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RCED-95-220R 1 (1995-06-15)

handle is hein.gao/gaobackvu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UntdStates General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division B-261590 June 15, 1995 The Honorable Richard G. Lugar Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: Since 1933, federal farm programs have been focused on ensuring an abundant and stable food supply at reasonable prices while maintaining income and protecting prices for farmers. To achieve these objectives, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has often tried to manage the supply of key program crops by limiting the amount of land planted to those crops. In preparation for the 1995 farm bill debate on managing the supply of key program crops, you asked us to provide nationwide information on the productivity of farmland. As agreed with your office, we are providing information on the yield per acre of four major crops--corn, wheat, upland cotton, and soybeans. We selected these crops because corn, wheat, and upland cotton account for the majority of USDA's expenditures under the commodity support programs, and while soybeans are not a commodity program crop, soybean production, supply, and price can be closely linked to commodity program crops such as corn for which it is often an alternative crop. In summary, there are significant nationwide variations at both the state and county levels in the productivity of the land used to grow the crops we reviewed. We did not, however, evaluate why these variations occurred. Furthermore, in any given year, short-term variances in weather or other factors can distort the results. Accordingly, in preparing our analysis, we calculated 10- year yields based on information compiled by the National Agriculture Statistical Service (NASS). To provide a perspective on state and county data, table 1 shows the 10-year nationwide average yield and commodity program payment yields from the Consolidated Farm Service Agency GAO/RCED-95-220R, Farmland Productivity

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