beings who find their way into the industrial and commercial enterprises of the country requires that. we begin without further delay to remedy presently inadequate housing on farms which constitutes a real threat to the continued efficiency and productivity of our national farm human and agricultural resources. American farmers should not be required to wait until the peace has been won to have decent, safe, and sanitary places to live. Without the stimulus of a national program designed especially to meet the rural housing situation, farm housing is likely to remain inadequate. The people who live under such circumstances cannot be expected to maintain their maximum contribution to obtain and securing the peace of the world. Mr. SMITH. Are there questions of Mr. Brannan? Mr. TALLE. Mr. Chairman. Mr. SMITH. Mr. Talle. Mr. TALLE. Will you outline briefly the operations of the Farmers Home Administration? Mr. BRANNAN. In brief the operations of the Farmers Home Administration revolve around the extension of credit to farmers who are unable to get credit from the usual conventional sources. The extension of the credit is combined with guidance and assistancetechnical assistance-such as might be deemed necessary to make it possible for the borrower to repay the loan, and after the repayment of the loan, to go forward on a reasonably sound economic farm operation. There are two segments to the bill, the first one, which extends credit for the purposes of operating the farm, and the other segment of the bill provides credit for the purchase, enlargement or improvement of a farm. That is under the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, as amended. I think those are the two main portions of the bill which authorize the functions of the Farmers Home Administration. Mr. TALLE. In how many States has this agency carried on its work? Mr. BRANNAN. In all States. Mr. TALLE. In all States? Mr. BRANNAN. Yes, sir. Mr. TALLE. Who is the local officer who does the supervising and the guiding? Mr. BRANNAN. At the county level, sir? Mr. TALLE. Yes. Mr. BRANNAN. There is what is called the county supervisor, who operates with the aid of a committee of farmers in the county, who consider and pass upon all of the loans, review all of the loans at stated intervals, and advise about collections and operation of this program. Mr. TALLE. Who is the immediate superior officer above the county supervisor? Mr. BRANNAN. There is a State official called the State director. Mr. TALLE. And he is immediately responsible to the Farmers Home Administration here in Washington; is that correct? Mr. BRANNAN. That is correct, Mr. Talle. Mr. TALLE. I wonder if you could tell me how extensive those operations have been so far? It was set up in 1946, was it not? Mr. BRANNON. Yes, sir. Mr. TALLE. Perhaps you would rather put that in the record. You probably do not carry those figures in your head. Mr. BRANNAN. That would be much more convenient, and I think much more informative for the committee, to put the figure with respect to its loan experience, the amount of money loaned, the amount of repayment, the number of farmers aided-is that what you are interested in? Mr. TALLE. Yes, sir. Mr. BRANNAN. We will supply that, sir. Mr. TALLE. That would be under two functions, would it not, one, operating loans, and the other, purchase of farms? Mr. BRANNAN. Yes; operating loans and capital or farm purchase, enlargement and improvement loans. (The information refered to is as follows:) |