D. The Trade Agreements Program OPERATION OF THE TRADE AGREEMENTS PROGRAM DURING 1960: Fifth Annual Report of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program, Transmitted to the Congress, September 1, 19611 E. The "Food for Peace" and Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance (Public Law 480) Programs THE AGRICULTURAL TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSISTANCE ACT OF 1954, AS AMENDED: Public Law 480, 83d Congress, Approved July 10, 1954, as Amended Through Public Law 86-472, Approved May 14, 1960 2 386. FOOD FOR PEACE: Interim Report to the President (Eisenhower) by the Food-for-Peace Coordinator (Paarlberg), Made Public July 23, 1960 3 3 4 I. The concept of Food-For-Peace is the associating of our agricultural capability with the need for food abroad. This is in a world which for the first time in history sees the possibility of feeding its people adequately. A. Agricultural abundance in the United States is a present and a prospective fact. 1. American agricultural science, technology, and education are the best in the world. The American farmer outproduces the farm worker of the Soviet Union by a ratio of about five to one. 'H. Doc. 234, 87th Cong. See also the unnumbered title which follows doc. 216, ante, p. 496. 2 For the text of the act as amended through 1959, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 1499-1516. The 1960 amendments are contained in sec. 601 (a) (1) and (2) and 601(b) of the Mutual Security Act of 1960; post, doc. 392. 'White House (Newport, R.I.) press release dated July 23, 1960 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Aug. 15, 1960, pp. 248–251). 'See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, p. 1489. 1 Includes imports from north Korea in 1959 of artwork and antiques valued at $3,000 and in 1960, wood manufactures, $3,000. 2 Includes imports from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. 3 Commodity data shown are imports for consumption. 4 Includes an estimate of low-value shipments $250 or less each on informal entry shipments and under $100 each on formal entry shipments. ⚫None. 20 This table, taken from p. 54 of the 15th report, has been reduced to include only the figures for the year 1960. The full table carries figures for the year 1959. 2. The CCC [Commodity Credit Corporation] investment in loans and inventories is now near $9 billion. In a joint study done by USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] and the Bureau of the Budget, projected for five years on the basis of present legislation, this investment is expected to rise further. B. Food needs abroad are substantial. 1. In the developing nations, which are about three-fourths agricultural, live nearly a billion people. They have a low level of food intake. They need our farm products and our agricultural knowhow. 2. It is to our interest, in our efforts to help the developing nations, to emphasize an area in which we have a great comparative advantage, which is agriculture. C. The Food-For-Peace program thus is an attack on those ancient enemies, hunger and malnutrition. In this attack we not only meet a great human need but also accomplish two purposes of direct interest to ourselves. 1. We move our inventories of farm products which, if not moved, are a wasting asset. 2. We serve the foreign economic policy interest of the United States. II. The program provides both food and know-how. A. About two-thirds of our agricultural exports are sold for dollars in the regular commercial channels. Our special export programs are intended to develop this kind of trade, and have done so. B. Important to the Food-For-Peace effort are the special export programs, carried on primarily under Public Law 480 [Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act], enacted in 1954.5 The great bulk of these shipments go to Asia, Latin America, the Mediterranean area, and Africa. 1. Title I, sale for foreign currency, is the largest of the various special export programs. 5 a) An illustration is the recent Indian four-year program, totaling $1,276 million, market value. i) This is the biggest grain transaction in history. It includes: 587 million bushels of wheat (half of one U.S. wheat crop) years. ii) Rupees generated by this program will be put to the following uses: 42.2% loans to India for economic development, including agricultural betterment. 42.2% granted back to the Indian government, largely for economic development. See the unnumbered title, supra. 6 See ante, doc. 311. 5.0% loans to private United States and Indian business firms. 10.6% U.S. uses, including agency programs and agricultural market development. b) Total movement under Title I from 1954 to December 31, 1959; the equivalent of more than 3,000 shiploads: wheat cotton fats and oils____ other $1, 380 million 560 million 477 million 731 million Total 7 $3, 148 million, market value 2. Under the Mutual Security Act we have sold, for foreign currency, in a program similar to Public Law 480, from 1954 to December 31, 1959, about $1,700 million worth of food, feed and fiber, at market value. This is the equivalent of about 1,250 shiploads. 3. Title II of Public Law 480, Relief of Disaster, primarily a government-to-government program, is an important part of Food-For Peace. a) During the last fiscal year we provided food for victims of natural disasters in eleven countries. We fed refugees in Hong Kong and the Middle East, supported school feeding programs in Italy and Japan, and supplied food for charitable institutions abroad. b) Total movement under Title II from 1954 to December 31, 1959; the equivalent of about 275 shiploads: 4. Another important part of Food-For-Peace is Title III of Public Law 480, food donations through nonprofit charitable agencies such as CARÉ, Catholic Relief Services, Church World Service, and the Jewish relief agencies. Presently we are supplying food in earthquake-ravaged Chile and Agadir. a) Seventy-five million American people support this program through their gifts, their work, and their membership in these voluntary agencies. b) U.S. surplus food is thus distributed in ninety-one countries and dependencies. Sixty-two million people abroad get a part of their food from this source. c) Movement under Title III from 1954 to December 31, 1959: Total, mostly wheat, milk, and rice, including ocean freight : See post, doc. 392. $1,405 million, CCC cost, the equivalent of about 400 shiploads. 5. Additionally, we have bartered surplus agricultural products for strategic and other materials such as manganese, chrome, and industrial diamonds. a) From 1954 to December 31, 1959, $1,140 million worth of surplus farm products at market value have thus been bartered. This is the equivalent of 1,500 shiploads. 6. Altogether, from 1954 through 1959, approximately the following quantities of surplus agricultural products have been moved: Sales for foreign currency Under Public Law 480_. Through the Mutual Security Act-- Relief of disaster (government-to-government) Donations through charitable agencies (people-to-people). Total Number of shiploads 3,000 1,250 275 400 1,500 6, 425 C. A complement of our special export programs is United States assistance to agricultural production abroad. The objective is to help other countries develop their agriculture in accordance with their capabilities and in a manner which will retain appropriate export opportunities for American farm products. This effort, like our special export programs, is concentrated in Asia, Latin America, the Mediterranean area, and Africa. 1. Twelve hundred U.S. agricultural technicians are now working overseas for ICA [International Cooperation Administration]. 2. Through 1959, Ex-Im Bank has approved loans for irrigation and water supply (some urban) totaling $210 million.R 3. Through 1959, the Development Loan Fund has approved loans for agriculture and irrigation abroad totaling $55 million." 4. The ICA program, in promoting balanced agricultural development abroad, averages about $50 million a year. 5. In addition, about $200 million in local currencies generated by Public Law 480 are being used by foreign governments, with our help and guidance, for agricultural improvement. 6. Results of this activity are hard to measure. Foreign governments themselves have made substantial contributions to agricultural improvement. These things seem clear: a) Agricultural production abroad has increased. During the past decade the annual rates of increase for four selected countries were as follows: b) There have been no major famines in the free world during the past decade. * See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 1694-1703. 'See ibid., pp. 1685-1688. |