Mace v. Berry

• Decision Date: 01 April 1954
• Docket Number: No. 16854,16854
• Citation: 81 S.E.2d 276,225 S.C. 160
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: MACE v. BERRY et al.

Page 276

81 S.E.2d 276

225 S.C. 160

MACE v. BERRY et al.

No. 16854.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

April 1, 1954.

The Order of Judge Baker fllows:

In 1938, the first tobacco marketing quota program year, J. L. Mace, the appellant, farmed two tracts of land as consisting of 54.2 acres of cropland, on which appellant lives and hereinafter referred to as the home place, and one tract containing 170.2 acres of cropland, which is known as the Rowell place. These two tracts of land were operated as one farm and under one work sheet, and remained under the control of appellant at least through the year of 1949. On December 8, 1949, the appellant contracted to sell the Rowell tract to C. E. Frazer and Ella L. Frazer, the deed to be delivered in February of 1950, but conveyance was not actually delivered until February 21, 1951, and then only after court action and a decree of specific performance. In February of 1950, the appellant requested the County Committee of the Production and Marketing Administration, United States Department of Agriculture, for Marion County, for a subdivision to be made of the two tracts, covering each tract by a separate worksheet, with a flue-cured tobacco acreage allotment for each farm. The Marion County Committee executed papers to bring about the reconstitution and forwarded the proposed subdivision to the State Committee, which committee disapproved the proposed subdivision, and for reasons which are not at issue in this appeal.

During the year of 1950 the appellant was farming a part of the croplands on the Rowell tract and Mr. Frazer farming a portion of the remaining cropland. Beginning with the crop year of 1951, Mr. Mace lost control of the Rowell tract and sub-division had to be effected, which was made by the Marion County Committee on the basis of the 1950 cropland under Section 725.221 of the Burley and Flue-cured Tobacco Marketing Quota Regulations for the years 1951-1952, and the home place was given an allotment of 7.8 acres, with 21.4 acres going to the Rowell tract. The appellant in due time, after notice of this allotment, applied for a review of the decision of the County Committee, the application for review being made to the Review Committee for Marion County.

The Review Committee, on September 28, 1951, established a flue-cured tobacco acreage allotment for appellant's tract of land for the marketing year of 1951, of 5.8 acres, a reduction of two acres from the allotment established by the County Committee. It is admitted the Review Committee was in error in striking two acres from the allotment established by the County Committee, so appellant is at least entitled to an allotment as of the 1951 marketing year of 7.8 acres for his home tract.

In the appeal to the Review Committee, appellant contends he is entitled to an allotment for the marketing year of 1951, of 27.9 acres, or at least an allotment substantially larger than that established by the County Committee. The Review Committee found the total cropland in the year of 1950 for both tracts of land in the sum of 274.3 acres, of which appellant operated 192.9 acres, and Mr. Frazer 81.4 acres. For the year of 1951, the committee established as a fact that the total cropland operated by appellant in 1950, before subdivision, was 192.9 acres, and in 1951, the total cropland operated by appellant constituted 54.2 acres, and after mathematical calculation, the allotment was determined as 5.8 acres. There are other findings of fact by the Review Committee which will be referred to in the discussion of the exceptions by appellant to this court in his appeal from the Review Committee.

As a prelude to a discussion of the issuies, it should also be stated the Review Committee concluded that the land operated by appellant as a signle farm in 1949, consisting of the Rowell tract and the home tract was operated in 1950 as two farms, one by appellant and one by Frazer, and the 150 tobacco acreage allotment must be apportioned between the two as of the year 1950 in the same proportion as the acreage of cropland suitable for the production of tobacco in each bore to the total number of acres of cropland suitable for the production of tobacco on the entire farm. Then proceeding to the year 1951, this committee says the land operated by appellant as a single farm in 1950, consisting of a part of the Rowell tract, 138.7 acres of cropland, and all of the home place, to wit, 54.2 acres of cropland, was operated in 1951 as two farms, and therefore the 1951 tobacco acreage allotment to be established for the entire farm must be apportioned among the two farms for 1951 pursuant to the provisions of Section 725.221 of the 1951-52 Tobacco Marketing Quota Regulations. In this connection, the committee also declared all cropland acreage on the Rowell tract and the home tract, and in the year of 1950, are suitable for the production of tobacco. The committee then proceeded to reconstitute the lands for the crop year of 1950 on an operationship basis with the 1950-51 Tobacco Marketing Quota Regulations, and again reconstituted the lands for the crop year of 1951 on an operationship basis in accordance with the 1951-52 regulations, which would have resulted in a 1950 tobacco acreage allotment for the lands operated by appellant in 1951 of 5.8 acres.

The appellant contends the Review Committee was in error in computing the allotment on the basis of the year 1951 instead of on the basis of the year 1950 and the regulations and conditions prevailing in that year, and, further, the committee erred in alloting to C. E. Frazer for the purposes of division, lands not suitable for the production of tobacco, and lands which had never been on the worksheet of appellant or any other tobacco grower.

Cropland for the year of 1950 means farm land which in 1949 was tilled or was in regular crop rotation, excluding certain lands as described in Section 725.112 of the 1950-51 regulations, and croplands for the year of 1951 means farm land which in 1950 was tiller or was in regular crop rotation, with those exclusions as also described in the Regulations for 1951-52. In determining the croplands for 1950, the Review Committee had the benefit of aerial photographs, the testimony taken at the hearing and the inspection of the Rowell tract, at which visit further questions were asked of Mr. Mace and Mr. Frazer. The record supports the finding of the committee that the total 1950 cropland before subdivision was 274.3 acres, of which Mr. Mace operated 129.9 acres. Appellant says, however, that all of this cropland acreage was not on his worksheet or anyone else's, nor did he draw any parity payments on some of the acreage, and therefore that which was not included in the worksheets should not be considered in the computation of the tobacco allotment. The regulations, however, provide that all cropland is to be considered. Consequently, the Review Committee was correct in its consideration of the entire acreage.

During the year of 1950, Mr. Frazer cleared and planted sone new crop acreage, but this was not considered in the calculations for the year of 1950, nor does it appear it entered into the calculations for the year of 1951, since the 1951 allotment, in so far as appellant is concerned, is based upon the single farm operated in 1950 by appellant, consisting of 192.9 acres.

Section 725.121 of the Regulations for the 1950-51 marketing year provides if land is operated as a single farm in 1949, and will be operated in 1950 as two or more farms, the 1950 tobacco acreage allotment determined or which otherwise would have been determined for the entire farm shall be apportioned among the tracts in the same proportion as acreage of cropland suitable for the production of tobacco in each such tract and in such year bore to the total number of acres of cropland suitable for the production of tobacco on the entire farm in such year. The 1950 allotment established for the entire farm was 25.5 acres. As already pointed out, the total 1950 cropland, before division, was 274.3 acres, and the total 1950 cropland operated by appellant was 192.9 acres. He then in 1950 was operating 70.3% of the total cropland, which gave him an allotment of 17.9 acres. Mr. Mace was considered as operating a single farm in 1950, although he was renting from Frazer for that year 138.7 acres of cropland on the Rowell tract. This constitutes a farm under the applicable regulation. In 1951 the allotment for the farm operated by J. L. Mace in 1950, that is, 192.9 acres, was set at 20.5 acres, an increase over the 17.9 acres for 1950. Mr. Mace, however, in 1951, was only operating 54.2 acres, or that is, 28.1% of the 192.9 acres. The single farm which he had been operating, and for which there was but one worksheet in 1950, was then reconstituted under Section 725.221 of the 1951-52 regulations, which provides if land operated as a single farm in 1950 will be operated in 1951 as two or more farms, the tobacco acreage allotment shall be determined as already described in the same numbered section. As contained in the 1950-51 regulations, this method of subdivision, constitution and reconstitution was entirely proper, not only under the 1950-51 regulations, but also under the 1951-52 regulations since appellant did not lose control of the 138.7 acres of cropland on the Rowell tract until 1951. Reconstitution then became necessary because the cropland under his control then was substantially reduced.

In the determinations of fact by the Review Committee it is stated that all cropland acreages in the Rowell tract and home place are suitable for the production of tobacco, and all cropland acreages in the farm operated by J. L. Mace in 1950 are suitable for the production of tobacco. There was substantial evidence to support this finding of the Review Committee, and this court is bound thereby, as pointed out in the case of Lee...