Executive Order 9322—Centralizing and Delegating Authority With Respect to the Production and Distribution of Food

By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, particularly by the First War Powers Act, 1941, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, and in order to assure an adequate supply and efficient distribution of food to meet war and essential civilian needs, it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. The Food Production Administration (except the Farm Credit Administration), the Food Distribution Administration, the Commodity Credit Corporation, and the Extension Service are hereby consolidated within the Department of Agriculture into an Administration of Food Production and Distribution to be under the direction and supervision of an Administrator. The Administrator shall be appointed by the President and shall be directly responsible to him.

2. All of the powers, functions, and duties conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture by Executive Order No. 9280 dated December 5, 1942, are transferred to and shall be exercised by the Administrator. The Secretary of Agriculture shall, however, continue as Chairman of the Inter-Departmental Committee set up by section 7 (a) of Executive Order No. 9280 to advise the Administrator, and the Administrator shall become a member of such committee. The Secretary of Agriculture shall continue as a member of the War Production Board as provided in section 7b of Executive Order No. 9280. The Secretary of Agriculture shall continue as the American representative on the Combined Food Board.

3. The personnel, property, and records used primarily in the administration of the functions, powers, and duties transferred and consolidated by this order are transferred to the Administrator. So much of the unexpended balances of appropriations, allocations, and other funds available to the Department of Agriculture for the said purposes as the Director of the Bureau of the Budget shall determine shall be transferred to the Administrator for use in connection with the exercise of the functions, powers, and duties so transferred. The authority heretofore vested in the Secretary of Agriculture over personnel of divisions, bureaus, and agencies transferred to and consolidated under the Administrator is vested in the Administrator. The powers in respect to labor and manpower heretofore vested in the Secretary of Agriculture by the orders of the Economic Stabilization Director or the Chairman of the War Manpower Commission are vested in the Administrator. The authority heretofore vested in the Secretary of Agriculture under Title IV of Executive Order 9250 is vested in the Administrator.

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

The White House,
March 26, 1943.