[Question Concerning CCC Obligation To Compensate Sugar Beet Growers]

GAO commented on whether the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) was legally obligated to compensate Colorado sugar beet growers who were not paid in accordance with price-support agreements for the 1984 crop. GAO noted that: (1) where price-support programs are carried out through purchases, loans, or payments to processors, the Secretary of Agriculture should ensure that producers of the commodity have received or will receive maximum benefits from the price supports; (2) a processor for the 1984 sugar beet crop certified that it had paid or would pay all producers the rates required under price-support loan regulations; and (3) even though the processor obtained loans from CCC for the 1984 crop year, it filed for bankruptcy, leaving substantial amounts on its contracts with sugar beet growers unpaid. GAO found that, since the nonpayment occurred because of bankruptcy, CCC was required, under new legislation, to pay producers the difference between the maximum benefits owed and the amounts the processor had already paid.