Information on Peanut Allotment Owners That Lease and Rent Away Rather Than Plant Their Peanut Allotment Quotas

GAO was requested to review the extent to which peanut allotment owners lease or rent away their allotment quotas. The objectives of the review were to: (1) determine the availability of certain information in records which the Department of Agriculture maintains on the peanut program; (2) determine the validity of the Department's estimate that 70 percent of the peanuts grown in the United States are produced using leased or rented allotments and quotas; and (3) obtain information on the occupations and primary sources of income of the allotment owners who lease or rent away their allotment quotas.