over $550 million, are being reflected not only in

over $550 million, are being reflected not only in reduced : Government acquisitions of grain under price support operations but also in re’ duced need for storage space* By steadily shifting cropland from grain production to conservation uses, the new ASCS programs have accomlished the first major cutback in Government-held' grain since 1953. i Government -owned stocks of wheat and five feed grains —corn, grain sorghum, ESi- . ley, oats, arid Irye—of 2.6 billion bushels on Sept. 30. 1962, were 650 million less than on the same date in 1961 and were the lowest for any quarterly period since March 1959. Of the total quantity of Government-owned grain in storage and 520 million bushels in Government-owned bins. These figures represent a decline of about 19 percent' in the quantity of grain stored in commercial facilities and 22 percent in the quantity stored in Government bins as compared with the total, in storage as of Sept. 30, 1961. On that date, Government stocks occupied about 53 percent of approved commercial storage compared to nearly 63 percent on the same date in I960 and 45 percent on September 30, 1962. Paralleling the effort to reduce surpluses of grain was an equally successful program to stimulate soybean production. Although undertaken in 1961, its success in bringing supplies of soybeans in line with expanding needs first became apparent this year. As a result of higher support prices and larger acreage, soybean producers have been realizing greater returns from their production. The increased acreage has in general been taken out of unneeded feed grain acreage, and the increase in soybean supplies has about kept pace with the expanding domestic and foreign demand. Agricultural Conservation Program

In 1962, the Agricultural Conservation Program con