§608 — Title 7 Agriculture | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture may start an investigation when he thinks it is needed. After any required investigation, he can make voluntary deals with farmers or use other voluntary methods. He can pay out of available funds whatever amounts he finds fair and reasonable to carry out the program. While those powers are being used, he may make more investigations. He must hold hearings, give notice, and let interested people speak. Payments tied to a particular crop must be made in that same crop. For this rule, hogs and field corn may be treated as one commodity. For the 1933–1934 sugar beet or sugarcane contracts, if growers’ returns were cut by the processing tax or floor stocks tax, the Secretary can pay growers who join acreage or production reduction programs to cover part or all of that tax. Rice growers may pledge their rental or benefit payments as production credit and name who gets the payment. For nonperishable crops stored on the farm, a reasonable part of a benefit payment can be advanced if storage, inspection, locking, and sealing rules are met; the Secretary may deduct inspection and sealing costs but cannot charge interest.

Title 7, §608

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(1)Whenever the Secretary of Agriculture has reason to believe that:

(2)Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall provide, through agreements with producers or by other voluntary methods,

(3)Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall make payments, out of any moneys available for such payments, in such amounts as he finds, upon the basis of the investigation made pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, to be fair and reasonable and best calculated to effectuate the declared policy of this chapter:

(4)Whenever, during a period during which any of the powers conferred in subsection (2) or (3) is being exercised, the Secretary of Agriculture has reason to believe that, with respect to any basic agricultural commodity:

(5)In the course of any investigation required to be made under subsection (1) or (4) of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall hold one or more hearings, and give due notice and opportunity for interested parties to be heard.

(6)No payment under this chapter made in an agricultural commodity acquired by the Secretary in pursuance of this chapter shall be made in a commodity other than that in respect of which the payment is being made. For the purposes of this subsection, hogs and field corn may be considered as one commodity.

(7)In the case of sugar beets or sugarcane, in the event that it shall be established to the satisfaction of the Secretary of Agriculture that returns to growers or producers, under the contracts for the 1933–1934 crop of sugar beets or sugarcane, entered into by and between the processors and producers and/or growers thereof, were reduced by reason of the payment of the processing tax, and/or the corresponding floor stocks tax, on sugar beets or sugarcane, in addition to the foregoing rental or benefit payments, the Secretary of Agriculture shall make such payments, representing in whole or in part such tax, as the Secretary deems fair and reasonable, to producers who agree, or have agreed, to participate in the program for reduction in the acreage or reduction in the production for market, or both, of sugar beets or sugarcane.

(8)In the case of rice, the Secretary of Agriculture, in exercising the power conferred upon him by subsection (2) of this section to provide for rental or benefit payments, is directed to provide in any agreement entered into by him with any rice producer pursuant to such subsection, upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines will best effectuate the declared policy of this chapter, that the producer may pledge for production credit in whole or in part his right to any rental or benefit payments under the terms of such agreement and that such producer may designate therein a payee to receive such rental or benefit payments.

(9)Under regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture requiring adequate facilities for the storage of any nonperishable agricultural commodity on the farm, inspection and measurement of any such commodity so stored, and the locking and sealing thereof, and such other regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of Agriculture for the protection of such commodity and for the marketing thereof, a reasonable percentage of any benefit payment may be advanced on any such commodity so stored. In any such case such deduction may be made from the amount of the benefit payment as the Secretary of Agriculture determines will reasonably compensate for the cost of inspection and sealing but no deduction may be made for interest.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section as originally enacted consisted of subsections (1) to (5). Act Aug. 24, 1935, amended section by striking out or amending and redesignating the various subsections.

Amendments

1935—Subsec. (1) was, together with subsecs. (2) to (9), inserted in lieu of former (1) by section 2 of act Aug. 24, 1935, which also struck out former (1) as amended by acts

May 9, 1934, and

March 18, 1935. Subsec. (2) was, together with subsecs. (1) and (3) to (9), inserted in lieu of former (1) by section 2 of act Aug. 24, 1935. Former subsec. (2), as amended by act Apr. 7, 1934, was designated section 8b of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, section 608b of this title, and amended by section 4 of said act Aug. 24, 1935. Subsec. (3) was, together with subsecs. (1), (2), and (4) to (9), inserted in lieu of former (1) by section 2 of act Aug. 24, 1935. Former subsec. (3) was struck out by section 5 of said act Aug. 24, 1935, which also added section 8c to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, section 608c of this title. Subsec. (4) was, together with subsecs. (1) to (3) and (5) to (9), inserted in lieu of former (1) by section 2 of act Aug. 24, 1935. Former subsec. (4) was struck out by section 6 of said act Aug. 24, 1935, which also added section 8d and 8e to the Agricultural Adjustment Act, section 608d and former section 608e, respectively, of this title. Subsec. (5) was, together with subsecs. (1) to (4) and (6) to (9), inserted in lieu of former (1) by section 2 of act Aug. 24, 1935. Former subsec. (5) was designated section 8f of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, section 608f of this title, and amended by section 7 of said act Aug. 24, 1935. Subsecs. (6) to (9) were, together with subsecs. (1) to (5), inserted in lieu of former (1) by section 2 of act Aug. 24, 1935. 1934—Act

May 9, 1934, amended subsec. (1) generally. Act Apr. 7, 1934, amended subsec. (2) by striking out proviso.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Validity of Agreements and Licenses Preserved Under 1935 ActAct Aug. 24, 1935, ch. 641, § 38, 49 Stat. 776, provided that: “Nothing contained in this Act [see Tables for classification] shall (a), invalidate any marketing agreement or license in existence on the date of the enactment hereof [Aug. 24, 1935], or any provision thereof, or any act done pursuant thereto, either before or after the enactment of this Act, or (b) impair any remedy provided for on the date of the enactment thereof for the

Enforcement

of any such marketing agreement or license, or (c) invalidate any agreement entered into pursuant to section 8(1) of the Agricultural Adjustment Act prior to the enactment of this Act, or subsequent to the enactment of this Act in connection with a program the initiation of which has been formally approved by the Secretary of Agriculture under such section 8(1) prior to the enactment of this Act, or any act done or agreed to be done or any payment made or agreed to be made in pursuance of any such agreement, either before or after the enactment of this Act, or any change in the terms and conditions of any such agreement, or any voluntary arrangements or further agreements which the Secretary finds necessary or desirable in order to complete or terminate such program pursuant to the declared policy of the Agricultural Adjustment Act [this chapter]; Provided, That the Secretary shall not prescribe, pursuant to any such agreement or voluntary arrangement, any adjustment in the acreage or in the production for market of any basic agricultural commodity to be made after July 1, 1937, except pursuant to the provisions of section 8 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act as amended by this Act.”

§608 Powers of Secretary