Reading Room Document

Authority of Secretary of Agriculture to Establish Price Support Program for Sugar Producers Under the Agriculture Act of 1949

The document is a memorandum opinion regarding the proposed price support program for sugar producers under the Agricultural Act of 1949. The program would provide supplemental cash payments to producers of sugar beets and sugarcane through processors, pegged to production and the differential between the market price for sugar and 13.5 cents per pound. The conclusion reached in the document is that the proposed program is unauthorized under the Agricultural Act of 1949, as amended, as it is indistinguishable from a program of production payments, which the Act prohibits. The document presents questions regarding the interpretation of "other operations" and whether the proposed program provides "price support" as intended by the Act.

August 18, 1977