Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/944

 912 Determination of support operations by Secretary."

•'Marketing year."

Agreements with marketing cooperatives, etc.

Referendum.

63 Stat. 1052.

PUBLIC LAW 690-AUG. 28, 1954

[68

STAT.

SEC, 706. Except as otherwise provided in this title, the amounts, terms, and conditions of the price support operations and the extent to which such operations are carried out shall be determined or approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. The Secretary may, in determining support prices and rates of payment, make adjustments in such prices or rates for differences in grade, quality, type, location, and other factors to the extent he deems practicable and desirable. Determinations by the Secretary under this title shall be final and conclusive. The facts constituting the basis for any operation, payment, or amount thereof when officially determined in conformity with applicable regulations prescribed by the Secretary shall be final and conclusive and shall not be reviewable by any other officer or agency of the Government. SEC. TOT. The term "marketing year" as used in this title means the twelve-month period beginning April 1 of each calendar year or, for either wool or mohair, such other period, or periods for prescribed areas, as the Secretary may determine to be desirable to effectuate the purpose of this title. SEC. T08. The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to enter into agreements with, or to approve agreements entered into between, marketing cooperatives, trade associations, or others engaged or whose members are engaged in the handling of wool, mohair, sheep, or goats or the products thereof for the purpose of developing and conducting on a National, State, or regional basis advertising and sales promotion programs for wool, mohair, sheep, or goats or the products thereof. Provision may be made in such agreement to obtain the funds necessary to defray the expenses incurred thereunder through pro rata deductions from the payments made under section T04 of this title to producers within the production area he determines w411 be benefited by the agreement and for the assignment and transfer of the amounts so deducted to the person or agency designated in the agreement to receive such amounts for expenditure in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement. No agreement containing such a provision for defraying expenses through deductions shall become effective until the Secretary determines that at least two-thirds of the producers who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have been engaged, within the production area he determines will be benefited by the agreement, in the production for market of the commodity specified therein approve or favor such agreement or that producers who, during such representative period have produced at least twothirds of the volume of such commodity produced within the area which will be benefited by such agreement, approve or favor such agreement. Approval or disapproval by cooperative associations shall be considered as approval or disapproval by the producers who are members of, stockholders in, or under contract with such cooperative association of producers. The Secretary may conduct a referendum among producers to ascertain their approval or favor. The requirements of approval or favor shall be held to be complied with if twothirds of the total number of producers, or two-thirds of the total volume of production, as the case may be, represented in such referendum, indicate their approval or favor. SEC. T09. Section 201 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (T U.S.C. sec. 1446) is amended effective April 1, 1955, (i) by deleting from the first sentence thereof the phrase "wool (including mohair)," and (ii) by deleting subsection (a) thereof relating to the support of wool and mohair.

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