As in the past, price support will be made available to eligible producers through loans made to producer associations under contracts with the Commodity Credit Corporation. To be eligible, producers must certify that they have not used restricted pesticides (DDT, TDE, Toxaphine and Endrin) on their tobacco.

Producers of the kinds of tobacco under acreage allotments or acreage-poundage marketing quotas must certify their planted acreage.

Associations to which loans are made are authorized to withhold one cent per pounds from the advance to producers to help defray association administration costs.

PRICE SUPPORT AND GRADES APPROVED FOR UNITED BURLEY TOBACCO WASHINGTON, August 10-Burley tobacco grade standards and price support regulations were changed today to make grading and price support available for a limited amount of 1978-crop burley that will be sold in united bales as a crop marketing experiment.

Previously, united burley was classified "No-G" (No-Grade) and was ineligible for government price support.

Secretary of Agriculture Bob Bergland said the changes are substantially as proposed July 6, and that grade loan rates and grade standards for united tobacco will be the same as for tied bundles. This is in line with most of the comments received in response to the proposal, Bergland said.

Under the changes, producers interested in marketing united burley this year may apply in September at their county Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS) offices. These producers must certify that all bales to be delivered for price support and official grading meet the following specifications: (1) All tobacco in all bales offered for sale as a single lot will be of similar quality.

(2) The tobacco will be stalk-cured.

(3) The bale will not contain foreign matter.

(4) The tobacco will not be nested (nesting is the concealing of foreign material or inferior tobacco inside the bale.)

Producers must comply with filed certification in order to be eligible for grading and price support on baled tobacco and for price support on any tobacco produced on their farms. Warehouse operators will be required to open a representative bale in each lot of tobacco for inspection by a department grader.

Other details concerning price support for united burley tobacco will be published soon in the Federal Register and will be available at appropriate ASCS county offices.

GRADE LOAN RATES PROPOSED FOR 1978-CROP BURLEY TOBACCO

WASHINGTON, September 14-Proposed loan rates for 1978-crop burley tobacco range from 83 cents to $1.39 per pound and reflect an average support of $124.70 per hundredweight-7.4 cents per pound above the 1977 level. The loan rates for eligible tobacco packed in bales will be the same as the rates for tobacco tied in hands (a hand consists of approximately 20 tobacco leaves made into a bundle and tide with a tobacco leaf).

As in the past, no loans will be available on any tobacco graded NO-G (No Grade), W (Wet), U (Unsound) or scrap, according to Ray Fitzgerald, Administrator of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). Marketings of these grades, however, will be charged against the quotas for the farms on which they were produced, Mr. Fitzgerald said.

The cooperative associations through which advances are made available will be authorized to deduct one cent per pound to apply against overhead costs.

Comments regarding the proposed rates will be considered if submitted in writing by November 20 to the Acting Director, Price Support and Loan Division. ASCS, U.S. Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 2415, Washington, D.C. 20013. The comments will be available for public inspection in the Office of the Acting Director, Room 3741 South Building, during regular business hours, 8:15 A.M. to 4:45 P.M.