By last week, it looked as if the Government's attempt to cut crop surpluses by voluntary acreage controls had flopped. The Department of Agriculture had asked U.S. farmers to cut their 1950 total plantings by 8½%. The Department's preliminary estimates last week showed that farmers were planting their fifth largest acreage in 13 years. The 359 million acres were only 2.8% less than 1949. On top of that, Congress last week raised the acreage quotas for cotton and peanuts eligible for price support, despite the Department's earlier cuts in this year's quotas (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).
Barring bad weather, the greatest surplus...
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