capable of effective administration. Many protests have been received from tobacco farmers against the change in tobacco insurance made necessary by this limitation in the act and it is apparent that participation in the tobacco insurance program this year will be sharply curtailed unless the limitation is removed.

Tobacco crop insurance covers only 40 to 60 percent of the value of a full crop. The tobacco insurance program has operated at a profit. to the Government during each of its 3 years of operation and has been highly acceptable to farmers. Removal of the limitation, as proposed by this bill, will permit the Corporation to insure tobacco on the same basis as in previous years.

Since insurance written by the Corporation covers only 40 to 60 percent of a farmer's total crop, it does not take the place of ordinary fire or windstorm insurance on tobacco in curing barns, and it is the judgment of the committee that the insurance to be offered under this bill will not compete measurably with private insurance.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 2a of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, changes made by the bill are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets):

SEC. 508.

FEDERAL CROP INSURANCE ACT, AS AMENDED

*

(a) Commencing with crops planted for harvest in 1948, for the purpose of determining the most practical plan, terms, and conditions of insurance for agricultural commodities, if sufficient actuarial data are available, as determined by the Board, to insure, or to reinsure insurers of, producers of such agricultural commodities under any plan or plans of insurance determined by the Board to be adapted to any such commodity: Provided, That reinsurance for private insurance companies shall be limited to contracts covering farms in not to exceed twenty counties selected by the Board. Such insurance shall be against loss of the insured commodity [while in the field] due to unavoidable causes, including drought, flood, hail, wind, frost, winter-kill, lightning, fire, excessive rain, snow, wildlife, hurricane, tornado, insect infestation, plant disease, and such other unavoidable causes as may be determined by the Board. Any insurance offered against loss in yield shall not cover in excess of 75 per centum of the recorded or appraised average yield of the commodity on the insured farm for a representative period subject to such adjustments as the Board may prescribe to the end that the average yields fixed for farms in the same area, which are subject to the same conditions, may be fair and just: Provided, That, if 75 per centum of the average yield represents generally more protection than the investment in the crop in any area, taking into consideration recognized farming practices, the Board shall reduce such maximum percentage so as more nearly to reflect the investment in the crop in such area. Insurance provided under this subsection shall not cover losses due to the neglect or malfeasance of the producer, or to the failure of the producer to reseed to the same crop in areas and under circumstances where it is customary to so reseed, or to the failure of the producer to follow established good farming practices. In 1948 insurance shall be limited to not more than seven crops (including wheat, cotton, flax, corn, and tobacco) and to not more than three additional crops in each year thereafter. Insurance provided for any agricultural commodity, except wheat, cotton, flax, corn, and tobacco, shall be limited to producers in not to exceed twenty counties. Insurance for wheat, cotton, corn, flax, and tobacco shall be limited to producers in not to exceed two hundred counties in the case of wheat, fifty-six counties in the case of cotton, fifty counties each in the case of corn and flax, and thirty-five counties in the case of tobacco. Counties selected by the Board shall be representative of the several areas where the agricultural commodity insured is normally produced. Insurance shall not

be provided in any county unless written applications therefor are filed covering at least two hundred farms or one-third of the farms normally producing the agricultural commodity; nor shall insurance of any agricultural commodity be provided in any county in which the Board determines that the income from such commodity constitutes an unimportant part of the total agricultural income of the county. The Board may limit or refuse insurance in any county or area, or on any farm, on the basis of the insurance risk involved. The Corporation shall report annually to the Congress the results of its operations as to each commodity insured.

PROVIDING FOR THE DISPOSING OF THE GOVERNMENT IRRIGA

TION EXPERIMENT STATION AT BARD, CALIF., AND THE ESTABLISHMENT IN LIEU THEREOF OF A SIMILAR STATION AT OR NEAR BRAWLEY, CALIF.

MARCH 18, 1948.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. HOPE, from the Committee on Agriculture submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. J. Res. 354]

The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 354) to provide for the disposing of the Government irrigation experiment station at Bard, Calif., and the establishment in lieu thereof of a similar station at or near Brawley, Calif., having considered the same, report thereon with a recommendation that the joint resolution do pass.

The Department of Agriculture, through its Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, has operated an irrigation experiment station at Bard, Calif. The work of the station has been directed toward finding the best crops and the best crop methods for the soil, climate, water conditions, and other features found in the Imperial Valley.

Bard is located on the Colorado River near the Mexican border, some distance from the heart of the Imperial Valley. The agricultural environment there is not entirely typical of the rest of the valley, and for that reason the Department has also been using land near Brawley, Calif.-nearer to the center of the valley-for experiments in vegetable growing.

The land and some of the equipment used by the Department in its experimental work near Brawley have been provided by farmers of the valley. It is understood that the Department has been contemplating moving the experiment station from Bard to some other spot in the valley where all types of experimentation could be consolidated. Farmers in the Brawley area have proposed that if the work is consolidated there and the land owned by the Department at Bard is sold for whatever it will bring, they will deed to the Department the

land now being used near Brawley and will supplement the money received for the Bard land by any additional amount that is needed to secure additional land near Brawley.

This resolution makes such action possible either on an exchange basis or by sale and purchase, whichever may be more advantageous to the Department.

It is understood that if this action is authorized by the Congress the Department intends to transfer to the new location, or rebuild there, the buildings now located at Bard and also to construct at Brawley some additional facilities which the Department is now considering locating elsewhere in the valley. The resolution authorizes the appropriation of funds for the transfer to the new location and for the contemplated improvements.

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