P:
P: Phosphorus
P: Support practice (factor)
P & S(A): Packers and Stockyards Administration
P & SP: Packers and Stockyards Program
P (support practice factor): See Support practice (factor) (P).
P.L. 480: Common name for the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. The act sought to expand foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products, combat hunger, and encourage economic development in developing countries. Title I of the Food for Peace Program, as it is called, made U S. agricultural commodities available through long-term dollar credit sales at low interest rates for up to 40 years. It is administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service. Donations for emergency food relief needs were provided under Title II, an authority administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Title III, administered by the USAID, authorized Food for Development grants. The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 made fundamental changes in the U.S. food aid program, including shortening the maximum repayment term of Title I loans, from 40 to 30 years, and expanding Title II to include non-emergency assistance. The Act also authorized a new Title III Food for Development Program that provides government-to-government grant food assistance to the least developed countries. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 authorized agreements with private entities under Title I, allowed Title II local currencies to be used in other countries besides those in which Title II commodities are sold, and broadened the range of commodities available under Title IV. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Title III, Subtitle A) reauthorized the programs through 2007, added conflict prevention as a program objective, provided for the streamlining of the Food for Peace Program, and authorized the sale of commodities to be at reasonable market prices in the economy where the commodities are sold. As a bona fide overseas food aid program that is not used to circumvent export subsidy reduction commitments, P.L. 480 is consistent with theUruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. Also Public Law 480. See John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer Program (FTF).
P.L. 566: See Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954.
PAB: Resource Conservation and Development Policy Advisory Board
PACA: Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930
PACE: Purchase of agricultural conservation easements
Pack: The quantity of fresh or processed product placed in containers such as cans. It generally refers to the output of a processing industry; for example, a frozen pack of broccoli.
Packer (livestock): (1) Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, any person engaged in the business (a) of buying livestock in commerce for purposes of slaughter; of manufacturing or preparing meats or meat food products for sale or shipment in commerce; or of marketing meats, meat food products, or livestock products in an unmanufactured (raw) form acting as a wholesale (meat) broker, dealer, or distributor in commerce. (2) For federal cattle price reporting purposes, the term packer is limited to (a) a cattle processing plant that is federally inspected; (b) for any calendar year, a cattle processing plant that slaughtered an average of at least 125,000 head of cattle per year, during the immediately preceding five calendar years; and (c) in the case of a cattle processing plant that did not slaughter cattle during the immediately preceding five calendar years, the USDA shall consider the plant capacity of the processing plant in determining whether the processing plant should be considered a packer under the terms of the price reporting program. (3) Under the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999, for hog price reporting, packer has the same meaning as that set forth in Sec. 201 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, except that it shall include only those packers that slaughtered in excess of 100,000 head annually.
Packer concentration: The belief that market dominance, due to the concentration of meat slaughter within the hands of relatively few companies, has led to a lack of competition resulting in low red meat prices for producers. In 1996, a Congressionally mandated USDA study on concentration in the red meat industry failed to provide definitive evidence that concentration had an appreciable effect on cattle prices. A USDA advisory committee recommended increased monitoring and enforcement of antitrust and regulatory policy, limiting packer activities regarding price differentiation, improving collection and reporting of market data, and value-based pricing. Congress later adopted the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999. See Big Three, andConcentration.
Packer trust: The Packers and Stockyards Act, as amended, provides that all livestock purchased by a packer (whose average annual purchases of livestock exceed $500,000) from cash sellers, and all inventories of or receivables or proceeds from meat, meat food products, or livestock products derived from such will be held by such packer in trust for the benefit of all unpaid cash sellers of such livestock until full payment has been received by the unpaid sellers. To ensure that producers are paid promptly and fully, the Packers and Stockyards program requires the registration and bonding of each marketing agency and dealer.
Packer-owned cattle: Cattle that a packer owns for at least 14 days immediately before slaughter.
Packer-owned swine: Swine that a packer (including a subsidiary or affiliate of the packer) owns for at least 14 days immediately before slaughter.
Packer-sold swine: The swine that are owned by a packer (including a subsidiary or affiliate of the packer) for more than 14 days immediately before sale for slaughter; and that are sold for slaughter to another packer.
Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (P.L.67-51) (7 U.S.C. §§ 181 et seq.): Signed into law August 15, 1921. The Act, as amended, was enacted to protect (a) producers and consumers against unfair business practices in the marketing of livestock, meat, and poultry; and (b) members of the livestock marketing andmeat and poultry industries against unfair, deceptive, discriminatory, and monopolistic practices of competitors.
Packers and Stockyards Administration (P&S): See Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA).
Packers and Stockyards program (P&S; P&SP): Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, the USDA is authorized to assure free and open competition, fair trade practices, and financial protection to the meat, livestock, and poultry industries by insuring timely payments, auditing accounts, investigating suspected fraudulent marketing and bribery, and checking the accuracy of scales and weighing practices. The P&S is now part of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration.
Packing house: A structure used for the cleaning, sorting, grading, packing, or storage of agricultural products.
Packing plant: A facility where cattle are slaughtered and processed.
Packing shed: A facility for the grading, cleaning, washing, and packing of fruits and vegetables.
Paddock(s): A grazing area that is a subdivision of a grazing management unit and is enclosed and separated from other areas by a fence or barrier.
Paddy kernels: (1) Whole or broken unhulled kernels of rice. (2) Whole or broken kernels of brown rice and whole or broken kernels of milled rice having portions of the hull remaining that cover one-eighth or more of the whole or broken kernel.
Paddy rice: See Rough rice.
PAH: Polynuclear (polycyclic) aromatic hydrocarbons
Paid diversion program: Also Paid land diversion. See Diversion payments.
Paid land diversion (PLD): See Diversion payments.
Palatability, palatable: (1) Acceptable to the taste or sufficiently agreeable in flavor to be eaten. (2) The overall taste, appeal, tenderness, juiciness, and flavor of cooked lean meat.
Pale, soft, exudative (PSE): An undesirable condition of muscle, especially noticeable in pork, that is often stress related. The lean meat is watery. Also Pale, soft, watery (PSW).
Pale, soft, watery (PSW): See Pale, soft, exudative (PSE).
Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI): An index developed in 1965 to measure the “departure” of the moisture supply. The index is on the supply-and-demand concept of a water balance equation, taking into account more than a precipitation deficit at only specific locations. The objective of the PDSI is to provide a measurement of moisture conditions that are “standardized,” so that comparisons using the index could be made between locations and between months. The PDSI is calculated based on precipitation and temperature data as well as the local Available Water Content of the soil. The USDA has used the Index to determine when to grant emergency drought assistance. See Crop Moisture Index (CMI).
Pampas grass: A giant perennial grass with saw-toothed leaves and white to pink flower plumes. Pampas grass seeds itself freely, dispersing long distances. Once established, it can crowd out native plants, damage grazing lands, and create a fire hazard. Pampas grass is a particular pest in California where it has invaded and degraded habitats along the entire California coastline.
Panicle: The terminal grain-producing shoot of a rice plant.
Parasitoid: An insect that is parasitic only in its immature stages, killing its host in the process of its development, and free-living as an adult.
Parasitologist: One who studies internal and external parasites.
Parastatal: A business, with some degree of autonomy, that is otherwise owned and controlled by a government.
Paratill (paraplow): Deep tillage with little disturbance of surface residue. It can be done with a no-till planter.
Parboiled rice: Rough rice soaked in warm water under pressure, steamed, and dried before being milled. Because of this process, the rice retains more natural nutrients but requires a longer cooking period (25 minutes) than regular rice (20 minutes). Since this process eliminates the surface starch common to regular rice, it insures a separateness of grain that is especially desirable for kitchens preparing rice in large quantities.
Parcel: A contiguous tract of land with uniform tenure and land characteristics.
Parent tree: Any tree whose seeds are used to produce progeny for use in genetic experimentation. Usually the parent tree is selected because it displays characteristics either interesting from a research standpoint or desirable in an operational forest management program.
Parity: (1) A relationship that defines a level of purchasing power for a unit of farm commodity equal to an earlier base period, which is sometimes proposed as a fair price. (2) Equality in the present purchasing power of a unit (bushel, hundredweight) of a product compared with its purchasing power during the base period 1910-14. Parity price for any commodity equals its ten-year average price, multiplied by the ratio of the current Parity Index compared to the ten-year average of the Prices-Received Index. The Parity Index reflects prices paid by producers for items of production and family living including interest, taxes, and wage rates. Both the Parity Index and Prices-Received Index are expressed on a base of 1910-14 equaling one hundred. The near threefold gains in farm productivity are not reflected in parity prices. (3) In terms of pig production, the number of times that a breeding female has given birth to a litter of pigs. (4) Gross income from agriculture that will provide the farm operator and his family with a standard of living equivalent to those afforded persons dependent upon other gainful occupation. For an agricultural commodity for any year, gross income that bears the same relationship to parity income from agriculture for such year as the average gross income from such commodity for the preceding ten calendar years bears to the average gross income from agriculture for such ten calendar years. See Parity price(s).
Parity Index: The index of prices paid by producers for items used in production including interest, taxes, and wage rates.
Parity price(s): (1) A measurement of the purchasing power of a unit (bushel, hundredweight) of farm product. Parity was originally defined as the price that gives a unit of a commodity the same purchasing power today as it had in the 1910-14 base period. In 1948, the parity price formula was revised to allow parity prices for individual commodities to reflect a more recent relationship of farm and non-farm prices by making the base price dependent on the most recent ten-year average price for commodities. Except for wool, mohair, and certain minor tobaccos, parity was not generally used to set price-support levels for any program commodity. However, parity remains part of permanent legislation. (2) The current price for a unit of a farm commodity that would give it the same relative purchasing power for goods and services that it had in the 1910-14 base period, adjusted for the changes in its price over the past ten years, compared with changes in the prices received by producers for all farm products during that same period.
Parity ratio: A measure of the relative purchasing power of farm products. It is the ratio between the prices-received index by producers for all farm products and the prices-paid index by producers for commodities and services used in farm production and family living. The parity ratio measures relationships between prices received and prices paid. It does not measure farm income or producers’ total purchasing power. It does not reflect producers’ off-farm income, government payments, or producers’ assets.
Partial county yield average: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1102(d) & (e)), if the yield per planted acre on a farm of an oilseed or covered commodity for any of the 1998 through 2001 crop years was 75 percent of the county yield for that commodity, the USDA assigns a yield that is equal to 75 percent of the county yield. Also Plug.
Partial payment(s): Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Secs. 1104(f)(2) and 1304(g)(2)), for covered commodities and peanuts, if the USDA estimates that counter-cyclical payments will be required, producers may request scheduled partial payments to be made prior to the end of the 12-month marketing year.
Partially regulated distribution plant: A nonpool plant that is not a plant fully regulated under another federal milk marketing order, a producer-handler plant, or an exempt plant, from which there is a route disposition in the marketing area during the month.
Participation loan: A loan in which two or more lenders share in providing loan funds to a borrower. Generally, one of the lenders originates, services, and documents the loan. In practice, the Farm Service Agency has often agreed to take a subordinate lien position when participating with another lender.
Particle drift: See Pesticide drift.
Particulate: A small, discrete mass of solid or liquid matter that remains individually dispersed in gas or liquid emissions. Particulates take the form of aerosol, dust, fume, mist, smoke, or spray.
Partner(s); partner institution(s); partnership: Traditionally, the units that cooperate with the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, namely the State Agricultural Experiment Stations and the Cooperative Extension Service of the land grant institutions. See Land grant(s); land grant institution(s); land grant university(ies); land grant college(s); land grant colleges and/or universities, Cooperative Extension Service (CES), and State agricultural experiment stations (SAES).
Partners in Quality (PIQ): A voluntary alternative to the end-line inspection program. Individual packing houses must continually demonstrate and document their ability to pack product that meets all requirements of federal and state laws and of their customers. Packers that ensure the quality in the finished product by designing and implementing a PIQ system may issue special federal certificates daily or at a customer’s request. The certificates indicate that the product was packed under a USDA-approved quality system. The effectiveness of the program is verified through periodic, unannounced USDA audits.
Partnerships for high-value agricultural product quality research: The Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Sec. 402) authorized the USDA to make matching grants to eligible partnerships of land grant colleges or universities and other academic or research institutions for high-value agricultural product research and extension activities in order to enhance U.S. commodity competitiveness and increase exports. The program was reauthorized by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7123).
Parturition: See Calve(d).
Pass back: As part of the President’s budget formulation process, the return of an OMB-revised budget document to the proposing federal agency. Federal agencies begin the budget process by providing OMB with a budget draft based on OMB-set guidelines. OMB then passes back a revised budget at which point agencies have an opportunity to make an appeal before OMB gives them their final pass back of the budget draft to be submitted to the White House.
Pasteurization; pasteurizing; pasteurized: The process of destroying microorganisms in food that can cause disease through the application of heat or through irradiation. Under high-temperature, short-time pasteurization, milk is heated to 160° to 175° F for 15 to 25 seconds to destroy pathogenic and other undesirable microorganisms that may be found in milk. Ultra-high-temperature pasteurization occurs at 275° to 280° F for about two seconds. See Cold pasteurization, Flash pasteurization, Steam pasteurization, Ultra-high temperature (UHT), and Ultrapasteurized; ultrapasteurization.
Pasture and hutch (production system): The use of reduced confinement and the increased use of outdoor shelters and pastures as components of an alternative livestock production system that allows for the lowering or elimination of subtherapeutic feeding of antibiotics. Generally used by smaller operations, some confined livestock operations may utilize pasturing to some extent during moderate weather. A pasture and hutch system allows for pasture rotation, continuous grazing or rooting, and the periodic changing of hutch surfaces. Hutches can be modified or moved to adjust for changes in temperature, sunlight, predominating winds, and direction of inclement weather.
Pasture Flood Compensation program: See 1998 Flood Compensation Program (FCP), and 2000 Flood Compensation Program (FCP).
Pasture management: The cultural treatment, in the form of fertilization, weed control, reseeding, or renovation, that is usually a part of a pasture management strategy in addition to grazing management.
Pasture Recovery Program (PRP): Authorized by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000, and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001. The program provided assistance to owners and operators of pastureland, on which livestock was normally grazed, that was damaged or destroyed by drought during calendar years 1999 and 2000. To qualify for assistance, owners and operators had to reestablish the vegetative cover forage crop. The PRP was only available to producers in counties that were approved for both the Livestock Assistance Program and the Emergency Conservation Program for drought emergency measures for 1999 damage, and the ECP only for 2000 damage.
Pasture rotation: The rotation of animals from one pasture to another so that some pasture areas have no livestock grazing on them during certain periods of time.
Pasture(d) poultry: A sustainable agricultural practice of raising poultry on grass, often in conjunction with other types of agricultural production. The poultry provide insect control, return fertilizer to the land, and provide compost materials from brooder housebedding and offal derived from the slaughtering process. Pasture poultry production also typically includes on-farm slaughter and processing using mobile systems. See Free range.
Pasture; pastureland; pasture land: (1) Land used primarily for the production of adapted, introduced, or native species in a pure stand, grass mixture, or a grass-legume mixture. (2) The fenced area of domesticated forages, usually improved, on which animals are grazed. (3) Tograze. (4) Cropland used only for pasture or grazing, woodland pastured, and other pastureland and rangeland.
Pastureland: See Pasture; pastureland; pasture land.
Pathogen(s); pathogenic: Disease-producing organisms.
Pathologist: One who studies disease organisms. See Pathogen(s).
Patronage: The measure of a patron’s business with a cooperative.
Patronage dividend(s): Profit (margin) income of a cooperative that is distributed to its members. See Patronage refund(s).
Patronage refund(s): Cooperatives typically charge market prices for supplies and services furnished to members and competitive prices for products delivered for further processing and marketing in order to generate sufficient income to cover costs and meet continuing needs for operating capital. At the close of the fiscal year, a cooperative computes its earnings on business conducted on a cooperative basis, and may return some of these earnings to the patrons (as cash or equity allocations) on the basis of how much business each patron did with the cooperative during the year. These distributions are called patronage refunds. See Patronage dividend(s).
Patrons of Husbandry: See National Grange.
Pay weight: The weight of useable product delivered to the processing plant and paid for at the rates specified by contract.
Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO): Requirements in the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 that resulted in a sequestration if the estimated combined result of legislation affecting direct spending or receipts was an increase in the deficit for a fiscal year. The procedure was intended to ensure that all legislation affecting direct spending or receipts was budget neutral in each fiscal year. Under the procedure, the Office of Management and Budget and Congressional Budget Office estimated the five-year budgetary impact of all such legislation enacted into law. If the total of those estimates in the budget year increased the deficit or reduced the surplus for that year, a PAYGO sequestration – a cancellation of budgetary resources available for direct spending programs – would be triggered. Since September 30, 2002, the OMB and CBO are no longer required to provide five-year estimates of laws affecting direct spending and revenues. Although sequestration under the pay-as-you-go procedures would have continued through 2006 on the basis of laws enacted before September 30, 2002, P.L. 107-312 eliminated that possibility by reducing to zero all pay-as-you-go balances.
Payment acres (acreage): (1) Under former programs, the number of acres within the crop acreage base eligible for deficiency payments; usually the crop acreage base less the acreage reduction program acres and the normal flex acres. (2) The number of eligible acreson eligible farms to be used for calculations of program payments. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1101(f) and 1301), 85 percent of the base acres for a covered commodity and peanuts. See Eligible oilseed acreage, Maximum payment acres, Payment rate, and Permitted acres (acreage).
Payment cap(s): Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, per person limits placed on gains realized from marketing loans and loan deficiency payments of $75,000 per year. This cap was against all crops, not each one. Provisions of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000, and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, doubled the per person cap on gains on crop marketing loans and loan deficiency payments to $150,000 per person; $300,000 for up to three entities. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, the per person cap is $75,000 for loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains, including an additional $75,000 cap for peanuts, honey, wool, and mohair. See Payment limitation(s).
Payment formula: See Payment rate.
Payment in Lieu of Taxes: A program administered by the Bureau of Land Management that recompenses local governments for the property tax dollars they would have received from private landowners if all federal lands were liquidated.
Payment limitation(s); payment limit(s): A limit set by law on the amount of money any one individual producer may receive in farm program payments, such as deficiency and disaster payments, in any one year under the commodity programs. Under the Agricultural and Consumer Protection Act of 1973, the limit on government payments to wheat, feed grains, and upland cotton producers was $20,000 and to rice producers, $55,000. Under the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, the limit on government payments to wheat,feed grains, and upland cotton producers was $40,000 for the 1978 crop and $45,000 for the 1979 crop. Under the Food Security Act of 1985, the limits were $50,000 on deficiency payments, paid land diversion payments, and Conservation Reserve Program payments; $250,000 on Findley payments, loan deficiency payments, gains on marketing loan repayments, and disaster payments; $250,000 on gains from honey marketing loan repayments; and $500,000 maximum to any one person for all payments. Under the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, the limits were $75,000 on Findley payments, LDPs, gains on marketing loan repayments, and disaster payments; and $250,000 maximum to any one person for all payments. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 115) reduced the payment limitation to $40,000 per person and to $80,000 on the three-entity rule. The limit on marketing loan gains (or the sum ofmarketing loan gains and LDPs) was maintained at $75,000 ($150,000 for the 1999 and 2000 crop years). Other limitations were $10,000 for Environmental Quality Incentives Program payments, $50,000 for CRP rental payments, and $100,000 for Noninsured (crop disaster) Assistance Program payments. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1603) further reduced payment limits to $40,000 on direct payments; $65,000 on counter-cyclical payments; $75,000 forLDPs and marketing loan gains on loan commodities; and an additional $75,000 limit on peanuts, honey, wool, and mohair. Peanuts have a separate payment limit from loan commodities for direct payments and countercyclical payments. In addition, there is a $50,000 limit for CRP; $100,000 for NAP; $450,000 for EQIP (applied on a direct attribution basis); $50,000 on Agricultural Management Assistance program payments; and $20,000 on Tier I, $35,000 on Tier II, and $45,000 onTier III Conservation Security Program payments. Also Payment cap(s). See Actively engaged in farming, Adjusted gross income limit; adjusted gross income cap, Husband and wife rule, Permitted entities, Separate Person(s), Significant contribution, and Three-entity rule.
Payment quantity: (1) The total eligible quantity of a program commodity to be multiplied by the payment rate. (2) For production flexibility contracts as authorized by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the payment quantity for a given contract commodity was equal to 85 percent of the contract acreage times the program yield for that commodity. (3) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10105), for market loss assistance for apple producers, the lesser of the quantity of apples produced on a farm in 2000 or 5 million pounds of apples. (4) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1502), for national dairy market loss payments, the lesser of the quantity of milk produced by a single dairy operation for an applicable month or 2.4 million pounds. (5) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1206), for payments in lieu of loan deficiency payments for grazed acreage of wheat, barley, oats, and triticale, the quantity of grazed acreage on the farm times the payment yield used for calculating direct payments.
Payment rate: (1) Under programs designed to reimburse producers for income or production losses, rates calculated based on previous multiple-year average prices (throwing out high and low years) or per unit formulas, and often adjusted to bring the actual payment rate within authorized spending levels. (2) Under the production flexibility contracts, as authorized by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the rate determined annually for each contract commodity by dividing the total annual level of funding available for each commodity (after adjustments) by the total of all production under contract. The annual payment rate for each contract commodity was the above figure multiplied by a farm’s payment quantity. The sum of all such payments per farm was subject to a payment limitation. (3) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1103), the fixed rates used to calculate direct payments on covered commodities for a crop year.
Payment yield: (1) An applicable average yield based on actual, county, or national total production per crop and divided by units of production. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1102 and 1302), for the 2002 through 2007 crops of a covered commodity and peanuts, the yield established for a farm used in calculating direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. See Assigned yield(s), Farm program payment yield, Payment yield (peanuts), and Update; updating. (2) For crop insurance purposes, the yield determined by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation based upon National Agricultural Statistics Service yields for each insurable crop type and practice, as adjusted by the FCIC, and used to determine whether an indemnity is due.
Payment-in-kind (PIK): (1) A payment made to eligible producers in the form of an equivalent amount of commodities owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation. Payments-in-kind were first used in the 1930s to reduce government-held surpluses of upland cotton. A PIK program in 1983 offered surplus agricultural commodities owned by the government in exchange for agreements to reduce production by cutting crop acreage. (2) A program that has provided payment to producers, in the form of commodities, for reducing acreage of certain crops and placing that acreage in soil conserving uses. The term may also apply to the Export Enhancement Program or other programs in which payments are made in the form of commodities. SeeGeneric commodity certificates, In-kind payments, and Negotiable marketing certificates.
Payments in lieu of loan deficiency payments: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1206), a producer who would otherwise be eligible for a loan deficiency payment for wheat, barley, oats, or triticale but who elects to use acreage planted to these commodities for the grazing of livestock can receive a loan deficiency payment if the producer enters into an agreement to forgo any other harvesting of the wheat, barley, oats, or triticale on that acreage. The payment quantity is determined by multiplying the acreage grazed times the payment yield for direct payments for that covered commodity on the farm.
Payments to 1890 Colleges and Tuskegee University: Under the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977, the programs that provide for (a) the support of continuing agricultural research and (b) Extension educational activities at the 1890 land grants and Tuskegee University. The research component concentrates on small farms, sustainable agriculture, rural economic development, human nutrition, and rural youth and elderly research to meet the mandate of assisting rural, underprivileged persons and small producers improve their standards of living. The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (Sec. 753), made West Virginia State College eligible to receive funds under this program.
Payments to Counties for National Grasslands (7 U.S.C. § 1012): Provides 25 percent of net (rather than gross) receipts (sale, lease, rental, or other fees) for roads and schools directly to the counties where the national grasslands are located. See Forest Service Payments to States.
Payments to States and Possessions: An account under Title I, Agricultural Programs, of agricultural appropriations. See Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP).
PBIS: Performance based inspection system
PBT: Persistent bioaccumulative and toxic (chemicals)
PC: Prior converted (wetland)
PCA: Production Credit Associations
PCP: Posted county price
PDP: Pesticide Data Program
PDR: Purchase of development rights
PDSI: Palmer Drought Severity Index
Peace Clause: The Agreement on Agriculture contains a “due restraint” or “peace clause” (Article 13) that regulates the application to other World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements on subsidies in respect to agricultural products. The article provides that green box domestic support measures cannot be the subject of countervailing duty action or other subsidy action under the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, nor can they be subject to actions based on nullification or impairment of tariff concessions under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Peanut (price-support) program: As authorized by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the peanut production control and price-support program operated with a two-tier pricing system: a quota price-support level for domestic edible use, and an additionals price-support level for all other peanut production (crush and export). Production was controlled through the use of a national poundage quota equal to domestic edible use. Price-support loans were available to producer marketing associations through the Commodity Credit Corporation. The price-support level (quota loan rate) for quota peanuts through 2002 was $610 per ton. For additional peanuts, the price-support level was mandated to be at a level that ensured no losses to the CCC. The peanut price-support program provided loans to eligible producers through marketing associations under cooperative agreements with the CCC. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Secs. 1301-1310), the peanut program was converted to a system of direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, and nonrecourse loans with marketing loan provisions that are more similar to the programs for covered commodities. The marketing quota was eliminated and compensation for loss of quota asset value was authorized. As with other crops that are eligible for marketing loans and loan deficiency payments, peanut producers may receive loans by pledging production as collateral.Producers with or without a history of peanut production are eligible. The peanut loan rate is fixed at $355 per ton. Producers can pledge their stored peanuts for up to nine months and then repay the loan at a rate that is the lesser of (a) $355 per ton plus interest or (b) a lower, USDA-determined repayment rate designed to minimize commodity forfeiture, government-owned stocks, and storage costs and to allow peanuts to be marketed freely and competitively, both domestically and internationally. See Marketing associations (peanuts).
Peanut commodity card: Cards provided by the Farm Service Agency to each peanut producer for the purpose of administering the peanut price-support program. These cards are no longer used. See Smart cards (peanuts).
Peanut marketing assessment(s): Under the former peanut program, a budget-deficit marketing assessment, applying only to the marketing of domestically produced peanuts, was collected from producers and first purchasers. Imports were not subject to this levy. The assessment rate for the 1997-2002 crops was 1.2 percent of the quota loan rate or additionals loan rate, whichever applied. Assessments received from the 1996 through 1998 crop years were applied against peanut program losses. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 eliminated the peanut marketing assessment. See Assessment(s) (programs).
Peanut marketing associations: See Marketing associations (peanuts).
Peanut meal: Obtained by grinding shelled peanuts and removing the oil either mechanically or by solvent extraction. Solvent-extracted peanut meal contains 48 percent protein and the mechanically extracted product contains 45 percent protein.
Peanut poundage quota: See Farm poundage quota(s) (peanuts).
Peanut quota: See Farm poundage quota(s) (peanuts).
Peanut sheller: See Sheller(s) (peanuts).
Peanut Standards Board: The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1308 (c)) requires the establishment of an eighteen-member board to advise the USDA on quality and handling standards for domestically produced and imported peanuts. New members of the Board were appointed in December 2002.
Pedology: The study of soils.
Peer review(ed): The evaluation by experts in the field of (a) a proposed scientific research project, or (b) a paper submitted for publication in the trade journal for a given profession or discipline. See Peer reviewer(s).
Peer reviewer(s): Experts or consultants qualified by training and experience to give expert advice on the scientific and technical merit of grant applications or the relevance of those applications to one or more of the application evaluation criteria. Peer reviewers may be ad hoc or convened as a panel. See Peer review(ed).
Pellet mill: See Pelleting (steam).
Pelleting (steam): Steam-pelleted feeds manufactured by using moisture, heat, and pressure to form ground feed ingredients into larger homogenous feed particles. Steam is added to the ground feed ingredients to increase the moisture level to 15 to 18 percent and temperature to 160° to 185°F. Steam helps to gelatinize starches, which bind the feed particles together. The hot “mash” is then forced through a pellet die in a pellet mill. The pellets exit the die at about 10 percent moisture.
Pencil shrink(age): (1) A percentage adjustment in livestock live weight that is subtracted to insure that responsibility for weight loss during transport is shared by buyer and seller. (2) The adjustment of the price for high-moisture grain by using a formula that allows the buyer to calculate what the bushel weight would remain if the grain was dried, without actually drying the grain. Per-acre yield goal (sugar): The production goal per acre of sugarcane at a level that is not less than the average per-acre yield for the two highest years from among the 1999, 2000, and 2001 crop years. The goal will ensure an adequate net return per pound to producers, taking into consideration any available production research data, and adjusted by the average recovery rate of sugar produced from sugarcane by processors.
Penetrative stunning device(s): A penetrative captive bolt stun guns used for slaughter that uses a steel bolt powered by either compressed air or blank cartridges. The bolt is driven into the animal’s brain rendering it unconscious prior to being bled during the slaughter process.
Pentose sugars: Five carbon sugars that are formed in hydrolyzing hemicellulose. Generally, these sugars are not fermented by standard yeasts, but alternative strains have been developed to convert five carbon sugars to ethanol.
Per-acre yield goal (sugar): The production goal per acre of sugarcane at a level that is not less than the average per-acre yield for the two highest years from among the 1999, 2000, and 2001 crop years. The goal will ensure an adequate net return per pound to producers, taking into consideration any available production research data, and adjusted by the average recovery rate of sugar produced from sugarcane by processors.
Percent calf crop: The percentage of calves produced within a herd in a given year relative to the number of cows and heifers exposed to breeding.
Percentage share lease: A flexible lease in which the owner receives a cash rent equal to a specified share of the gross value of the crop (yield times price). If the owner pays part of the production costs, the share could be 50 percent, similar to a standard crop-share lease. If the owner pays no production costs, the share will be smaller. See Adjustment for price and yield lease, Adjustment for price only lease, Adjustment for yield only lease, and Base rent plus bonus lease.
Percolation: The downward movement of water through soil under the influence of gravity.
Perennial stream: A stream or river that usually has water flow during normal weather conditions.
Perennial(s) (crop): An agricultural or horticultural commodity that is produced from the same root structure for two or more years.
Performance-Based Inspection System (PBIS): Automated scheduling and management system for processing plant inspection tasks, based on plant characteristics and inspection findings. PBIS is intended to make processing inspection more uniform nationwide, and provides the Food Safety and Inspection Service with its first easily accessible database on plant performance. The computer-driven system is a sophisticated inspection tool based on public health risk assessment principles. The system eliminates inspector subjectivity and allows for efficient utilization of manpower. It enables the FSIS to capture, store, and sort the vast quantities of information generated by the 13 million inspection tasks performed in processing establishments each year. These data allow the FSIS to examine the long-term operation of a particular plant or the performance of a particular control point nationwide.
Peril point: A hypothetical limit beyond which a reduction in tariff protection would cause serious injury to a domestic industry.
Perique: A type of tobacco, grown only in Louisiana, that uses a unique process of packing the dried leaves in casks under great pressure for approximately nine months.
Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (PACA) (7 U.S.C. §§ 499a-499t): Signed into law June 10, 1930. Administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service, the PACA establishes a code of trading ethics and encourages fair trading in the marketing of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables. It prohibits unfair and fraudulent business practices and provides a forum to resolve contract disputes. Injured parties can collect damages from any buyer or seller who fails to live up to contract obligations. The law protects sellers of produce by imposing a trust on a buyer’s inventory and receivables, which gives the seller a security interest in the product until payment is received. See Amendments to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (PACA).
Perishable agricultural commodity(ies): Under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930, fresh fruits and vegetables of every kind and character, whether or not frozen or packed in ice, including cherries in brine.
Perishable manufactured dairy products: Manufactured dairy products with limited storage life, including ice cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, and sour cream.
Permaculture: A contraction of “permanent agriculture.” It is an alternative agriculture system described as sustainable and unique in its emphasis on design; the location of each element in a landscape and the evolution of the landscape over time. The goal of permaculture is to produce an efficient, low-maintenance integration of plants, animals, people, and structure to be applied at the scale of a home garden all the way through to a large farm.
Permanent capital: In the Farm Credit System, the total capital of an association including member stock and retained earnings.
Permanent capital ratio: Of a credit institution, the permanent capital divided by the average daily balance of the institution’s risk-adjusted asset base. It is a measure of an institution’s capital strength.
Permanent legislation; permanent law: The laws on which many agricultural programs are based that are in force in the absence of all temporary amendments and temporarily suspended provisions. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Agricultural Act of 1949 serve as the principal laws authorizing the major commodity programs. These laws are frequently amended; provisions are added, suspended, or repealed. For the past several decades, periodic omnibus agriculture acts have provided for specific, fixed-period commodity programs by adding temporary amendments to these laws and suspending conflicting provisions of those laws for the same period. The temporarily suspended provisions of the 1938 and 1949 Acts go back into effect if current amendments lapse and new legislation is not enacted. An attempt was made to eliminate the permanent legislation during the debate on the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, but the effort was rebuffed. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 171) suspended permanent price-support authority through 2002. Permanent price-support authority was suspended through 2007 by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002(Sec. 1602).
Permanent pasture: A pasture, containing perennial plants, that has been grazed for multiple years.
Permanent vegetative cover: (1) Under the Conservation Reserve Program, perennial stands of approved combinations of certain grasses, legumes, forbs, shrubs with a life span of ten or more years, or trees. (2) Used to prevent excessive runoff of water or soil loss to water pollution.
Permeability: The ease with which air or plant roots penetrate into or pass through a specific horizon.
Permeable: The ability of liquids to flow through.
Permeate: The portion of the processing stream that permeates or crosses the membrane during ultrafiltration. This stream contains compounds that are small enough to go through the pores of the membrane. See Retentate.
Permissive inspection (grain): See Grain inspection.
Permit nutrient plan (PNP): A proposed site-specific plan that describes how a producer intends to meet the effluent discharge limitations and other requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. Under final rules adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency in December 2002, a permit nutrient plan was not adopted as part of the required permitting procedure. Instead, the EPA required that a nutrient management plan be developed and available upon request by permitting authorities.
Permitted acres (acreage): Under former programs, the acreage of a program crop or permitted crop that a participating producer was eligible to plant, after reducing acreage by the percentage required in that year. The permitted acreage was usually the crop acreage base less any land idled by the acreage reduction program, normal flex acreage, and paid land diversion programs. See Payment acres (acreage) and Maximum payment acres.
Permitted crop(s): (1) Under the Food Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, any program crop, oilseeds, and any experimental or industrial crop designated by the USDA to be grown on flexible acres. Crops not permitted were fruit and vegetable crops (including potatoes and dry edible beans), unless the USDA designated them as experimental or industrial crops or declared that no substantial domestic production or market existed. Also excluded were peanuts, tobacco, wild rice, trees, and nuts. (2) Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, any commodity, except fruits and vegetables, could be grown on contract acreage. Dry peas, lentils, and mung beans could be planted. Producers who historically double-cropped fruits and vegetables could continue to do so without a loss of payments. Producers who had a history of growing fruits and vegetables could plant on contract acres with a corresponding acre-for-acre loss of contract payments. (3) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1106), all crops to be planted on base acres except fruits and vegetables (unless destroyed before harvest, but in no event, any fruit or vegetable that grows on trees or on perennial plants) or wild rice. Exceptions to the vegetable prohibition are lentils, mung beans, and dry peas. Other exceptions are production (a) in any region in which there is a history of double-cropping of covered commodities with prohibited agricultural commodities, and (b) on a farm that has a history of planting otherwise-prohibited agricultural commodities on base acres, except that direct payments and counter-cyclical payments are reduced by an acre for each acre planted to such an agricultural commodity. See Flexibility.
Permitted entities: Under payment limitation provisions, no individual may receive payments for more than three entities in which the individual holds substantial beneficial interest. If the individual receives payments as an individual, then he/she may not also receive payments from more than two entities that receive payments as a separate person. For example, if an individual has a farming interest and also owns stock in more than two farming corporations, the individual must select just two of those corporations through which he/she may indirectly receive payments. If the individual does not have an individual farming interest, then he/she may select three farming corporations from which to receive indirect payments. Any individual that owns 10 percent or more of a farming entity that is receiving payments is subject to the rule.
Persistent bioaccumulative and toxic (chemicals) (PBT): Chemical pollutants that are toxic, persist in the environment, accumulate in food chains, and pose risks to human health and ecosystems.
Persistent pesticides: Pesticides that do not break down chemically, or break down very slowly, and remain in the environment after a growing season.
Person(s): Under 7 U.S.C. § 1308(e)(2)(A), an individual (including any individual participating in a farming operation as a partner in a general partnership), a participant in a joint venture, a grantor of a revocable trust, a corporation, joint stock company, association, limited partnership, charitable organization, irrevocable trusts and estates, state, state political subdivision, or state agency. Partnerships and joint ventures may not be persons. Sometimes “person” is used interchangeably withseparate person. A separate person is a “person” who has satisfied certain requirements for economic “separateness and distinctness.” A separate person who is actively engaged in farming is eligible to receive payments up to the applicable limit. (2) Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program, and individual, partnership, joint stock owner, corporation, association, trust, estate, or any other legal entity as defined in 7 CFR 1400.3. See Separate person(s), Separately eligible, and Status date.
Personal protective equipment (PPE): Clothing and devices that protect the body from contact with pesticides and pesticide residues.
Pervasive poverty: Under the Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program eligibility requirements, conditions of poverty must be reasonably distributed throughout the entire nominated area. The degree of poverty shall be demonstrated by citing available statistics on low-income population, levels of public assistance, numbers of persons or families in poverty, or similar data. See Empowerment Zone and Enterprise Community program (EZ/EC).
Pest control: See Pest management.
Pest management: The managing of agricultural pest infestations (including weeds, insects, and diseases) to reduce adverse effects on plant growth, crop production, and environmental resources.
Pest Management Center(s) (PMC): Authorized by the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Sec. 406) and administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. Four regional centers were created as part of a nationwide pest management information network designed to respond quickly to information needs in both the public and private sectors. PMCs also aid the USDA and its partner institutions identify, prioritize, and coordinate national pest management research, education, and extension activities and programs.
Pest Management program: Smith-Lever 3(d) program with two components: integrated pest management (IPM), and cotton pest management. The IPM component addresses the efficient control of pests on crops and livestock and in urban situations. The cotton pest management component focuses on cotton insects in 11 states. Funds are distributed on the basis of a formula using boll weevil losses and pesticide sales in each state. See Smith-Lever 3(d) (funds).
Pest(s): (1) An insect, rodent, nematode, fungus, weed, or other form of terrestrial or aquatic plant or animal life that is injurious to agricultural production, health, or the environment. (2) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10403(13)), a protozoan, plant, bacteria, fungus, virus, viroid, infectious agent, arthropod, parasite, vector, or any allied organism that can directly or indirectly injure, cause damage to, or cause disease in livestock.
Pesticide chemical: Under the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, any substance that is a pesticide under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, including all active ingredients and inert ingredients.
Pesticide clearance: The interregional research project No. 4 (IR-4) was established in 1963 to assist producers of minor crops in obtaining registrations for pesticides needed to successfully grow food and ornamental commodities. See Minor-use drugs.
Pesticide Data Program (PDP): An Agricultural Marketing Service program to collect data on pesticide residues in food. PDP data on pesticides in selected commodities are used by the Environmental Protection Agency to support its dietary risk assessment process andpesticide registration process, by the Food and Drug Administration to refine sampling for enforcement of tolerances, by the Foreign Agricultural Service to support export of U.S. commodities in a competitive global market, by the Economic Research Service to evaluate pesticide alternatives, and by the public sector to address food safety issues.
Pesticide degradate(s): Include breakdown products of pesticide active ingredients resulting from biological processes (metabolites) and chemical processes (e.g., hydrolysis, photolysis, or photooxidation). Also Transformation product(s), Breakdown product(s), andDaughter product(s).
Pesticide drift: The physical movement of a pesticide through the air, at the time of pesticide application or soon thereafter, from the target site to any non- or off-target site. Pesticide drift does not include movement of pesticides to non- or off-target sites caused by erosion, migration, volatility, or windblown soil particles that occurs after application, unless specifically addressed on the pesticide product label with respect to drift control requirements. Two types of drift cause chemicals to move off target: particle drift and vapor drift. Particle drift occurs when the wind scatters spray droplets off the application site onto neighboring shrubs, flowers, or lawns. Factors that encourage particles to drift include particle size, spray nozzle size and configuration, spray pressure, wind speed, and type of application equipment used. Vapor drift occurs when chemicals evaporate and move with air currents to other sites.
Pesticide Impact Assessment (PIA): See Regional Pest Management Centers.
Pesticide recordkeeping: Certified applicators of restricted-use pesticides are required to maintain records comparable to records maintained by commercial applicators of pesticides in each state, even if the state does not require the maintenance of records.
Pesticide Recordkeeping Program: See Federal Pesticide Recordkeeping Program.
Pesticide residue(s): (1) A detectable level of a chemical residue found on a food product. (2) Under the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, the residue of a pesticide chemical, its metabolites, and degradates in or on raw or processed foods.
Pesticide resistance: See Resistance (pesticides).
Pesticide tolerance level(s): A scientifically acceptable level of pesticide residue that can exist on a fruit or vegetable product. It usually is expressed in parts per million or billion. See Tolerance(s).
Pesticide(s): Chemicals used by producers to control pests (such as weeds – herbicides; insects – insecticides; plant diseases – fungicides; or nematodes – nematicides; to regulate plant growth or to simplify harvest – desiccants.
PFC: Production flexibility contract(s)
Pfiesteria (piscicida): A microscopic organism (dinoflagellate) that sometimes behaves like a plant and sometimes like an animal. It has many life stages, and in some forms is toxic and can kill fish. In humans, it has reportedly caused burning skin and respiratory irritation, followed by problems with concentration.
pH (scale): A measure of acidity or alkalinity. Using a scale of 0 through 14, with 7.0 being neutral, a solution with a pH below 7.0 is considered acidic; a solution with a pH above 7.0 is considered alkaline.
Phage typing: A classification procedure that uses bacteriophages to distinguish between bacterial isolates that belong to the same genus and species. Each bacterial strain will exhibit resistance to some phages and be susceptible to infection by others. A battery of standard phages is used to test bacterial isolates. The profile of resistance and susceptibility is called the phage type.
Phage(s): See Bacteriophage(s).
Phase: A subdivision of the soil series, or higher unit of soil classification, based on characteristics that affect use and management of the soil, but which do not vary sufficiently to differentiate it as a separate series.
Phase I (tobacco): See Tobacco settlement.
Phase II (tobacco): The Master Settlement Agreement called for participating manufacturers to address the negative impact that the MSA would have on tobacco growers and quota holders. This resulted in Phase II of the tobacco settlement which is a $5.15 billion fund divided among states that produce cigarette tobaccos. Also National Tobacco Growers’ Settlement Trust.
Phenol: A bioproduct extraction from pyrolysis oil used to make wood adhesives, molded plastic, and foam insulation. Also Carbolic acid.
Phenology: The science that deals with the time of appearance of characteristic periodic phenomena in the life cycle of organisms in nature (e.g., migration in birds, flowering and leaf-fall in plants), particularly as these phenomena are influenced by locality factors.
Phenotype(s): The visible or measurable expression of a character; for example, weaning weight, postweaning gain, or reproduction. Phenotype is influenced by genetics and environment.
Phenotypic correlations: The correlations between two traits caused by environmental and genetic factors influencing both traits.
Phenoxy-type herbicides: See Chlorophenoxy herbicides.
Pheromone(s): Biochemicals used to disrupt the mating behavior of insects.
Pheromone(s) trap: A trap that utilizes either a natural, or more typically, synthetic insect sex attractant pheromone that is usually species specific.
Phosphorus (P): See Macronutrient(s).
Photodissociation: See Photolysis.
Photolysis: A chemical reaction in which a chemical compound is broken down by photons. It is a part of photosynthesis in which light absorbed by the chlorophyll is turned into chemical energy which is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Photooxidation: As initiated by photosynthesis, the conversion of a reduced molecule to an oxidized form in the presence of molecular oxygen through a set of chemical reactions. In the atmosphere, hydrocarbons are converted to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide through photooxidation.
Photosynthesis (CO2 + H2O + light + chlorophyll = (CH2O) + O2): A complex process used by many plants and bacteria to build carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water, using energy derived from light. Photosynthesis is the key initial step in the growth of biomass.
Phylloxera: Insects (which include the grape phylloxera of American origin) that are a worldwide scourge of grape plants.
Physiologist: One who studies the chemistry and actions (metabolic and reproductive functions) of the body.
Phytochemical(s): Substances found in edible fruits and vegetables that exhibit a potential for modulating the human metabolism in a manner favorable to reducing the risk of cancer.
Phytoestrogens: Natural constituents of the diet, produced by plants, that have been shown to have beneficial health effects.
Phytopathogenic: Organisms that can cause diseases in plants. Phytosanitary: A commodity free of pests and disease.
Phytosanitary: A commodity free of pests and disease.
Phytosanitary certificate: A document issued by a government to an exporter that certifies that the commodity is free from pests and disease, in accordance with the importing country’s standards.
Phytosanitary measure: Any legislation, regulation, or official procedure for the purpose of preventing the introduction or spread of pests.
Phytosanitary procedure: Any officially prescribed method for performing inspections, tests, surveys, or treatments in connection with regulated pests.
Phytosanitary regulation: Rules designed to prevent the introduction or spread of pests by regulating the production, movement, or existence of commodities or other articles or the normal activity of persons.
Phytotoxic: Toxic to plants.
PIA: Pesticide impact assessment
PIADC: Plum Island Animal Disease Center
Pick(ed)(ing): The process of harvesting a cotton crop by a mechanical spindle picker. The first harvest is known as the first pick. Under this harvesting method, a second pick (scrapping) is made at a later date to harvest late-opening bolls. First-pick cotton normally has fiber quality superior to second pick. The percentage of the first pick compared to the total is an indication of crop maturity. See Ground cotton, and Picker; picker system; picker harvester (cotton).
Picker (wool): Equipment that opens the wool fiber and removes vegetable matter and other foreign material.
Picker; picker system; picker harvester (cotton): A cotton harvesting system that pulls the cotton from the plant. Pickers are used on most cotton and produce cleaner fiber. See Pick(ed)(ing), and Stripper cotton; stripper system; stripper harvester.
Picking (wool): The process of opening wool fiber and removing vegetable matter and other foreign material.
Pierce’s Disease: A bacterial infection of the grape vine that is spread by an insect called the blue-green sharpshooter.
Pigford v. Glickman: See Pigford v. Veneman.
Pigford v. Veneman: The class action suit by African-American producers against the USDA claiming racial discrimination in farm lending and benefit programs. The class is defined as all African-Americans who (a) farmed, or attempted to farm, between January 1, 1981, and December 31, 1996; (b) applied to the USDA during that time for participation in a federal farm credit or benefit program and who believed they were discriminated against on the basis of race; and (c) filed a discrimination complaint on or before July 1, 1997, regarding the treatment by the USDA of their credit or benefit application. Attorneys for the group of African-American producers and the USDA reached an agreement to settle the lawsuit on January 5, 1999. A consent decree was approved on April 14, 1999. The case was originally Pigford v. Glickman. See Track A, and Track B.
PIK: Payment-in-kind
PIK and roll; A procedure by which producers may attempt to profit from situations in which certificate exchange values (posted county prices) are below nonrecourse loan rates. With this procedure, a producer may place the eligible commodity under the nonrecourse loan at the loan rate and use generic commodity certificates, when available, to exchange for Commodity Credit Corporation commodities. If the posted county price is below the nonrecourse loan rate, then the producer may be able to acquire the quantity placed under loan for less than the proceeds of the nonrecourse loan, in addition to saving interest and storage payments.
PIK certificates: See Payment-in-Kind, and Generic commodity certificate(s).
Pilot Program for Enrollment of Wetland and Buffer Acreage in the Conservation Reserve: See Farmable Wetland Pilot Project (FWP).
Pilot scale: The interim step between the small laboratory model size (bench scale) and a full-sized system; useful for research and demonstrations.
PIN: Premises identification number
Pine shoot beetle (PSB): An exotic pest, native to Europe, that attacks many pine species.
Pipeline stocks: The minimum quantity of any commodity required to carry on normal processing and marketing operations.
PIQ: Partners in Quality
PL480: Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954
Plan of insurance: A risk protection program established by an insurer under which the insurer issues policies or contracts. Such plans are actuarially based, describe risks insured against and conditions on the payment of indemnities, and disclose premiums or other contributions required.
Plant: Under the Plant Protection Act, any plant (including any plant part) for or capable of propagation, including a tree, a tissue culture, a plantlet culture, pollen, a shrub, a vine, a cutting, a graft, a scion, a bud, a bulb, a root, and a seed.
Plant Genome Mapping Program: See Agricultural Genome Initiative.
Plant germplasm: Living material (such as seeds, rootstock, or leaf plant tissue) from which new plants can grow. See Germ plasm; germplasm.
Plant growth regulator(s): Substances (excluding fertilizers and other plant nutrients) that alter the expected growth, flowering, or reproduction rate of plants. See Growth regulator(s).
Plant material centers: Centers that provide native plants to help solve natural resource problems. Centers are operated by or receive technical assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and develop conservation systems using plant materials. The process includes developing techniques for the effective use of plants to protect and conserve our natural resources. Scientists at the centers seek out plants that show promise for meeting an identified conservation need, and test their performance. Special emphasis is given to developing systems that reduce erosion; improving filter strips; creating, managing, or restoring wetlands; protecting grazing resources; protecting upper riparian areas and coastal shorelines; aiding low-input sustainable agriculture; and accelerating commercial production of previously released conservation plants. The work at the 26 centers is carried out cooperatively with state and federal agencies, commercial businesses, and seed and nursery associations.
Plant pest(s): Any living stage of insects, mites, nematodes, slugs, snails, protozoa, other invertebrate animals, nonhuman animals, bacteria, fungi, other parasitic plants or reproductive parts, viruses, or organisms similar to or allied with any of these, or infectious substances that can directly or indirectly injure or cause disease or damage in plants or parts, or processed, manufactured, or other products of plants.
Plant pesticides: Pesticidal substances that plants produce from genetic material that has been added to the plant. Bt crops are an example of plants that manufacture pesticidal proteins from a gene for the Bt pesticidal protein that was introduced into the plants’ own genetic material. See Biopesticide(s).
Plant product(s): Under the Plant Protection Act, (a) any flower, fruit, vegetable, root, bulb, seed, or other plant part that is not included in the definition of plant; or (b) any manufactured or processed plant or plant part.
Plant Protection Act (P.L. 106-224) (7 U.S.C. §§ 7701-7772): Signed into law June 20, 2000, as Title IV of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000. The act authorizes the USDA to prohibit and restrict the importation, entry, exportation, or movement in interstate commerce of any plant, plant product, biological control organism, noxious weed, article, or means of conveyance if the USDA determines the action is necessary to prevent the introduction or dissemination of a plant pest or noxious weed. See Federal Noxious Weed Act of 1974, Federal Plant Pest Act, and Plant Quarantine Act.
Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ): The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) unit that protects the nation’s agricultural resources from the international spread of plant and animal pests and diseases. PPQ inspectors at international airport terminals, seaports, and border stations check passengers and baggage for products that could harbor pests or diseases. PPQ also checks ship cargoes, rail and truck freight, and mail from foreign countries; certifies U.S. agricultural products for export; and helps combat plant pests within the U.S. PPQ’s National Biological Control Institute provides leadership for biocontrol programs. PPQ also coordinates the development and execution of biotechnology regulatory policy for APHIS and other USDA agencies, and issues permits for the movement and release of genetically engineered plants and organisms. Another part of PPQ is involved with environmental monitoring and residue analysis.
Plant quarantine: A phytosanitary measure of confinement of regulated plants for observation, research, or further inspection, testing, or treatment in order to prevent the spread of pests and disease.
Plant Quarantine Act (7 U.S.C. §§ 151-167): Signed into law August 20, 1912, and amended in 1917, 1920, 1926, 1928, 1932, 1934, 1942, 1947, 1963, 1970, 1978, 1983, 1988, and 1994. The Act regulated the importation and movement of nursery stock and other plants and plant productswithin the U.S. to control the dissemination of injurious plant pests and diseases. The Act was repealed by the Plant Protection Act.
Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) (P.L. 91-577): Signed into law December 24, 1970. Administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service, it extends patent-type protection to developers of plants that reproduce seeds. Developers of new varieties of such plants as soybeans, wheat, corn, and marigolds apply to USDA for certificates of protection for 20 years for most species and 25 years for woody plants. USDA examiners determine whether the variety actually is novel and entitled to protection. The holders of certificates can turn to the courts to protect their inventions from exploitation by others.
Plant(s): Under the Plant Protection Act, any plant (including any plant part) for or capable of propagation, including a tree, a tissue culture, a plantlet culture, pollen, a shrub, a vine, a cutting, a graft, a scion, a bud, a bulb, a root, and a seed.
Plantation (forest): A forest stand regenerated artificially either by sowing or planting.
Planted acreage: Land in which seed has been placed, appropriate for the crop and planting method, at a correct depth, and into a seedbed that has been properly prepared for the planting area and production practice normal to the area.
Planting flexibility: Under the Federal Agriculture Improvements and Reform Act of 1996, the planting of any permitted crop, except fruits and vegetables (with exceptions), on contract acreage on the farm. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1106), the planting of any permitted crop on base acres. See Flex acres (acreage); flexible acres (acreage), Flexibility, and Production flexibility contract(s) (PFC).
Plastic cheese; plastic curd: A classification of cheeses whose curd is heated and then kneaded to form various shapes. Mozzarella, provolone, and string cheeses are plastic cheeses and may be described as string-like.
PLD: Paid land diversion
Plot: A contiguous tract of land with uniform land characteristics.
Plow pan: See Hardpan.
PLP: Preferred lender program
Plug: See Partial county yield average.
Plum Island: See Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC).
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC): Since June 2003, the Department of Homeland Security high containment facility devoted to DHS applied research science and agricultural forensics. Prior to the transfer to DHS, the PIADC was a USDA facility devoted to diagnosing and researching foreign animal diseases. Plum Island’s ownership was transferred to the Agricultural Research Service in 1954 to establish a laboratory to study foot-and-mouth disease and other exotic animal diseases. The diagnostic activities at Plum Island were transferred from ARS to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in 1983. Under an interagency agreement signed in 2003, the USDA continues to work on foreign animal diseases at the PIADC. ARS’s role continues to involve basic research, such as studying the immune response of livestock infected with FMD, while APHIS continues to diagnose diseases in livestock and train veterinarians to recognize and diagnose foreign animal diseases.
Plum pox virus: Also known as sharka. A virus that affects stone fruits, including plums, peaches, apricots, and almonds, by causing the fruit to become deformed or blemished with ringspot.
Plurilateral agreement(s): Generally, a narrower group of signatories than in multilateral agreements. Although most of the obligations within the World Trade Organization are multilateral, in which all signatories subscribe, four plurilateral agreements with limited signatories are included: (a) fair trade in civil aircraft, (b) open competition in government procurement, (c) dairy, and (d) trade in meat.
PMA: Produce Marketing Association
PMC: Pest Management Center
PNP: Permit nutrient plan
Point sampling (scouting): A scouting method that relies on randomly selecting a prescribed number of sites or points within a field for intensive scouting of a predetermined number of plants or feet of row (best suited for uniform fields). See Random sampling (scouting), Sample(s); sampling, and Scout(ing).
Point source(s); point source pollution (PSP): Under the Clean Water Act of 1972, a source of pollution from any discernable, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. The Act exempts agricultural stormwater discharges from the definition of a point source. The agricultural storm water exemption, however, does not apply to discharge associated with the land application of animal wastes originating from a CAFO, or a discharge that is not the result of proper adherence to the NPDES program. The CWA provides that all point sources of water pollution that discharge or add pollution to waters are subject to having a NPDES permit. See Nonpoint; nonpoint pollution; Nonpoint source pollution (NSP).
Polarimeter: Instrument used in sugar analysis to measure the amount of rotation of polarised light when passed through a sugar solution. The amount of rotation provides an estimate of the amount of sucrose solution. See Polarization (pol), and Saccharimeter.
Polarization (pol): An estimate of the sucrose content of sugar through use of a saccharimeter or polarimeter. See Sugar degree(s).
Policy research center(s): Centers at state experiment stations, colleges and universities, other research institutions, private organizations, and corporations that conduct objective and operationally independent research and education programs on (a) the farm and agricultural sectors, (b) the environment, (c) rural families, households and economies, and (d) consumers, food, and nutrition. Funding is authorized under the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act (Sec. 1419A) (7 U.S.C. § 3155) and may be provided for disciplinary and interdisciplinary research and education concerning policy research activities including (a) quantification of the implications of public policies and regulations, (b) development of theoretical and research methods, (c) collection and analysis of data for policy makers, analysts, and individuals, and (d) development of programs to train analysts. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7103) reauthorized the USDA to make grants to and enter into agreements with policy research centers.
Political union: Occurs when countries agree to common policies in almost every sector including economic, foreign, and defense policies.
Polled: Cattle that are naturally without horns.
Pollination; pollinate(d): The transfer of pollen from the male organ to the receptive part of a female organ. The three pollination methods are air-borne pollination, insect pollination, and self-pollination.
Pollutant(s): (1) Too much of one substance at the wrong place and at the wrong time. (2) Under the Clean Water Act of 1972, any type of industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.
Poly pipe: Flexible plastic irrigation tubing.
Polyculture; polycultural: The growing of many crops at once in the same field.
Polyhydric alcohol (polyol) (polyalcohol): An alcohol used primarily for industrial products including resins for paints, inks, stabilizers, and lubricants.
Polyhydric Alcohol Program: A program established to provide world-priced sugar to U.S. manufacturers of polyhydric alcohols. Participating U.S. manufacturers purchase world-priced sugar from licensed refiners or their agents for use in the production of polyhydric alcohols, except polyhydric alcohols that are used as a substitute for sugar in human food consumption. See Refined Sugar Re-export Program, and Sugar-Containing Products Re-export Program.
Polymer(s); polymeric: (1) A chemical compound or mixture that can use corn, corn starches, and potatoes to make biodegradable packing fill, and fast-food cups, lids, straws, and cutlery. It is also being used as a biodegradable coating on fast-food wrapping paper and paperboard containers. (2) A long, repeating chain of atoms, formed through the linkage of many monomer molecules.
Polymers: A chemical compound or mixture that can use corn, corn starches, and potatoes to make biodegradable packing fill, and fast-food cups, lids, straws, and cutlery. It is also being used as a biodegradable coating on fast-food wrapping paper and paperboard containers.
Polynuclear (polycyclic) aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH): Disease-causing compound found in tobacco smoke. Also tar.
Polysaccharide: A carbohydrate consisting of a large number of linked simple sugar, or monosaccharide, units including cellulose and starch.
Polyunsaturated; polyunsaturated fatty acid(s): See Fatty acid(s).
Pomology: The science or study of growing fruit.
Pond(s): In the production of warm water fish, the common name for the earthen reservoir used in fish culture. Ponds are typically either (a) dike ponds that have four raised levees, a rectangular shape, level bottoms, and a water depth of around four to eight feet; or (b) hill ponds that have one main levee that dams a gully or valley, an irregular shape, steep bottom slopes, and can be 10- to 20-feet deep near the levee. Many pond producers must pump well water to fill their ponds, and water quality is controlled by mechanical aeration to maintain sufficient oxygen levels. The popular size for channel catfish ponds is 20 acres. Also Fish pond(s). See Net pen, Raceway(s), and Recirculating systems.
Pool milk: Milk received at a pool plant that is subject to the pricing provisions of a federal marketing order.
Pool plant (milk): A plant at which milk or milk products are received, processed, or packaged, excluding on-farm facilities for the separation of cream and skim or for the removal of water. See Nonpool plant.
Pool value (dairy): See Total value of producer milk.
Pool(s)(ing)(ed): (1) For tobacco, an organization of producers created for the purpose of pooling and marketing their tobacco in an orderly and profitable manner. The producer cooperatives that administer the federal price-support system are pools. (2) The method used in determining how funds in a market will be distributed among producers supplying milk. There are three methods of pooling returns to producers (individual handler pool, market-wide pool, and cooperative pool). See Equalization pool, and Depooled. (3) Under the former peanut program, the pools maintained by peanut area marketing associations, for both quota peanuts and additionals, that distributed the net gain on peanut sales in proportion to the value of peanuts placed in the pools by each producer.
POP: Producer option payments
Pop-up fertilizer(s): See Starter fertilizer(s).
Porcine: Swine.
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV): Disease of swine that can cause abortion and pneumonia.
Porcine somatotropin (pST): See Growth hormones; growth promotants.
Porcine Stress Syndrome (PSS): A genetic condition that causes pigs to be especially susceptible to stress and to produce carcasses with undesirable meat quality; often results in a pale, soft,exudative appearance of the lean carcass. See Pale, soft, exudative (PSE), and Pale, soft, watery (PSW).
Pork bellies: One of the major cuts of the hog carcass from the belly area of a pig; used for bacon.
Pork market formula purchase: See Swine or pork market formula purchase.
Pork product: A product or byproduct produced or processed in whole or in part from pork.
Port shopping: Attempting to import products via a different port entry than the port that initially refused admission of the products into the U.S.
Portable grain bin: A structure used to shelter grain and designed to be disassembled without significant damage to its component parts.
Position: In commodity futures trading, either going long or going short in the market.
Positive adjustment: Under Section 201, relief from expanding imports including facilitating the orderly transfer of resources to more productive pursuits, enhancing competitiveness, or other means of adjustment to new conditions of competition.
Posted county price (PCP): (1) The local county price, calculated by the Farm Service Agency by taking the terminal elevator price and subtracting shipping and other transfer costs to the local area. This is the world price utilized in marketing loan repayment calculations for wheat, feedgrains, and soybeans. If the posted county price for these commodities is less than the loan rate plus accrued interest, then the marketing loan repayment provisions will be in effect. (2) In the use of commodity certificates, in order to ensure that certificate holders across the country received the same value of commodity regardless of location, the Commodity Credit Corporation established posted county prices for wheat, feed grains, and oilseeds calculated by using prices collected from the terminal markets that influenced the prices in the specific county.
Postemergence: The period after the emergence of a specified weed or crop. See Late postemergence, and Pre-emergence.
Postemergence (directed): Herbicide placement directed to the base of the plants after seedling emergence. Weed control is better if the plants have achieved a significant height differential over the weeds. See Layby (application), Overtop application; over-the-top application, Postemergence over the top, and Pre-emergence application.
Postemergence over the top: Pesticides applied directly over the canopy of both crops and weeds; sometimes represents a salvage treatment. See Layby (application), Overtop application; over-the-top application, Postemergence (directed), and Pre-emergence application.
Postharvest operations; post-harvest; post production: The steps in the process between harvesting and consumption (handling, processing, and marketing).
Postmortem (inspection): Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors’ review of livestock and poultry carcasses, carcass parts, and viscera after slaughter.
Potable (water): Water of high quality intended for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.
Potable reuse: The use of reclaimed water in drinking water supplies; usually treated wastewater that goes directly to a water treatment plant.
Potassium (K): See Macronutrient(s).
Potentially hazardous food: Natural or synthetic food that requires temperature control because it is in a form capable of supporting the rapid and progressive growth of infectious or toxic microorganisms.
Pothole(s) (prairie): A wetlands depression (generally circular, elliptical, or linear in shape) occurring in glacial outwash plains, moraines, till plains, and glacial lake plains; most typically found in the northern Great Plains region.
Potted flowering plants: Those plants that normally produce flowers, primarily in pots or similar containers, whether grown under cover or in field operations. These are typically used for interior decoration. See Foliage plants.
Poult: A young turkey, of either sex, that is between one day and a couple of weeks old.
Poultry: (1) Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and other domestic fowl. (2) Any domesticated bird, whether live or dead. It frequently is used to refer to poultry meat plus skin and fat, within natural proportions either for the whole bird, or for the poultry part referenced in the product name or ingredient statement. See Backyard poultry and Commercial poultry.
Poultry byproduct meal]: Composed of ground, rendered, or clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry. It contains heads, feet, underdeveloped eggs, and visceral organs but does not contain feathers. The product contains approximately 59 percent good-quality protein.
Poultry cut-up: Poultry carcasses are not sectioned into primal cuts; however, they are sectioned into major parts: breast, wing, leg, thigh, drumstick, and back.
Poultry food product: A food containing a poultry product as an ingredient. Exemptions include sandwiches, bullion cubes, broth, some gravies, some sauces, seasonings, flavorings, fat capsules, retail products containing less than two percent cooked poultry meat or less than three percent raw poultry meat, retail products containing less than 10 percent poultry ingredients, and institutional products containing less than 15 percent poultry meat.
Poultry grower: Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, any person engaged in the business of raising and caring for live poultry for slaughter by another, whether the poultry is owned by such person or by another, but not an employee of the owner of such poultry.
Poultry growing arrangement: Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, any growout contract, marketing agreement, or other arrangement under which a poultry grower raises and cares for live poultry for delivery for slaughter, in accord with another’s instructions.
Poultry inspection: See Meat and poultry inspection, and Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957.
Poultry meat: Generally understood to be poultry muscle tissue, with no skin or fat included. Unless otherwise specified, it is assumed to be skinless and deboned.
Poultry processing: During conventional processing, poultry carcasses are eviscerated, then undergo examination for fecal contamination and other defects at a USDA inspection station. Uncontaminated carcasses then pass through an extensive final washing procedure, via an inside-outside-bird-washer, before proceeding on to hydrocooling. See Off-line (offline) (re)processing, and Rework.
Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957 (P.L. 85-172) (21 USC §§ 451 et seq.): Signed into law August 28, 1957. Gave to the USDA authority to inspect all poultry and poultry products (including all domesticated birds), and to regulate the processing and distribution of the same. The Act also gave the USDA authority to prevent the movement and sale, in interstate and foreign commerce, of any poultry or poultry products that have been adulterated or misbranded. See Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, Processed Products Inspection Improvement Act of 1986, and Wholesome Meat Act of 1967.
Poultry tender: Any strip of breast meat from poultry.
Poultry tenderloin: The inner pectoral muscle that lies alongside the sternum of poultry.
Poultry trust: Under the 1988 amendments to the Packers and Stockyards Act, a statutory trust provision for live poultry dealers, similar to the packer trust, giving payment protection to live poultry growers and sellers. See Packer Trust.
Poundage quota(s): See Farm poundage quota(s) (peanuts).
Powder(s)(ed): A product obtained by removing water from pasteurized skim milk. The composition of the original skim milk is not altered. It usually contains three to four percent moisture and one percent butterfat. It is also called skimmed milk powder in international markets.
Power take-off (PTO): A powered shaft, usually extending from the rear of the tractor and driven by the tractor motor, to supply rotative power to an attached implement such as a combine, hay baler, or mower.
PP: Prevented (from) planting
PPARS: Program Planning and Reporting System
PPD: Producer price differential
PPQ: Plant Protection and Quarantine
Practical to replant: A determination by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation – after loss or damage to the insured crop and based on all factors including moisture availability, marketing window, condition of the field, and time to crop maturity – that replanting theinsured crop will allow the crop to attain maturity prior to the calendar date for the end of the insurance period.
Prairie potholes: See Pothole(s) (prairie).
Pre-adjustment year: Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program, the tax year previous to that associated with the most recent marketing year in the initial producer petition.
Pre-emergence: The period prior to the emergence of the specified weed or crop. See Late postemergence, and Postemergence.
Pre-emergence application: The application of a pesticide after sowing but before the crop to be protected emerges from the soil; in the case of an established perennial crop, before shoot emergence. See Layby (application), Overtop application; over-the-top application, Postemergence (directed), and Postemergence over the top.
Pre-shipment applications: With respect to methyl bromide, those treatments applied directly preceding and in relation to export to meet the phytosanitary or sanitary requirements of the importing country or existing phytosanitary or sanitary requirements of the exporting country.
Prebiotics; Foods or nutrients that are used by specific bacteria and that can be added to the diet to encourage the growth of such beneficial bacteria growing and thriving in the intestine. See Probiotics.
Precautionary principle: The principle that it is important to be cautious in the presence of scientific uncertainty.
Preceding year (tobacco): The calendar year immediately preceding the year for which the allotments and quotas are established, or the marketing year preceding the marketing year for which the allotments and quotas are established.
Precision agriculture (grants): Authorized by the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Sec. 403(b)), and reauthorized through FY2007 by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7129). USDA competitive grants, for periods not to exceed 5 years, to eligible entities to conduct research, education, or information dissemination projects for the development and advancement of precision agriculture.
Precision agriculture technologies: Under the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Sec. 403(a)(4)), (a) instrumentation and techniques ranging from sophisticated sensors and software systems to manual sampling and data collection tools that measure, record, and manage spatial and temporal data; (b) technologies for searching out and assembling information necessary for sound agricultural production decision making; (c) open systems technologies for data networking and processing that produce valued systems for farm management decision making; or (d) machines that deliver information-based management practices.
Precision farming; precision agriculture: (1) The use of the best available technologies, primarily based on the global positioning system, to tailor soil and crop management to fit the specific conditions found within an agricultural field or tract for the purposes of improving crop yields and management decisions, reducing input costs and pollution, and providing greater accuracy in farm record keeping. (2) Under the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Sec. 403(a)(3)), an integrated information- and production-based farming system that is designed to increase long-term, site-specific, and whole farm production efficiencies, productivity, and profitability while minimizing unintended impacts on wildlife and the environment by (a) combining agricultural sciences, agricultural inputs and practices, agronomic production databases, and precision agriculture technologies to efficiently manage agronomic and livestock production systems; (b) gathering on-farm information pertaining to the variation and interaction of site-specific spatial and temporal factors affecting crop and livestock production; (c) integrating such information with appropriate data derived from field scouting, remote sensing, and other precision agriculture technologies in a timely manner in order to facilitate on-farm decision making; or (d) using such information to prescribe and deliver site-specific application of agricultural inputs and management practices in agricultural production systems. Also prescription farming, and variable-rate application technology.
Precision land forming: The reshaping of the surface of the land to planned grades for the purposes of drainage and erosion control, moisture conservation, and improving water quality.
Preclearance quarantine inspection(s): Agricultural quarantine inspection activities on commercial agricultural products conducted in the country of origin prior to export to the U.S.
Preconditioning: The preparation of feeder calves for marketing and shipment; it may include vaccinations, castration, and training calves to eat and drink in pens.
Precooling: The cooling of sweet corn (primarily through the use of chilled water) that is not consumed or processed within a few hours after harvest. The process is undertaken to reduce conversion of sugar to starch and prevent the loss of flavor and tenderness. See Hydrocooling.
Predominantly eligible: Under the Conservation Reserve Program, a field is predominantly eligible for enrollment when two-thirds or more of the soils in the field meet the highly erodible land or land characteristics criteria. If planted to trees, a field need only be made up of one-third of the eligible soils to be predominantly eligible.
Preferences:” The special advantages extended by importing countries to exports from particular trading partners, usually by admitting their goods at tariff rates below those imposed on imports from other supplying countries.
Preferential (trade) agreement: An agreement in which access to a larger market, generally in a more developed country, is offered without demands for reciprocity.
Preferential assessment(s): See Differential assessment(s).
Preferred certified lenders program: See Preferred lender program (PLP).
Preferred lender program (PLP): The top status a lender can hold in the Farm Service Agency (FSA) guaranteed farm loan program. The PLP was developed to recognize experienced lenders by streamlining submission requirements, decreasing turnaround time on FSAactions, and allowing lenders to originate and service guaranteed loans as they do their nonguaranteed loans.
Preharvest; preharvest food safety: The attempt to control zoonotic disease pathogens (such as campylobacter, salmonella, and E. coli 0157:H7) by enhanced detection methods on farm and ranch products before they are sold, changes in production practices, development of the colonization of harmless bacteria to compete on the skin surface with pathogens, and bioengineering to enhance the natural resistance of plants to pathogens.
Preliminary farm marketing quota (tobacco): For burley tobacco, the farm marketing quota for the preceding year.
Premises: A physical location that represents a unique and describable geographic entity where activity affecting the health and/or traceability of animals may occur. The state animal health official or Area Veterinarian in Charge determines what is apremises.
Premises identification: The identification of locations that manage or hold animals to allow for the tracking of animals from where they were born to where they have been moved. See Premises identification number(s).
Premises identification number (PIN): An official, 7-character identification code assigned to a premises; the final PIN digit is a check digit.
Premises registration system: A computer database system that allows for necessary information to be collected and stored as to the location of livestock, and for the assigning of a unique animal identification number. See Compliant premises registration system, Standardized premises registration system, and National Premises Information System.
Premium(s): (1) The amount that a producer is charged for the purchase of crop insurance. A producer’s premium depends on that producer’s production history, the crop being covered, the county in which a covered crop is grown, and selection of coverage. Premiums are totally subsidized by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation for catastrophic coverage and heavily subsidized for additional coverage. See Catastrophic coverage (CAT), and Crop insurance. (2) The additional payment allowed by an exchange regulation for delivery of higher-than-required standards or grades of a commodity against a futures contract. (3) The amount added to a nonrecourse marketing assistance loan on a per-unit basis, relevant to the location where the loan collateral is stored at the time the loan is made. (4) An extra payment above the base price for livestock. (5) An amount paid over and above the price-support loan rate to encourage producers not to forfeit commodities under loanto the Commodity Credit Corporation. (6) An upward adjustment to a median standardized sales or contract price due to superior quality. (7) The amount paid for milk in addition to the minimum regulated price.
Premix(es): A blended mixture of one or more microminerals and vitamins added to feed.
Preparation: Fiber “processability” in terms of degree of roughness or smoothness of ginned cotton.
Prepared (meat): Meat that has been slaughtered, canned, salted, rendered, boned, cut up, or otherwise manufactured or processed.
Preplant incorporated: The application and incorporation of grass and small-seeded broadleaf herbicides prior to planting.
Preponderance of the evidence: The showing of evidence that something is more likely to be true than not. This is the standard of proof that class members in Pigford v. Veneman Track B must use to prove their claim. This is a higher standard of proof than substantial evidence.
Prepotency: The ability to consistently pass on character and type to the progeny.
Prescribed burning: The controlled application of fire to wild-land fuels, in either their natural or modified state, under such conditions of weather, fuel moisture, and soil moisture as to allow the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and at the same time to produce the intensity of heat and rate of spread required to further certain planned objectives of silviculture, wildlife management, grazing, and fire-hazard reduction. It seeks to employ fire scientifically so as to realize maximum net benefits with minimum damage and at an acceptable cost.
Prescribed grazing: See Managed grazing.
Prescription farming: See Precision farming; precision agriculture.
Present value: The worth of future receipts or costs expressed in current value. To obtain present value, an interest rate is used to discount future receipts or costs.
Preservation Loan Servicing Program: Under Farm Service Agency farmer program loans, the providing of homestead retention. If the FSA takes property into inventory, the original borrower is provided the opportunity to apply to lease or purchase their homestead and up to tenacres of land including farm buildings.
President’s Commission on Improving Economic Opportunity in Communities Dependent on Tobacco Production While Protecting Public Health: A commission, established by Executive Order on September 22, 2000, and comprised of advocates for tobacco producers, anti-smoking and health organizations, and rural community development proponents, charged with advising the President with opportunities for tobacco producers and communities dependent on tobacco production while also protecting consumers from the hazards associated with smoking.
Pretreatment: Steps required to render biomass susceptible to enzyme action. Pretreatment techniques include size reduction, treatment with very dilute acid, and steam explosion.
Prevailing world market price: See Adjusted world price (AWP), Prevailing world market price (cotton), and Prevailing world market price (rice).
Prevailing world market price (cotton): Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1204 (d)), the world market price for upland cotton used for purposes of calculating the marketing loan repayment provision. This price is adjusted to U.S. quality and location. SeeAdjusted world price (cotton), and Step 1 (cotton).
Prevailing world market price (rice): Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1204 (d)), a price determined by the Commodity Credit Corporation and based upon a review of prices at which rice is being sold in world markets. It also includes weighing of such prices through the use of information such as changes in supply and demand of rice, tender offers, credit concessions, barter sales, government-to-government sales, special processing costs for coatings and premixes, and other price indicators. See Adjusted world price (rice).
Prevented (from) planting; prevented from being planted (PP): (1) The inability to plant the insured crop by the final planting date due to excess moisture or because weather conditions are such that the seed would not be expected to germinate or produce a crop. (2) For program purposes, acreageprevented from being planted by natural disaster or conditions beyond the producer’s control. Under federal crop insurance, prevented planting protection insurance is available. Under the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 crop insurance reforms, a producer prevented from planting has two options: (a) choose not to plant a second crop and collect 100 percent of the prevented planting crop insurance guarantee for the first crop; or (b) if a second crop is planted, receive up to 35 percent of the prevented planting guarantee. A producer who chooses to plant a second crop will receive a premium reduction on the first crop commensurate with any reduction in indemnity payment received on the first crop. For purposes of calculating base acreage under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1101(a)(1)(A)(ii)), land on which a producer could not plant a covered commodity due to drought, flood, or other natural disaster or other condition beyond the control of the producer, as determined by the USDA.
Prevented planting disaster payments: Under former programs, payments made to eligible producers to compensate them for being unable to plant any portion of the acreage intended for wheat, feed grains, rice, or upland cotton because of a natural disaster (such as drought or flood) or other conditions beyond the producer’s control. Producers were not eligible for prevented planting disaster payments if prevented planting crop insurance was available in their county, unless the benefits were insufficient to alleviate an economic emergency. Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec.196), a prevented planting noninsured crop disaster assistance program payment was authorized for producers prevented from planting more than 35 percent of the acreage intended for an eligible crop because of a natural disaster. See Disaster payments, and Noninsured (Crop Disaster) Assistance Program (NAP).
Prevention and protection: Preventing biological weapons attacks by proactive initiatives to limit the access to agents, technology, and know-how by countries, groups, or individuals seeking to develop, produce, and use such weapons. See Biodefense.
Preweaning gain: The weight gained between birth and weaning.
PRIA: Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978
Price discovery: The use of the futures market to predict the value of cash commodities.
Price discrimination: The charging of a higher price in one or more segments of a market than in another market for similar but not necessarily identical goods.
Price driver (dairy): See Price mover.
Price election: For crop insurance purposes, the price basis to be used for computing the value per pound, bushel, ton, carton, or other applicable unit of measure for the purposes of determining the premium and indemnity.
Price index: An indicator of the average price change for a group of commodities that compares price for those same commodities in some other period, commonly called the base period.
Price limit: The maximum advance or decline permitted by the rules of the exchange from the previous day’s settlement price for a contract in one trading session.
Price mover: The minimum price in one class that establishes the base price in another. Also base price. See Higher of (provision) (dairy).
Price pooling: Systems under which the returns from multiple-pricing systems are averaged such that producers obtain an average return for sales of their products in all markets.
Price rally: A futures market move to higher prices.
Price reaction: A futures market move to lower prices.
Price stabilization cooperative(s): A cooperative to which tobacco is consigned if the bid for such tobacco at the auction sale barn does not exceed the loan price. In such cases, the grower is paid the loan price by a cooperative with money borrowed from the Commodity Credit Corporation. The cooperative redries, packs, and stores the tobacco as collateral for the CCC. The cooperative, acting as an agent for the CCC, later sells the tobacco, with the proceeds used to repay the loan plus interest.
Price-later contract: In grain marketing, the present-day selling and delivery of grain, with the final price and payment to be set in the future. See Delayed pricing.
Price-support level: See Price-support loan rate.
Price-support loan rate: The price for a unit (bushel, hundredweight, or pound) of a loan commodity or other eligible commodity that the government will support through price-support loans, purchase agreements, or payments. Price-support levels are statutorily set and administered by the USDA.
Price-support loan(s): See Price-support program(s).
Price-support program(s): Government programs that aim to keep commodity prices received by participating producers from falling below specific minimum levels. Price-support programs for loan commodities are carried out by providing nonrecourse loans to producersso that they can store their crops during periods of low prices. The loans can later be redeemed if commodity prices rise sufficiently to make the sale of the commodity on the market profitable, or forfeited to the Commodity Credit Corporation if at the loan maturity date the market price is below the amount of the loan. In the latter case, the commodity is stored by the USDA and is not available to the market until prices rise above statutory levels that allow the CCC to sell the commodities. With a purchase agreement, the producer may sell the commodity to the CCC. Other price-support mechanisms include direct purchases and other payments. Commodities currently supported in the U.S. through some type of price-support mechanism include wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, rye, rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, cotton, wool, mohair, honey, dry peas, lentils, small chickpeas, peanuts, tobacco, certain dairy products, and sugar. See Nonrecourse marketing assistance loans, Peanut (price-support) program, and Sugar (price-support) program.
Price-support(s): See Price-support program(s).
Prices-Paid Index: An indicator of changes in the prices producers pay for goods and services (including interest, taxes, and farm wage rates) used for producing farm products and in farm family living. When compared to the 1910-14 base period, it is known as the Parity index.
Prices-Received Index: A measure computed on the basis of prices producers received, usually at the farm or in small local markets.
Pricing grid(s): The pricing of individual cattle carcasses based on a grid that provides premiums for desired carcass qualities and discounts for inferior quality. The goals of this pricing method are to price cattle based on their “true” value to consumers, reduce problems of inconsistency in the final product, and send appropriate market signals to producers.
Prickly pear: A cactus utilized as a forage substitute for grazing livestock. It is highly variable in nutrient content, depending on species, age, and plant part. The prickly pear is low in protein and phosphorus, but high in energy, water, fiber, and ash. The palatability of the prickly pear to livestock and wildlife is generally considered poor to fair because the spines deter grazing. However, when the spines are singed off by wildfires not severe enough to destroy the plant, the prickly pear becomes a desirable food source. Prickly pear can be troublesome on overgrazed pastures and rangelands. Livestock will not graze on the prickly pear when spines are present nor within the general vicinity, thus reducing the grazing area. Also, the prickly pear can make travel difficult.
Primal cuts: Meat units resulting from the first major cutting of livestock carcasses into smaller units. Retail butchers generally receive primal cuts from packers, which they process further into retail cuts. The primal cuts are (a) beef – round, flank, rib, short loin, sirloin, plate, brisket, chuck, and shank; (b) pork – ham, loin, belly, shoulder, and jowl; (c) veal – leg, flank, loin, rib rack, breast, and shoulder; and (d) lamb – leg, loin, rib rack, breast, and shoulder. Also Poultry cut-up, and Wholesale cuts.
Primary agriculture: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, farming and all its branches such as cultivation and tillage of the soil; dairying; the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural commodity or horticultural commodity; and the raising of livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry. See Secondary agriculture.
Primary loan service program: Under the Farm Service Agency farmer program loans, the attempt to preserve a borrower’s farming operation through loan consolidation, rescheduling, reamortization, interest rate reduction, deferral, debt set-aside, or the writing down of principal or accumulated interest charges. See Debt write-down, Loan servicing, and Set-aside(s).
Primary servicing: See Primary loan service program.
Prime farmland; prime: Land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, fiber, forage, oilseeds, livestock, timber, and other agricultural crops with minimum inputs of fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, and labor and without intolerable soil erosion, as determined by the USDA. See Unique farmland.
Priming: The process of harvesting tobacco by removing ripened leaves from a plant by hand (also referred to as cropping). Flue-cured tobacco and cigar wrappers are harvested by the priming method. See Stalk cutting.
Principal investigator: A single individual who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of a research project.
Principal outstanding: The amount of principal owed at any point in time during a loan term.
Prion: A normal protein found in cells. A modified form of the protein becomes infectious and accumulates in neural tissues causing a fatal, degenerative, neurological disease. These abnormal prions are resistant to common food disinfection treatments, such as heat, to reduce or eliminate their infectivity or presence. See Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
Prion disease: Diseases of humans and animals that affect primarily te nervous system. They can be sproadic (spontaneous), transmitted by infection, or inherited. The distinguishing characteristics of these diseases if the presence of mocroscopic vacuolization of the brain tissue, called spongiform degeneration, and of an abnormal form of a protein, called prion protein, which is a normal component in brain and other tissues. See Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, (BSE), Prion, Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathy (TSE), and Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD).
Prior appropriation doctrine: The system used in most western states for allocating water to private individuals. The doctrine is based on the concept of “first in time, first in right.” The first person to take a quantity of water and put it to beneficial use has a higher priority of right than a subsequent user. The rights can be lost through nonuse; they can also be sold or transferred apart from the land. It is contrasted with riparian water rights.
Prior conversion; prior converted (wetland) (PC): Under swampbuster regulations, a wetland that has been drained, dredged, filled, leveled, or otherwise manipulated prior to December 23, 1985, such that production of agricultural commodities is feasible. The land must have been farmed at least one year following the conversion and before December 23, 1985. Such land is not subject to swampbuster or Section 404 regulation unless it has been abandoned.
Prior debt forgiveness: Debt forgiveness on at least one previous occasion. Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the Farm Service Agency was prohibited from providing direct loans or guarantees to applicants who had received debt forgiveness on any FSA direct loan or guarantee. It included an exception allowing those who had received a debt write-down as part of primary loan servicing to obtain direct loans or guaranteed operating loans. The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 1999, expanded the exception to allow applicants current on payments under a confirmed bankruptcy reorganization plan to obtain direct loans or guaranteed operating loans. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 5319) provided that the USDA may make a direct loan or guaranteed operating loan for annual farm or ranch operating expenses to an applicant who received debt forgiveness on not more than one occasion resulting directly and primarily from a major disaster or emergency designated by the President on or after April 4, 1996.
Prior slaughter week: For livestock price reporting purposes, the Monday through Sunday prior to a reporting day.
Priority area(s) (conservation): See Conservation priority area(s).
Private activity bond(s): Part of a state or local government bond issue of which (a) more than 10 percent of the proceeds are to be used for a private business use, and (b) more than 10 percent of the payment of the principal or interest is secured by an interest in property to be used for a private business use (or payments for the property) or derived from payments for property (or borrowed money) used for a private business use.
Private agribusiness sector: Agricultural producers, certified crop advisors, professional crop consultants, agricultural cooperatives, integrated pest management coordinators and scouts, agricultural input retail dealers, and other technical consultants.
Private applicator(s): An individual who is certified to use or supervise the use of restricted-use pesticides for purposes of producing any agricultural commodity on property owned or rented by the private applicator.
Private grazing land conservation assistance: See Conservation of Private Grazing Land Program (CPGL).
Private grazing land enterprises: The diversification of grazing land use including establishing additional enterprises such as recreational opportunities for hunting, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, biking, picnicking, camping, bird watching, nature photography, or farm and ranch vacations.
Private grazing land(s): For purposes of the Conservation of Private Grazing Land Program, private, state-owned, tribally owned, and any other nonfederal rangeland, pastureland, grazed forest land, and hay land.
Private voluntary organization (PVO): A nonprofit organization providing social services and assistance. Food aid distributions under Title II of P.L. 480 utilize PVOs and nongovernmental organzations.
Prizing: The packing of tobacco into hogsheads.
Probiotics: (1) A class of useful bacteria that normally inhabit the intestinal tract and help with digestion. Recent research has centered on the health effects through competitive exclusion of ingesting beneficial bacteria to prevent colonization by pathogens. (2) Foods that contain live, health-promoting bacteria.
Process heat: Heat used in an industrial process rather than for space heating or other housekeeping purposes.
Process(es)(ed)(ing): (1) The cooking, baking, heating, drying, mixing, grinding, churning, separating, extracting, cutting, fermenting, eviscerating, preserving, dehydrating, freezing, packing, canning, jarring, spinning, dyeing, or otherwise manufacturing or enclosing food and fiber products. (2) The refining, mixing, compounding, chemically treating, heat treating, or similarly working materials and products. Vats, stills, ovens, furnaces, mixing machines, crushers, grinders, and related equipment or machines are usually involved. (3) Under the National Organic Program, cooking, baking, curing, heating, drying, mixing, grinding, churning, separating, extracting, slaughtering, cutting, fermenting, distilling, eviscerating, preserving, dehydrating, freezing, chilling, or otherwise manufacturing and includes the packaging, canning, jarring, or otherwise enclosing food in a container. (4) A method of preparing green weight tobacco for storage in which the tobacco may be redried, stemmed, tipped, or threshed and the resulting product packed in a container.
Processed foods: (1) As defined in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, any food, other than a raw agricultural commodity, that has been subject to processing such as canning, cooking, freezing, dehydration, or milling. (2) Under the country-of-origin labeling program, a combination of ingredients that result in a product with an identity that is different from that of the covered commodity. Such items include raw salmon when combined with other ingredients to produce sushi, and peanuts when combined with other ingredients to produce a candy bar. However, blended and mixed covered commodities, where the covered commodities retain their identity, are still covered by program guidelines. Such items include mixed vegetables such as peas and carrots. Second, a commodity that is materially changed to the point that its character is substantially different from that of the covered commodity is also deemed to be a processed food item. This includes, but is not limited to, changes that occur as a result of cooking, curing, or restructuring. However, covered commodities that retain their identity when combined with other ingredients, such as water-enhanced case ready steaks, are not considered to be processed food items.
Processed meats: Items such as bacon, hams, sausages, and luncheon meats.
Processed Products Inspection Improvement Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-641) (21 U.S.C. §§ 601 et seq.): Signed into law November 10, 1986. Title IV of the Futures Trading Act of 1986. The Act amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 to redescribe the manner and frequency of inspection of meat food products to include the requirement that the USDA take into account for each establishment (a) the nature and frequency of processing operations, (b) the adequacy and reliability of processing controls and sanitary procedures, and (c) the history of inspection compliance. The Act also changes the requirement that condemned meat food products be destroyed for “food purposes,” to a requirement that they be destroyed for “human food purposes.” See Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, and Wholesome Meat Act of 1967.
Processing aid: A substance that is (a) added to a food during the processing of such food but is removed in some manner from the food before it is packaged in its finished form; (b) added to a food during processing, is converted into constituents normally present in the food, and does not significantly increase the amount of the constituents naturally found in the food; or (c) added to a food for its technical or functional effect in the processing but is present in the finished food at insignificant levels and does not have any technical or functional effect in that food.
Processing inputs: The quantity of raw materials used in processing or refining operations.
Processing vegetables: Commodities sold primarily to processors, including (but not limited to) green lima beans, snap beans, beets, cabbage, sweet corn, cucumbers, chile peppers, green peas, spinach, and tomatoes.
Processor assurances (sugar): Assurances provided to the USDA by sugar processors receiving loans under the sugar program that the processor will provide payments to producers that are proportional to the value of the loan received by the processor for the sugarbeets and sugarcane delivered by producers to the processor.
Processor(s): (1) Generally, persons who commercially use raw or semi-processed products, and change the character by mechanical, chemical, or other means for human and animal use. (2) In dairy processing, firms that process raw Grade A milk into fluid dairy products. (3) In sugar processing, processors convert raw cane sugar (two-step process) and beet sugar (refiners) into refined sugar products. (4) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10503), any person engaged in the business of obtaining livestock or poultry for the purpose of slaughtering the livestock or poultry.
Processor-Funded Milk Promotion Program: Also Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program. See Fluid Milk Promotion Act of 1990.
Produce Marketing Association (PMA): A nonprofit global trade association founded in 1949 that serves over 2,400 members who market fresh fruits, vegetables, and related products worldwide. Its members are involved in the production, distribution, retail, and food service sectors of the industry.
Producer agreement(s): Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1105), as a condition of receiving direct payments and counter-cyclical payments, a producer must agree to (a) comply with sodbuster provisions, (b) comply with swampbusterprovisions, (c) comply with planting flexibility requirements, (d) use the land on the farm in a quantity equal to the attributable base acres for the farm, and any base acres for peanuts for the farm, for an agricultural use or conserving use, and not for a nonagricultural commercial or industrial use, and (e) control noxious weeds and maintain the land in accordance with sound agricultural practices if the agricultural use or conserving use involves the noncultivation of any portion of the land. See Sign(ing)(ed)-up.
Producer allotments: A quantity provision in a fruit and vegetable marketing order that assigns a maximum quantity a producer or handler can provide to the market in a single season.
Producer assessment(s): See Assessment(s) (programs).
Producer gas: A combustible combination of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen gases from biomass gasification. Wood, agricultural waste, and charcoal are used to produce this fuel. It is generated by passing air with steam over burning coke or coal in a furnace. Because of the presence of considerable nitrogen owing to the air used as a gassification agent, producer gas has a low heating value.
Producer milk: Skim milk and butterfat contained in milk of a producer that is (a) received by the operator of a pool plant directly from a producer or a handler, (b) received by a handler in excess of the quantity delivered to pool plants, (c) diverted by a pool plantoperator to another pool plant, or (d) diverted by the operator of a pool plant or a handler to a nonpool plant.
Producer option payment(s) (POP): Also Loan deficiency payments (LDP). See Inventory reduction program.
Producer price differential (PPD): In dairy pricing, the total pool value minus (a) butterfat, protein, and other solids payments made to producers, (b) Somatic cell count adjustments paid to producers, and (c) transportation and assembly credits, and plus or minus other adjustments. See Component pricing.
Producer subsidy equivalents (PSE): An economic concept used to estimate the effect of government policy by measuring the amount of the cash subsidy or tax needed to hold producers’ incomes at current levels if all government agricultural programs were removed. PSEs and consumer subsidy equivalents (CSEs) are used to compare different policy tools and their effects on producer revenue and consumer costs across countries. As a result, most of the trade liberalization proposals hinge on the use of measures such as PSEs and CSEs in negotiating lower protection levels.
Producer(s): (1) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1001 (12)), an owner, operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing a crop and is entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the farm or would have shared had the crop been produced. (2) Persons engaged in the actual production of an agricultural commodity, including farmers, ranchers, persons engaged in aquacultural production, persons engaged in timber production, and/or persons engaged in turfgrass production. (3) Under the Agricultural Fair Practices Act, a person engaged in the production of agricultural products as a farmer, planter, rancher, dairyman, or fruit, vegetable, or nut grower. (4) Any person who produces milk for fluid consumption as Grade A milk and whose milk is (a) received at a pool plant directly or diverted by the plant operator, or (b) received by a handler. (5) Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program, a person who is either an owner, operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper, who is sharing in the risk of production of a crop and who is entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the farm, or a qualified fisherman.
Producer-handler: A person who (a) operates a dairy farm and a distributing plant from which there is a monthly route disposition in the marketing area; (b) receives no fluid milk products and acquires no fluid milk products for route disposition from sources other than from own farm production; (c) disposes of no other source milk as Class I milk except by increasing the nonfat milk solids content of the fluid milk products received from own farm production; and (d) provides proof that the care and management of the dairy animals and other resources necessary to produce all Class I milk handled and the processing and packaging operations are the producer-handler’s own enterprise and are operated at the producer-handler’s own risk.
Producer-settlement fund (dairy): A separate fund into which all payments by handlers in each federal milk marketing order are paid. Payments due any handler shall be offset by any payments due from that handler.
Product-based pricing: See Component pricing.
Production agriculture: The actual raising and harvesting of agricultural crops and animals as part of the total food and fiber agricultural system; as contrasted with agribusiness.
Production contract(s): A contract requiring the contractee (producer) to relinquish most control over production decisions, and the producer does not own the commodity being produced. In exchange, the producer usually receives an incentive-based fee for production services, and the contractor reimburses a portion of the farm’s operating expenses. In addition, depending on contract terms, producers can benefit from technical advice, managerial expertise, and access to technological advances, such as high-quality breeding stock, that may not otherwise be readily available. The producer and contractor share the risks of both production and marketing of the commodity. The vast majority of production contracts involve livestock production. See Contract farming, and Marketing contract(s).
Production control (programs): Any government program or policy intended to limit production. These programs or policies have included acreage allotments, acreage reduction, set-aside, paid land diversion, quantity and acreage marketing quotas, payment-in-kind, production termination, and the Soil Bank.
Production Credit Associations (PCA): (1) Local associations providing short-term credit directly to producers and farm-related businesses from funds provided by the Farm Credit Banks. (2) Cooperative lending groups, owned by their producer-borrowers, that provide short- and intermediate-term loans, for up to ten years, from funds obtained from investors in money markets. These associations are an integral part of the Farm Credit System.
Production expenses: Total cash outlays for production. Capital expenses are figured on annual depreciation rather than on yearly cash outlays for capital items.
Production flexibility contract payment(s): Producers enrolled in the seven-year production flexibility contract, during the one-time sign-up held in 1996, were eligible to receive contract payments. The total estimated spending levels, before any adjustments, ranged from $5.57 billion inFY1996, to $4.008 billion in FY2002. Eligible producers received payments based on a formula of 85 percent of the contract acreage multiplied by the farm program payment yield. The annual contract payment rate for each commodity equaled the total spending level for each commodity (after adjustments) for the fiscal year, divided by the sum of payment quantities for each commodity for all contracts for the fiscal year. Production flexibility contract payments have been replaced with direct payments under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.
Production flexibility contract(s) (PFC): A contract for payments to be made to producers for contract crops, through 2002, under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 111). Producers had to enroll, during the one-time sign-up in 1996, for a seven-year contract. Payments for each crop were allocated each fiscal year based on the Congressional Budget Office’s February 1995 forecast of what deficiency payments would have been under the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990. In exchange for annual contract payments, the enrolled owner or producer had to (a) comply with conservation and wetland protection requirements, (b) comply with planting flexibility requirements involving fruits and vegetables, (c) use the land for an eligible agricultural activity, and (d) obtain at least the catastrophic level of crop insurance for each crop of economic significance, unless the producer waives, in writing, future emergency assistance. PFCs were transferable. PFCs have been replaced with direct payments under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002.
Production flexibility payment(s): See Production flexibility contract payment(s).
Production guarantee: For crop insurance purposes, the actual production history yield per acre, times the coverage level percentage selected, times the number of acres in the covered unit.
Production management: The responsibility for providing training, technical support, consulting, and management services to each agricultural production stage.
Production risk: Perils that can affect the quantity and quality of a farm’s production.
Production sequence (wool): Shearing, sorting, opening, cleaning, carding, drawing, possibly combing, twisting, or spinning.
Productive capacity: The amount that can be produced within the next season if all the resources currently available were fully employed using the best available technology. Productive capacity increases whenever the available resources increase or the production of those resources increases.
Productivity: The relationship between the quantity of inputs (land, labor, tractors, feed) employed and the quantity of outputs produced. An increase in productivity means that more outputs can be produced from the same inputs or that the same outputs are produced with fewer inputs. Both single-factor and multifactor indexes are used to measure productivity. Single-factor productivity indexes measure the output per unit of one input at the same time other inputs may be changing. Multifactor productivity indexes consider all productive resources as a whole, netting out the effects of substitution among inputs. Crop yield per acre, output per work hour, and livestock production per breeding animal are all single-factor productivity indicators. The Total Farm Output per Unit of Input Index is a multifactor measure.
Progeny: The young, or offspring, of the parents.
Progeny records: The average, comparative performance of the progeny of parent animals.
Progeny testing: The evaluation of the genetics of an individual by a study of its progeny.
Program account: Any budgetary account associated with a credit program that receives an appropriation of the subsidy cost of that program’s loan obligations or commitments as well as, in most cases, the program’s administrative expenses. From the program account, the subsidy cost is disbursed to the applicable financing account.
Program benefits: The various forms of financial assistance available to those producers who sign up and agree to comply with the requirements of government farm programs. These benefits may include, but are not limited to, eligibility under certain circumstances for price-support loans, counter-cyclical payments, Environmental Quality Incentives Program incentives, and Farm Service Agency credit assistance.
Program commodity(ies): See Program crops.
Program crop(s): The common term for certain agricultural commodities for which federal support programs are (or have been) available in the U.S. These include, or have included, wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, rye, extra-long staple and upland cotton, rice, milk, peanuts, soybeans, sugar, honey, wool, mohair, tobacco, or others as determined by Congress. The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 established program crops to be wheat, corn, grain sorghum, oats,barley, upland cotton, and rice. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 102) adopted the term of art of contract commodity to include wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, and rice. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1001) adopted the term of art of covered commodity to include wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, and other oilseeds.
Program payments: Payments provided to producers and agribusiness under the authority of federal legislation to enhance income or replace lost income, provide incentives to encourage the adoption of desired practices, stabilize the structure of agriculture, and protect the long-term interests of consumers and taxpayers.
Program year(s): Generally, for program purposes, the applicable fiscal year, crop year, or 12-month period (or less) as prescribed by statute, regulation, or contract.
Program yield(s): See Farm program payment yield(s).
Program(s): (1) Organized government activity aimed at accomplishing a certain result. (2) For academic purposes, an umbrella of research responsibility (e.g., fruit breeding) divided into project subsets (e.g., small-fruit breeding and tree fruit breeding). (3) A coordinated set of activities, often government sponsored or encouraged, directed towards the accomplishment of a goal or combination of goals.
Program(s) (agricultural): Examples are the federal price-support program including nonrecourse loans, purchases, and income support programs. Other agricultural programs include commodity storage, credit, research, energy, transportation, export, and conservation programs.
Program, Project, and Activity: In FY2006, for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the most specific level of budget items identified in the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006, the House and Senate Committee reports, and the conference report and accompanying joint explanatory statement of the managers of the committee of conference. This includes: (a) for the Agricultural Research Service, specific research locations as identified in the conference explanatory notes and lines of research specifically identified in the reports of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, (b) for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, individual flood prevention projects as identified in the conference explanatory notes and individual operational watershed projects as summarized in the notes, and (c) for the Farm Service Agency, individual state, district, and county offices.
Prohibited substance (organic): A substance that is prohibited or not provided for, by law or regulation, in any aspect of organic production or handling.
Prohibition on continuous coverage: The Federal Crop Insurance Act, as amended by the Agriculture Risk Protection Act of 2000, required participating producers in the federal crop insurance program to select a coverage level in multiples of 5 between the 55 percent and 85 percent normal yield level for the 2001 through 2005 crop years. This prevented producers from selecting any level between 55 percent and 85 percent (continuous coverage). Under previous law, producers could elect continuous coverage at any level between 55 percent and 85 percent; however, the premium subsidy was set at declining 5 percent increments. Restricting continuous coverage is a cost-saving measure. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10002) makes the prohibition permanent.
Projected county yield: Generally, determined on the basis of the yield per harvested acre of a commodity in a particular county during each of the five calendar years immediately preceding the year in which such projected county average yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions affecting such yield, for trends in yields, and for any significant changes in production practices.
Projected farm yield: For any crop, the actual yield per harvested acre of such commodity on the farm during a representative term of years immediately preceding the year in which such projected farm yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions affecting such yield, and trends in yields, and any significant changes in production practices. In no event may such projected farm yield be less than the normal yield for such farm.
Projected national yield: Generally, a yield determined on the basis of the national yield per harvested acre of the commodity during each of the five calendar years immediately preceding the year in which such projected national yield is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions affecting such yield, trends in yields, and any significant changes in production practices.
Projected price: The expected price, established prior to planting, used to determine coverage for income protection and Revenue Assurance insurance policies. See Base price.
Projected state yield: Generally, determined on the basis of the yield per harvested acre of such crop in the state during each of the five calendar years immediately preceding the year in which such projected yield for the state is determined, adjusted for abnormal weather conditions affecting such yield, for trends in yields, and for any significant changes in production practices.
Projected yield: See Projected county yield, Projected farm yield, Projected national yield, and Projected state yield.
Promotion program(s): See Commodity research and promotion program(s), and Checkoff programs.
Proportional shares (peanuts): Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1302(2)(C)), if more than one historic peanut producer shared in the risk of producing the crop on a farm, the historic peanut producers receive their proportional share of the number of acres planted (or prevented from being planted) to peanuts for harvest on the farm based on the sharing arrangement that was in effect among the producers for the crop.
Proportionate share states (sugar): As a condition of a loan made to a processor under the sugar program for the benefit of a producer, the USDA requires each producer of sugarcane located in a state (not including Puerto Rico) in which there are in excess of 250 producers of sugarcane to report the sugarcane yields and acres planted to sugarcane.
Proportionate share(s) (sugar): The limitation on the acreage of sugarcane that may be harvested for sugar or seed during a crop year that allotments are in effect, if the USDA determines that the quantity of sugarcane produced by producers in the area covered by an allotment will be in excess of the quantity needed to enable processors to fill the allotment for the crop year and provide a normal carryover inventory of sugar.
Prorate(s): A quantity provision in a fruit and vegetable marketing order that tries to even out shipments over a specified time period, usually weekly.
Protected bases (peanuts): A person that owns a farm with a peanut poundage quota protected under a Conservation Reserve Program contract is considered to be an eligible quota holder with respect to that poundage.
Protection level: The level used in Group Risk Plan and Group Risk Income Plan insurance products for determining indemnity payments. A higher protection level results in a higher indemnity payment. See Maximum protection level.
Protectionism; protectionist: Usually a reaction by an industry, company, or national government to foreign competition. The most common type of protectionism is expressed in food and agricultural policy as an import tariff or import quota imposed to reduce imports and shield domestic producers.
Protein at the farm: 2.9915 pounds of protein per hundredweight of milk. See Butterfat at the farm.
Protein price(ing): A variation of component pricing that involves establishing a price for the protein portion of milk. A protein pricing formula will often assign a portion of the total value to the fat portion and to the other nonprotein solids as well. See Class III protein price.
Protein supplement: See Supplement (feed).
Protein(s): The chemical building blocks, comprised of amino acids, from which cells, organs, and tissues are made. Proteins are also the basis of hormones, enzymes, and antibodies.
Proven yield(s): Yields substantiated by records of crop sales or other documentation acceptable to local Farm Service Agency offices. See Actual yield(s), and Farm program payment yield(s).
Provenance: The geographic origin of seed, pollen, plants, animals, or genes.
PRP: Pasture Recovery Program
PRRSV: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
PRV: Pseudorabies
PSB: Pine shoot beetle
PSE: Pale, soft, exudative
PSE: Producer subsidy equivalents
PSE: Producer subsidy equivalents
Pseudocereal(s): Plants, such as amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat, whose seeds can be ground into flour but are actually broadleaf plants rather than cereal grains grasses.
Pseudorabies (PRV): A disease of swine caused by the pseudorabies virus; an extremely contagious herpes virus that causes reproductive problems, including abortion, stillbirths, and even occasional death losses in breeding and finishing hogs.
Pseudorabies Eradication Program: A cooperative eradication program begun in 1989 involving federal, state, and industry participation. The target date for completion was 2000; however, the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10505) extended authority for theprogram through FY2007. See Accelerated Pseudorabies Eradication Program (APEP).
PSP: Point source pollution
PSS: Porcine stress syndrome
pST: Porcine somatotropin
PSW: Pale, soft, watery
PTO: Power take-off
Public (seed) varieties: Seed varieties developed by state or federal institutions and released nonexclusively.
Public elevator(s): Traditionally, a commercial facility offering fee-based, commingled grain storage to the public. See Public warehouse(s).
Public health pesticide: A minor-use pesticide used predominantly in public health programs for vector control or other health protection uses against viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms (other than those on or in living man or other living animal).
Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-188): Signed into law June 12, 2002. Its purpose is to improve the ability of the U.S. government to respond to acts, or threatened acts, of bioterrorism. This sweeping law imposes significant new responsibilities upon the Food and Drug Administrationand the industries it regulates. The Act mandates a food security strategy, increases the role of the FDA, provides for more extensive recordkeeping, and enhances FDA inspections of imported foods at ports of entry.
Public land(s): Any land and interest in land outside of Alaska owned by the U.S. and administered by the Secretary of the Interior through the Bureau of Land Management. In common usage, public lands may refer to all federal land no matter what agency has responsibility for its management.
Public Law 480 (P.L. 480): See P.L. 480.
Public rangelands: Rangelands administered by the Bureau of Land Management or the USDA through the Forest Service in the sixteen contiguous Western states on which there is domestic livestock grazing or that may be suitable for domestic livestock grazing.
Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 (PRIA) (P.L 95-514) (43 U.S.C. §§1901-1908): Signed into law October 25, 1978. The Act required the USDA and the Department of the Interior to establish and maintain a complete, centralized inventory of range condition records and trends, and reaffirmed grazing as the primary desired use of federal grasslands. Grazing concessions were granted according to a permit system. The Act also changed the formula for computing the grazing fee, and mandated a minimum contribution of grazing fees to be placed in a range improvementfund.
Public right to know: The basic recognition that citizens have a right to know about their exposures to potentially hazardous toxic substances.
Public tender market: Purchasing by some governments, including many recipients under P.L. 480 programs, government food agencies, and others. Buyers publicly specify their requirements, terms, and deadlines for offers, as well as consider offers from any company.
Public warehouse(s): Any elevator, mill, warehouse, terminal, or other structure or facility in which grain and other agricultural commodities are received for storing, buying, selling, shipping, or processing. See Warehouse(s).
Puke: When a party liquidates a long position in desperation because the current market price is decreasing rapidly.
Pulled wool: Wool that has been removed from the skins of slaughtered sheep.
Pullet(s): Young hen of less than one year of age that has not yet started to lay eggs.
Pulp: Mechanically ground or chemically digested wood used in manufacturing paper and allied products.
Pulp log: A log that does not meet the one-third merchantability standard for a saw log but contains a minimum of 50 percent sound wood fiber by volume.
Pulpwood: Wood cut or prepared primarily for wood pulp for manufacturing into paper, fiberboard, or other products, depending largely on the species cut and the pulpin/g process.
Pulses: A term used collectively for dry edible beans including small chickpeas, dry peas, and lentils.
Purchase agreement(s); purchases: (1) Purchases of commodities by the government as a means of supporting prices by reducing the supply in the market. When purchase agreement programs apply, the Commodity Credit Corporation is required to buy offered commodities from eligible producers. The transaction price is the loan rate. Purchase procedures supply price protections similar to loans except that the producer does not receive payments under purchase programs until the commodity is delivered to the government. Purchases provide a less complex form of price protection than the loan program for producers who do not have immediate need for cash or who cannot meet loan storage requirements. Purchase agreements require an advance formal agreement between the producer and the CCC; other purchase programs do not require any advance arrangement. (2) For some commodities, notably dairy products, the government initiates purchase operations to ensure that market prices are maintained at the support level. Purchases of dairy products (cheese, butter, and nonfat dry milk) are made from processors rather than from producers. Purchase programs of this type are called direct purchase programs. They are not continuous programs but are instituted by the government when markets are depressed. (3) The Agricultural Marketing Service purchases meats, poultry, fish, fruits, vegetables, egg products, dry beans, and tree nuts for distribution in theNational School Lunch Program and other federal food assistance programs. Products are purchased through competitive bids or negotiated contracts. These purchases assist producers and processors by helping to maintain stable commodity prices.
Purchase data: All of the applicable data, including weight (if purchased live), for all swine purchased during the applicable reporting period, regardless of the expected delivery date of the swine, reported by hog class, type of purchase, and packer-owned swine.
Purchase of agricultural conservation easements (PACE): A program that pays producers to keep their land available for agriculture. Landowners sell an agricultural conservation easement to a qualified public agency or private conservation organization. Landowners retain full ownership and use of their land for agricultural purposes. PACE programs do not give government agencies the right to develop land. Development rights are extinguished in exchange for compensation. See Purchase of development rights (PDR), and Transfer of development rights (TDR).
Purchase of development rights (PDR): A program to buy easements voluntarily sold by land owners so as to prevent farmland from converting to other uses, especially residential or commercial development. The easements are valued so as to fairly compensate farmland owners for the lost development value of their farmland. See Purchase of agricultural conservation easements (PACE), and Transfer of development rights (TDR).
Purchase price(s): See Purchase agreement(s); purchases.
Purchased (inventory): An animal that was born outside the business entity and acquired in the exchange for a sum of money. See Raised (inventory).
Purchasing hedge: Buying futures contracts to protect against a possible price increase in cash commodities that will be purchased in the future. At the time the cash commodities are bought, the open futures position is closed by selling an equal number and type of futures contracts as those that were initially purchased. See Hedge(s); hedging.
Purebred(s): An animal of known ancestry, within a recognized breed, that is eligible for registry in the official herd book of that breed.
Purity (of class): In grain inspection, a measure in the test sample for admixtures of different classes of grain.
Purveyor: A firm that purchases meat (usually from a packer), then performs some fabrication before selling the meat to another firm.
Put-and-take stocking: The use of variable animal numbers during a grazing period or grazing season, with a periodic adjustment in animal numbers in an attempt to maintain desired sward management.
Put; put option(s): In commodity options trading, an option that gives the option buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell (go short) the underlying futures contract at the strike price on or before the expiration date. See Call option(s), and Underlying futures contract.
PVO: Private voluntary organization
PVPA: Plant Variety Protection Act
Pyrethroids: A pesticide widely used for controlling various insects. The common chemical names for pyrethroid active ingredients include cypermethrin, permethrin, and esfenvalerate. Also Synthetic pyrethroids.
Pyrolysis: The thermal decomposition of biomass at high temperatures (greater than 400° F, or 200° C) in the absence of air.
Pyrolysis oil: See Biocrude.
Pyrolytic distillation: See Gasifier.