PUBLIC LAWS-CHS. 712, 713-DEC. 23, 1944 be unlawful, any contract to the contrary notwithstanding. Any person violating the provisions of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $1,000. Approved December 23, 1944. [CHAPTER 713] December 23, 1944 [H. R. 4911] [Public Law 551] Federal Crop Insur- ance Act, amend- ments. 52 Stat. 74. 7 U.S. C . 1508(a); Supp. III, 1508 (a). Insurance against loss on wheat, cotton, and flax. Percentage cover- age, limitation. Losses not covered. County provisions. Other agricultural commodities. Limitations. AN ACT To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That subsection (a) of section 508 of the Federal Crop Insurance Act, as amended, is amended to read as follows: "(a) (1) Commencing with the wheat, cotton, and flax crops planted for harvest in 1945, to insure, upon such terms and condi- tions not inconsistent with the provisions of this title as it may determine, producers of wheat, cotton, and flax against loss in yields due to unavoidable causes, including drought, flood, hail, wind, frost, winter-kill, lightning, fire, excessive rain, snow, wild- life, hurricane, tornado, insect infestation, plant disease, and such other unavoidable causes as may be determined by the Board. Such insurance shall cover a percentage to be determined by the Board not in excess of 75 per centum of the recorded or appraised average yield of such commodities on the insured farm for a repre- sentative period subject to such adjustments as the Board may pre- scribe to the end that the average yields fixed for farms in the same area, which are subject to the same conditions, may be fair and just. Such insurance shall not cover losses due to the neglect or malfeasance of the producer, or to the failure of the producer to reseed to the same crop in areas and under circumstances where it is customary to so reseed, or to the failure of the producer to follow established good farming practices. Insurance shall not be provided in any county unless written applications therefor are filed covering at least fifty farms or one-third of the farms normally producing the agricultural commodities authorized to be insured, except that insurance may be provided for producers on farms situated in a local producing area bordering on a county with a crop-insurance program. The Board may limit insurance in any county or area, or on any farm, on the basis of the insurance risk involved. "(2) For the purpose of determining the most practical plan, terms, and conditions of insurance with respect to corn, dry beans, oats, barley, rye, tobacco, rice, peanuts, soybeans, sugar beets, sugar- cane, timber and forests, potatoes and other vegetables, citrus and other fruits, tame hay, and any other agricultural commodity, if sufficient actuarial data are available, as determined by the Board, to insure upon such terms and conditions not inconsistent with the provisions of this title as it may determine, producers of such agricultural commodities against loss due to the unavoidable causes covered in paragraph (1) of this subsection: Provided, That such insurance shall be limited in 1945 to corn and tobacco and to not more than three additional crops for each year thereafter. Insur- ance provided for any agricultural commodity under this para- graph shall be subject to the limitations and conditions provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection, shall be for a period of not more than three years, and shall be limited to producers in not to exceed twenty counties selected by the Board as representative of the several areas where the agricultural commodity is normally produced: Provided, however, That such insurance may cover a [58 STAT.
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