A:
A: The predicted average annual soil loss in tons per acre. See Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE).
A Time to Act: See National Commission on Small Farms.
A Time to Choose: See Structure of agriculture.
A-Index: The principal measure of international cotton prices. It is an average of the five lowest quotes of cotton for delivery to Northern European ports. See Adjusted world price (cotton).
AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Acts
AAM: American Agriculture Movement
AARC: Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Corporation
AASCARR: American Association of Schools and Colleges of Agriculture and Renewable Resources
AAW: American Agri-Women
Abandon (insurance): Unreasonable failure to continue activities necessary to produce agricultural commodities or allowable income, performing activities so insignificant as to provide no benefit to the agricultural commodities produced on the farm, or failure to harvest or market in a timely manner.
Abandon(ed); abandonment: For wetland purposes, prior converted wetlands not planted to an agricultural commodity for more than five consecutive years and on which wetland characteristics have returned; or farmed wetlands not planted to an agricultural commodity for more than five consecutive years. Such land is subject to swampbuster and Section 404 regulation.
Abattoir: Slaugherhouse.
Abiotic: The non-living portion of the environment. Also inorganic.
Abnormal farm(s): This includes institutional farms, experimental and research farms, and Indian reservations.
Absolute advantage: The advantage a country is said to possess when it can produce a commodity at a lower cost per unit than any other country. See Comparative advantage.
AC: Animal Care
ACA:Agricultural Credit Associations
ACB: Agricultural Credit Bank
Accelerated aging test: A seed germination test that estimates the germination potential of seed in warehouse storage. The seeds are exposed to high temperatures and high relative humidity for short periods of time which may cause seed deterioration. Seeds are suspended over water in a chamber for three to four days, depending on the seed variety, then tested in a standard warm germination test.
Accelerated erosion: Soil loss above natural levels resulting directly from human activities. Due to the slow rate of soil formation, accelerated erosion can lead to a permanent reduction in plant productivity.
Accelerated Pseudorabies Eradication Program (APEP): Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service program providing for the voluntary depopulation of pseudorabies-infected herds and the payment of indemnities for herd restocking. Launched in 1999, the accelerated program was intended to help improve depressed hog market prices through the eradication of a significant number of the nearly two million infected hogs.
Acceleration of loan repayment: The requirement by the Farm Service Agency of payment of the total outstanding debt without the possibility of making partial payments. Delinquent accounts are accelerated only after the borrower is found ineligible for any primary servicing options, or declines to participate in these options.
Acceptable daily intake (ADI): The level of food additives that virtually all individuals can consume on a daily basis and even exceed on occasion without experiencing adverse effects. The ADI is based on the level at which there is no observable toxic effect, as determined in toxicological studies using animal models. An additional safety margin is built into the human ADI by dividing the no-observed-adverse-effect level by a safety factor of 100 or greater.
Access to broadband telecommunication services in rural areas: See Rural broadband access.
Accession: (1) A plant variety or strain registered at a national research center and worth conserving. (2) In trade negotiations, the agreement to the terms and conditions of membership in an established multilateral agreement, including incorporating institutional and regulatory requirements, eliminating inconsistent policies and measures, and making other specific commitments.
Account(s): (1) An organizational unit used in the federal budget primarily for recording spending and revenue transactions. (2) With regard to spending, under the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, an item for which appropriations are made in any appropriation act; for items not provided for in an appropriations act, it means an item for which there is a designated budget account identification code number in the President’s budget. All budgetary transactions are recorded in accounts, but not all accounts are budgetary in nature; that is, some accounts (such as deposit fund and credit financing accounts) do not directly affect budget amounts and are used solely for accounting purposes. See Appropriation account.
Accredited herd: A herd of dairy cattle certified by two successive tests to be free of bovine tuberculosis; sometimes mistakenly applied to a brucellosis-free herd.
Accrual (basis) method (accounting): An accounting method in which all items of income from farming operations are included in gross income when earned, even though payment may be recieved in another tax year. Expenses are deductible in the tax year the producer becomes liable for them, whether or not they are paid in that year. See Cash (basis) method (accounting).
Accrual net income: See Net income.
ACE: Agriculture in Concert with the Environment
Acid casein: Acid casein is produced by the addition of acid to milk. Acid casein has 10 percent to 12 percent moisture and is approximately 90 percent to 95 percent protein, all in the form of casein. This product is insoluble in water. Acid casein is the major casein product of world markets. It is used as an additive for glazing high-quality paper and in the production of paints and cosmetics. Lactic acid casein is favored for food uses by New Zealand and Australia.
Acid hydrolysis: The use of either diluted acid or concentrated acid to convert lignocellulosic biomass to sugars that are then fermented to ethanol.
Acid recovery: The separating of acid from sugar following the use of concentrated acid hydrolysis when converting lignocellulosic biomass to sugars.
Acid recycle: Following acid recovery, the reuse of acid in concentrated acid hydrolysis.
Acid(s); acidic; acidity: (1) The measure of a solution on a pH scale that is less than 7.0. (2) Soil with a pH of less than 7.0.
Acidification: A technology used by processors to preserve foods by adding acids and rendering food safe from harmful bacteria. Foods are acidified either by adding acid to foods as a chemical or through fermentation.
ACIF: Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund
ACOP: Academic Committee on Organization and Policy
ACP: Agricultural Conservation Program (NASULGC)
ACR: Acreage Conservation Reserve
Acre(s); acreage: An acre includes 43,560 square feet or 4,840 square yards (slightly less than a football field in size); or 0.4047 hectares. To convert acres to hectares, multiple acres by 0.4047. One square mile equals 640 acres.
Acre-foot: The volume of irrigation water that would cover one acre to a depth of one foot.
Acreage allotment(s): An individual farm’s share of the total national acreage that the USDA determines is needed to produce sufficient supplies of a particular crop. The farm’s allotted share is based on its production history. Acreage allotments apply only to crops under conditions specified by law. Under the tobacco program, fire-cured, sun-cured tobacco, and dark air-cured tobacco acreage allotments are used in conjunction with marketing quotas; burley tobacco has marketing quotas, but no allotments since 1971. Acreage allotments for peanuts were suspended for the 1996 through 2002 crop years by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 155) and repealed with passage of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. See Sugar (marketing) allotment(s).
Acreage base: For purposes of determining the sugarcane allotment under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1401), the acreage base for any farm shall be the number of acres that is equal to the average of the acreage planted and considered planted for harvest for sugar or seed on the farm in the two highest of the 1999, 2000, and 2001 crop years. Acreage planted to sugarcane that producers on a farm were unable to harvest to sugarcane for sugar or seed because of drought, flood, other natural disaster, or other condition beyond the control of the producers may be considered as harvested for the production of sugar or seed. See Base acres (acreage), and Crop acreage base (CAB).
Acreage conservation reserve (ACR): Producers participating in the annual acreage reduction program (ARP) devoted the ARP percentage times the crop acreage base into the acreage conservation reserve, or reduced acres. This land was put into an approved conserving use that protected it from weeds, and from wind and water erosion. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 171) eliminated the acreage reduction program authority. Also Reduced acres. See Acreage reduction program(s) (ARP).
Acreage diversion program(s): See Diverted acres; diversion.
Acreage estimate: Statistics released periodically that estimate the amount of acreage allotted in a given marketing year towards a farmed commodity.
Acreage limitation program: See Acreage reduction program(s) (ARP).
Acreage reduction program(s) (ARP): A voluntary land retirement program in which a producer reduced the amount of base acres planted to a commodity (50 percent to be put into a conserving use) by an amount specified by law. The producer was typically not paid for the land retirement which was in exchange for being eligible for price-supports and target prices for that commodity. Also known as the acreage limitation program, it was first authorized in the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 171) eliminated the acreage reduction program authority. See Acreage conservation reserve (ACR).
Acreage report(s): (1) Under federal crop insurance regulations, reporting of both acreage planted and prevented from planting acreage, information on which premiums are based. (2) Reports on all cropland on a farm required under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Secs. 1105(c) and 1305(c)) as a condition of receipt of direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, marketing assistance loans, or loan deficiency payments for covered commodities and peanuts. (3) Crop Production – Acreage: Supplement. See Actual production history (APH).
Act of April 14, 1971 (P.L. 92-10): Signed into law April 14, 1971. The Act provided for poundage quotas for burley tobacco in place of farm acreage allotments.
Action level(s): The regulatory level recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency for enforcement by the Food and Drug Administration and USDA when pesticide residues occur in food or feed commodities for reasons other than the direct application of the pesticide. As opposed to tolerances that are established for pesticide residues occurring as a direct result of proper usage, action levels are set for inadvertent pesticide residues resulting from previous legal use or accidental contamination.
Action threshold: number of pest insects in a field that will require control treatment.
Active burley and flue-cured tobacco producer: Any person who shared in the risk of producing a crop of burley tobacco or flue-cured tobacco in at least one of the three years preceding the current year, or any person who intends to become a burley tobacco or flue-cured tobacco producer in the current year by sharing in the risk of producing the crop and who provides a certification of such intentions to the USDA.
Active ingredient(s): In pesticides, the effective component that destroys or controls target pests.
Active personal labor (7 U.S.C. §§ 1308-1): For payment limitation purposes, the contribution of labor that is actually performed by the individual in question. It must be 50 percent of the total hours that would be required to conduct a farming operation comparable in size to this individual’s or entity’s commensurate share of the farming operation, or 1,000 hours per program year. See Significant contribution.
Active personal management (7 U.S.C. §§ 1308-1):For payment limitation purposes, the personal general supervision of the activities or labor involved in the farming operation, performed either on or off the farm, that is reasonably related or necessary to the farming operation. See Significant contribution.
Actively engaged in farming (7 U.S.C. §§ 1308-1): Subject to exceptions, a person is actively engaged in farming if (a) the person directly provides to the farming operation a significant contribution of land, equipment, capital, or a combination thereof, and active personal labor or active personal management, or combination thereof; (b) these and certain other contributions are commensurate with the person’s share of the farming operation’s profits and losses; and (c) these contributions are at risk.
ACTPN: Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations
Actual county yield: The per acre yield from a county as reported by the National Agricultural Statistical Service.
Actual loan repayment rate: Except in the case of upland cotton, the lesser of the applicable loan rate plus accrued interest, or the applicable alternative loan rate-the applicable loan rate after all relevant adjustments for premiums, discounts, and location have been made.
Actual production: The number of acres of cotton, wheat, corn, rice, peanuts, and other commodities on a farm multiplied by the actual average yield.
Actual production history (APH): For Federal Crop Insurance program purposes, under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 196), a four- to ten-year APH was established to determine yield coverage. APH levels are similar to proven yield(s). Under provisions of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, if in one or more crop years used to establish the APH the recorded production amount was less than 60 percent of the applicable transitional (county) yield, the producer could replace his APH for that year with an amount equal to 60 percent of the transitional yield. A producer’s APH was prohibited from falling more than 10 percent in any one year, nor could it fall any lower than 80 percent of the transitional yield for certain major row crops. Also a producer’s APH could not rise more than 20 percent from one year to the next. See Federal Crop Insurance program and Proven yield(s).
Actual production history (APH) yield: For crop insurance purposes, the yield used to determine the production guarantee. The APH yield is based on up to ten years of actual yields and/or assigned yields with a minimum of four years required.
Actual Production History (yield) insurance (APH): Also known as multiperil crop insurance. Crop insurance protection against lost production due to hazards such as hail, fire, drought, tornado, lightning, wind, flood, insects, plant disease, wildlife, and earthquakes, but not due to neglect, poor farming practices, theft, or low prices. The yield guarantee equals the APH yield times a producer-chosen yield election. Yield elections range from 50 to 85 percent of the APH yield. Premiums are subsidized by the USDA and coverage is provided for both (a) production and (b) quality and grade losses. The Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 raised premium subsidies to increase participation levels and encourage the use of higher coverage levels. See Additional coverage, Catastrophic coverage (CAT), Crop revenue coverage (CRC), Federal Crop Insurance program, and Premium(s).
Actual production history floor: The actual production history (APH) floor is equal to 70 percent of the transitional yield for producers with only a one-year record. For producers with two to four years of yield records, their APH floor is equal to 75 percent of the transitional yield. Producers with five or more years of yield records have an 80 percent of transitional yield floor.
Actual yield(s): (1) The USDA has the discretion to allow for the establishment of a farm program payment yield based on an average of the actual yield per harvested acre for the program crop in question for each of the last five years, throwing out the high and low years as well as any year in which a crop was not grown. (2) The real or actual per acre production yield for a farm during a particular growing season, usually determined at harvest. Warehouse receipts and bin measurements are commonly used to document actual yield. See Farm program payment yield(s).
Actuals: See Cash commodity(ies).
Actuarial soundness; actuarially sound: When insurance indemnities paid, on average, are equal to total premiums collected.
AD: Anaerobic digestion
Ad hoc disaster assistance (program(s): Special-purpose natural disaster relief legislation designed to address specific problems after the fact. Typically, disaster relief funds were made available from the savings in other agricultural programs brought about by the natural disaster. Ad hoc disaster assistance programs were supposedly eliminated with the passage of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994.
Ad referendum: An agreement or concession that is agreed upon during negotiations pending final approval by a higher governmental authority.
Ad valorem: Any charge, tax, or duty that is applied as a percentage of value.
ADB: Average daily balance
ADC: Animal Damage Control (USDA)
Additional (AMTA) payment(s): See Marketing loss (assistance) payment(s).
Additional acreage: Farms not enrolled in production flexibility contracts during the one-time sign-up in 1996 are ineligible for program participation, unless the eligible land was under a Conservation Reserve Program contract. Additional land that is under an expiring CRP contract may be added to an existing production flexibility contract or enrolled as a new contract from October 1 through April 3 in the year following the fiscal year in which the contract expires.
Additional coverage: (1) A plan of crop insurance providing a level of coverage equal to or greater than 65 percent of the recorded or appraised average yield indemnified at 100 percent of the projected market price, or a comparable insurance plan as determined by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. (2) Crop insurance available to producers who wish to insure crops above the catastrophic coverage level. Producers can elect to be paid up to 100 percent of the expected market price for all expected production that equals the guarantee production level minus actual production. Premiums depend on the amount of additional coverage chosen, the crop being covered, and the county in which the crop is located, although the premium subsidy was increased with passage of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000. A fee of $30 will be charged per county per crop for additional coverage with no maximum limit. Also Buy-up (crop) insurance (coverage). See Limited coverage.
Additional crop: In crop insurance, the crop planted second on the same acreage in the same crop year. See Double-crop(ping)(ped), and Double insurance.
Additionals (peanuts) loan rate: Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the loan rate for additional peanuts was set at a level that ensured that the Commodity Credit Corporation did not incur losses from their sale or disposal. The USDA had to take into account demand for peanut oil and meal, expected prices of other vegetable oils and protein meals, and export demand for peanuts. 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. Provision for the additionals loan rate was eliminated. See Peanut (price-support) program, and Quota (peanuts) loan rate.
Additionals; additional peanuts: Under the former peanuts program, lower-priced peanuts grown in excess of the poundage quota level during any marketing year. Additionals could not be used on the farm for seed or other purposes and must have been contracted for export, crushed for oil or meal, or placed under loan. Additional peanuts were not to be available for domestic edible use, with the possible exception being those additional peanuts under the control of the Commodity Credit Corporation. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Title I, Subtitle C) eliminated the two-tiered loan program. Also Nonquota peanuts, and Over-quota peanuts. See Farm poundage quota(s) (peanuts), and Peanut (price-support) program.
Additive(s): (1) Any substance intended (directly or indirectly) to affect the characteristics of any food. This includes any substance used in the production, processing, treatment, packaging, storage, or transportation of food. The Food and Drug Administration now interprets additive to mean the added substance as a whole and not each of its individual constituents. (2) See Direct additive(s), and Indirect additive(s). (3) See Food additive(s). (4) See Feed additive(s).
ADI: Acceptable daily intake
Adjudicator: Under the Pigford v. Veneman consent decree, the entity that makes all final decisions on Track A claims.
Adjusted base price: When calculating parity, the average price received by producers in the most recent ten years, divided by the index of average prices received by producers for all farm products in the same ten years.
Adjusted gross income limit; adjusted gross income cap: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1604), for the 2003 and subsequent crop years, fiscal years, or program years, individuals or entities with adjusted gross incomes during a crop year that exceed $2.5 million for the three tax years immediately preceding the applicable year are ineligible to receive direct payments, counter-cyclical payments, marketing loan gains, loans deficiency payments, or conservation payments unless 75 percent or more of the average adjusted gross income of the individual or entity is derived from farming, ranching, or forestry operations. The Commodity Credit Corporation will not consider the following as income from farming, ranching, and forestry operations: (a) income from selling land used to produce forestry or agricultural commodities, (b) farm or forestry implement sales by a retail dealership, (c) investment income, (d) income from sales at a market unless the commodity being sold was produced by the person, (e) income from sales as a commission broker, auctioneer, or warehouse operator or similar enterprise, or (f) undifferentiated income from integrated operations. Also Gross income limit.
Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR): Begun in 1999 by the Risk Management Agency, the AGR is a whole-farm risk management pilot revenue insurance program that insures the revenue for a producer’s entire farm rather than individual crops by guaranteeing a percentage of average gross farm income, including a small amount of livestock revenue. Through the use of one insurance product, the AGR guarantees a percentage income from multiple agricultural commodities grown by the insured including grains, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, floriculture, Christmas trees, nursery crops, maple syrup, livestock and poultry, aquaculture, milk, eggs, and other agricultural products except timber and other forest products. The plan uses a producer’s previous five years of Schedule F tax forms to calculate the policy revenue guarantee. No more than 35 percent of expected allowable income can come from animals or animal products. If more than 50 percent of expected farm income is from crops that have multiperil crop insurance available, a producer can still get AGR insurance, but must also get at least catastrophic coverage levels of MPCI for those crops. The original program was offered in selected counties in five states and was raised to seventeen states in 2001. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10004) extended the program through at least 2004 and added at least eight counties each in California and Pennsylvania for 2003.
Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR-Lite): A proposed simplified version of AGR whole-farm insurance initially designed for producers with an adjusted gross farm income of less than $100,000. Unlike regular AGR insurance, producers would still be eligible to participate if they had more than 35 percent livestock income if at least 30 percent of the animal feed (by weight) is produced on-farm. Also, producers would not be required to get at least Catastrophic coverage levels of coverage for crops covered by Multiperil crop insurance in their county. Producers would also not be required to provide copies of tax returns unless they file an insurance claim. In December 2002, Pennsylvania was approved to provide AGR-Lite insurance in pilot counties as either stand-alone coverage or as umbrella coverage with other crop insurance. Policies are limited to a maximum liability of $100,000 for producers with adjusted gross farm income of $205,000 or less.
Adjusted world price (AWP): An estimate of the world price adjusted to a U.S. price-equivalent using a formula that includes transportation, processing, and handling charges. The adjusted world price is announced on a weekly basis by the USDA. See Adjusted world price (cotton), and Adjusted world price (rice).
Adjusted world price (cotton): A price equal to the Northern Europe price adjusted to U.S. base quality and average location. The AWP can be further adjusted for individual cotton qualities using the schedule of loan premiums and discounts and location differentials. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1204(e)), the Step 1 adjustment was maintained through July 31, 2008. See Northern Europe; Northern Europe price (NE), and U.S. Northern Europe (USNE).
Adjusted world price (rice): The prevailing world market price for rice adjusted to U.S. quality and location. See Prevailing world market price (rice).
Adjusted world price lock-in: Under the loan deficiency payment program for upland cotton, a producer may request a loan deficiency payment and lock in the adjusted world price for computing such payments after harvest (but before ginning) while the cotton is stored in modules, ricks, or trailers. See Request to lock-in.
Adjuster (crop insurance): A person with the ability to determine the amount of loss, and the authority to enter into an agreement of settlement with the insured.
Adjustment for price and yield lease: A type of flexible lease using various combinations of adjustments for price and yield. Because prices may be high when yields are low and vice versa, adjusting the rent for changes in both ensures that the actual rent will be more closely tied to the total value of the crop. See Adjustment for price only lease, Adjustment for yield only lease, Base rent plus bonus lease, and Percentage share lease.
Adjustment for price only lease: A flexible lease in which the rent varies according to the actual commodity price. Many different formulas can be used to calculate the rent. See Adjustment for price and yield lease, Adjustment for yield only lease, Base rent plus bonus lease, and Percentage share lease.
Adjustment for yield only lease: A flexible lease in which the rent varies according to the yield actually harvested. See Adjustment for price and yield lease, Adjustment for price only lease, Base rent plus bonus lease, and Percentage share lease.
Administrative offset: (1) Debts to federal agencies from delinquent borrowers must be offset against any payments that might be due from the federal government. Payments taken are applied to the borrower’s unpaid debt. Payments that can be offset include livestock indemnity and Conservation Reserve Program payments. Delinquent borrower accounts need not be accelerated before an agency can offset payments. Before offsetting payments, the Farm Service Agency will attempt loan restructuring. (2) If money is owed to the Commodity Credit Corporation on past due accounts, the FSA and CCC can, under certain conditions, collect on the debt by withholding farm program payments otherwise owed to a producer. Also Offset (administrative).
Adulterant (economic): Economic food fraud involving the substitution of something of lesser value for something of higher value and then passing off the product as one of higher value.
Adulterant(s) (food): Microbiological and chemical impurities of food that are banned by law.
Adulterated (foods): (1) Impure and unsafe foods not fit for human consumption or injurious to health. (2) A meat or meat food product that (a) contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it injurious to health; (b) contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance including unsafe pesticide chemicals in or on a raw agricultural commodity, unsafe food additives, or unsafe color additives; (c) consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or is for any other reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food; (d) has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth or rendered injurious to health; (e) is, in whole or in part, the product of an animal that has died otherwise than by slaughter; (f) has a container composed, in whole or in part, of any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render the contents injurious to health; (g) has been intentionally subjected to radiation, unless the use of the radiation was in conformity with a regulation or exemption; (h) has had any valuable constituent, in whole or in part, omitted, abstracted, or substituted; (i) has had damage or inferiority concealed in any manner; (j) has had any substance added to, mixed, or packed therewith so as to increase its bulk or weight, or reduce its quality or strength, or make it appear better or of greater value than it is; or (k) if it is margarine containing animal fat, has had any of the raw material used therein that consisted in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance.
Advance (direct) payment(s): Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1103(d)(2)), at the option of the producers on a farm, up to 50 percent of the direct payment for a covered commodity for any of the 2003 through 2007 crop years shall be paid in advance in any month selected by the producer that is during the period beginning on December 1 of the calendar year before the calendar year in which the crop of the covered commodity is harvested through the month within which the direct payment would otherwise be made.
Advance appropriation: Budget authority provided in an appropriation act that is first available for obligation in a fiscal year after the year for which the appropriation was enacted. The amount of the advance appropriation is included in the budget totals for the fiscal yearthat it will become available.
Advanced deficiency payment(s): Under former farm bill programs, payments made to crop producers when they signed up for the federal commodity program. The USDA was required by law to make the payment when an acreage reduction program was in effect and deficiency payments were expected to be paid. Advanced deficiency payments could range from 30 to 50 percent of expected payments, depending upon the program crop. Up to 50 percent of the advanced payment could be made in the form of generic commodity certificates. If final deficiency payments were less than the advanced amount, producers were required to refund the excess portion. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 171) eliminated the deficiency payment concept and replaced it with declining production flexibility contract payments. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 introduced counter-cyclical payments with the possibility of advanced partial payments.
Advanced materials: The use of environmentally friendly, renewable plant and animal materials for important strategic and industrial products and manufacturing.
Advanced meat recovery (AMR): A technology that enables processors to remove the attached skeletal muscle tissue from livestock bones under high pressure without incorporating significant amounts of bone and bone products into the final meat product. When produced properly, product from AMR systems is comparable to meat derived by hand deboning and can be labeled as meat if such does not include central nervous system tissue, excessive amounts of bone solids, or bone marrow.
Advanced meat recovery product(s): Products derived from the ACR process that are usually blended with ground products derived from beef or pork trimmings. AMR products are used in meat patties, links, sausages, chili products, sauces, soup bases, meat gravies, broth, and flavorings.
Advanced priced; advance pricing (dairy): The setting of prices in advance to be used in the coming month by taking the National Agricultural Statistics Service prices published for a period prior to the date established for setting such prices.
Advanced recourse loan(s): Price-support loans made early in the marketing year to enable producers to hold their crops for later sale. Producers must repay the recourse loan with interest and reclaim the crops used as collateral. Advanced recourse loans have been made to upland and extra-long staple cotton (ELS) cottonseed producers only. However, the USDA is authorized to make advanced recourse loans to producers of other commodities if such loans are necessary to provide adequate operating credit.
Adverse (loan quality): For Farm Credit System institutions, all loans that are classified below special mention. See Asset (quality) classification(s).
Adverse action(s) (loans): The loss or downsizing of a borrower’s farming operation due to liquidation, voluntary conveyance of security property, loan acceleration, repossession, foreclosure, or the taking of collection action to resolve a distressed loan.
Adverse decision(s): An administrative decision made by an officer, employee, or committee of a USDA agency that is adverse to a participant. The term includes a denial of equitable relief by an agency or the failure of an agency to issue a decision or otherwise act on the request or right of the participant. See National Appeals Division (NAD).
Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN): A 35-member, Congressionally mandated advisory body to the President and the U.S. Trade Representative on matters concerning national trade policy and trade negotiations. The 35 members represent agriculture, business, labor, environment, and consumers.
Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers: The Committee authorized by Sec. 5 of the Agricultural Credit Improvement Act of 1992 to advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the administration of the Farm Service Agency’s beginning farmers and ranchers programs and methods to increase participation between federal and state programs to provide joint financing to beginning farmers and ranchers. The Committee has identified six urgent recommendations: provide funding support for direct loans and guaranteed loan programs, allow guarantees on aggie bond loans, exempt aggie bonds from volume caps, provide a comprehensive assessment of existing beginning farmer and rancher programs, improve USDA staffing to handle loan activity, and provide greater support for outreach and technical assistance for minority farmers. See Beginning Farmer and Rancher Contract Land Sales Program, and State Beginning Farmer and Rancher Guarantee Program.
Advisory Committee on Emerging Markets: The Committee established under the authority of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (Sec. 1542(d)(7)), as amended, to provide information and advice, based upon the knowledge and expertise of the members, useful to the USDA in implementing a program to provide technical assistance and share U.S. agricultural expertise with emerging markets. The Committee is to also advise the USDA on ways to increase the involvement of the U.S. private sector in cooperative work with emerging markets in food and rural business systems.
Advisory Committee on Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases (FAPD): The Committee that advises the Secretary of Agriculture regarding the means to prevent, suppress, control, or eradicate an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease or other destructive foreign animal or poultry disease, should such enter the U.S.
Advisory Committee on Small Farms: Established in November 1999 and expired in November 2001. The purpose of the Committee was to gather and analyze information regarding small farms and ranches within the U.S. and its Territories. The Committee recommended USDA actions to enhance the viability and economic livelihood of small farms and ranches within the U.S. In November 2001, the Committee issued Building on a Time to Act as guide to developers of the farm bill in 2002. See Assisting America’s Small Farmers and Ranchers in the 21st Century, Small Farm Coordinators, Small Farm Council, and Small farms policy(ies) (USDA).
Aeolian Soil: Soil formed from materials transported and deposited by wind, e.g., loess, sand dunes, and wind-deposited volcanic ash.
Aerial photography: Photographs of a part of the earth’s surface taken by a camera mounted in an aircraft for mapping purposes. This usually consists of a series of overlapping vertical photos taken in strips that can form the basis for mapping.
Aerial seeding; aerial sowing: Broadcast seeding of seeds, seed pellets, and the like from aircraft.
Aerobe: An organism that can grow in the presence of air.
Aerobic: A biological process that occurs in the presence of oxygen.
Aerobic decomposition: The breakdown of a molecule into simpler molecules or atoms by microorganisms under favorable conditions of oxygenation. See Anaerobic decomposition.
Aerobic lagoon: An aerated treatment lagoon that uses oxygen to speed up the natural process of biochemical decomposition of organic matter. See Anaerobic lagoon.
AES: Agricultural Experiment Stations
AFBF: American Farm Bureau Federation
Affected domestic producer(s): Under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000, any manufacturer, producer, farmer, rancher, or worker representative (including associations of such persons) that (a) was a petitioner or interested party in support of the petition with respect to which an antidumping duty order, a finding under the Antidumping Act of 1921, or a countervailing duty order has been entered, and (b) remains in operation. Companies, businesses, or persons that have ceased the production of the product covered by the order or finding, or who have been acquired by a company or business that is related to a company that opposed the investigation shall not be considered an affected domestic producer.
Affidavit weight(s); A weight obtained by a weigher on any scale not inspected for certification within the past 12 months. See Certified weight(s).
Affiliate: Under the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999, with respect to a packer, a person (a) that directly or indirectly owns, controls, or holds with power to vote of 5 percent or more of the outstanding voting securities of the packer; or (b) whose outstanding voting securities of 5 percent or more are directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or held with power to vote by the packer; and (c) that directly or indirectly controls, or is controlled by or under common control with the packer.
Afforestation: The establishment of a tree crop on an area from which it has always, or for very long, been absent. Where such establishment fails and is repeated, the latter may properly be termed reafforestation.
Aflatoxin: A highly carcinogenic mycotoxin, produced by two types of mold, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, that sometimes occurs when crops are stored under warm, humid conditions or are grown under stressful conditions, such as drought. Aflatoxin is most commonly associated with corn, grain sorghum, cotton, peanuts, and soybeans. Grain for export is generally rejected if it contains aflatoxin. See Mycotoxicoses, and Mycotoxin(s).
AFO: Animal feeding operation
AFO/CAFO Strategy: See Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations.
Africa: Seeds of Hope Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-385): Signed into law November 13, 1998. The Act signified a continued shift in U.S. relations with Africa. The Act refocused U.S. development assistance resources on agricultural and rural development and required the U.S. Agency for International Development and USDA to develop plans for using microcredit finance strategies, agricultural research, and agricultural extension as mechanisms to reduce rural poverty in Africa. The Act seeks to prioritize economic development for small-scale producers and struggling rural communities. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) is encouraged to expand its development funding from U.S. corporations investing abroad, to businesses, private voluntary organizations, and nongovernment organizations that work directly with African rural populations. In recognizing the role of women in small-scale agriculture, the Act encourages USAID to put greater emphasis on entrepreneurial opportunities for women in development programming. The legislation also calls for increased participation by African partners in decision-making processes involved in development programming. This Act established the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
African Growth and Opportunity Act (P.L. 106-200): Signed into law May 18, 2000. An Act to increase trade opportunities with Africa and the Caribbean Basin. The Act also included a carousel retaliation provision for the purpose of intensifying pressure on the European Union to permit imports of beef produced with hormones and to resolve a long-running dispute over banana imports.
African swine fever (ASF): A highly contagious, generalized disease of pigs caused by a virus that exhibits varying virulence between strains. The virus resists inactivation, and can persist in meat up to fifteen weeks, processed hams up to six months, and up to one month in contaminated pens. Very few pigs survive infection and those that do are contagious.
Africanized honeybee(s): An undesirable subspecies of honeybee that exhibits an extremely aggressive or defensive temperament.
AFT: American Farmland Trust
AFV: Alternative Fuel Vehicle
Ag in the Classroom; Agriculture in the Classroom: A grassroots program coordinated by the USDA designed to help students from pre-kindergarten to the 12th grade become agriculturally literate. Its goal is to help students gain a greater awareness of the role of agriculture in the economy and society, so that they may become citizens who support wise agricultural policies. The program encourages educators to teach more about the food and fiber system and the role of
Age: (1) Of a forest, crop, or stand, the mean age of the trees comprising it. In practice, in even-aged or regular forests, the mean age of dominant and sometimes co-dominant trees is taken. Also, the age of a plantation is generally taken from the year in which it was formed, exclusive of the age of the nursery stock then brought to it. (2) Of a tree, the time elapsed since germination of the seed or the budding of the sprout of a cutting from which it developed.
Agency for International Development: See U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Agent(s): See Biological agent(s)
Aggie bond(s): Tax-exempt, qualified, small-issue, agricultural private activity bonds used to provide financial assistance to beginning and first-time farmers as a method of lower financing for which neither the states nor the federal government assume any risk. The purpose of the bonds is for first-time land purchases, farm equipment, farm buildings, and livestock used for breeding purposes. The applicant must qualify as a beginning and first-time farmer.
Aggregate Measure of Support (AMS): An index that measures the monetary value of government support to a sector. The AMS, as defined in the Agreement on Agriculture, includes both budgetary outlays as well as revenue transfers from consumers to producers as a result of policies that distort market prices. The AMS includes actual or calculated amounts of direct payments to producers (such as deficiency payments), input subsidies (on irrigation water, for example), the estimated value of revenue transferred from consumers to producers as a result of policies that distort market prices, and interest subsidies on commodity loan programs.
Aging: A process applied to cigarette tobacco whereby the leaf is compressed in hogsheads or other containers at a moisture content of 10 to 13 percent to mildly ferment the tobacco. See Fermentation.
AGR: Adjusted Gross Revenue
AgrAbility: See Assistive Technology Program for Farmers with Disabilities.
Agreement on Agriculture: See Uruguay Round Agreement(s); Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA).
Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS): An agreement under the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture that establishes rules to prevent countries from using arbitrary and unjustifiable health and environmental regulations as disguised trade barriers. See Sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and Uruguay Round Agreement(s).
Agribusiness(es): Producers and manufacturers of agricultural goods and services, such as fertilizer and farm equipment makers, food and fiber processors, wholesalers, transporters, and retail food and fiber outlets.
Agrichemical(s): Various chemical products used in agriculture and forestry; generally, a broad range of pesticides, but may also include synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones and other growth promotants, and concentrated stores of raw animal manure. AlsoAgrochemical.
AGRICOLA: A database established by the National Agricultural Library that provides access to U.S. agricultural and life science information and includes more than 3.3 million citations to journal articles, monographs, theses, patents, software, audio-visual materials, and technical reports related to agriculture. AGRICOLA serves as the document locator and bibliographic control system for the NAL collection.
Agricultural Act of 1948 (P.L. 80-897): Signed into law July 3, 1948. The law made price-supports mandatory at 90 percent of parity for 1949 basic commodities. It also provided that beginning in 1950, parity would be reformulated to take into consideration average prices of the previous ten years, as well as those of the 1910-14 base period.
Agricultural Act of 1949 (P.L. 81-439): Signed into law October 31, 1949. This law, along with the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, makes up the major part of permanent legislation that is still effective in amended form. The 1949 Act designated mandatory support for the following nonbasic commodities: wool and mohair, tung nuts, honey, Irish potatoes (excluded in the Agricultural Act of 1954), and milk, butterfat, and their products. See Section 416(b).
Agricultural Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-690): Signed into law August 28, 1954. It established a flexible price-support for basic commodities (excluding tobacco) at 821/2 to 90 percent of parity and authorized a Commodity Credit Corporation reserve for foreign and domestic relief.
Agricultural Act of 1956 (P.L. 84-540): Signed into law May 28, 1956. This law contained the Soil Bank Act that authorized the acreage reserve program for wheat, corn, rice, cotton, peanuts, and several types of tobacco. It also provided for a ten-year Conservation Reserve Program. See Soil Bank Program.
Agricultural Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-297): Signed into law April 11, 1964. This law authorized a two-year voluntary marketing certificate program for wheat and a payment-in-kind (PIK) program for cotton.
Agricultural Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-524): Signed into law November 30, 1970. The law, in effect through 1973, established the cropland set-aside program and a payment limitation per producer (set at $55,000 per crop). It also amended and extended the authority of the Class I Base Plan in milk marketing order areas.
Agricultural adjustment (program): A term generally referring to programs designed to control and regulate agricultural production and marketing. The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration in the USDA. Since then, adjustment programs have been implemented through similar agencies of various names, including the present-day Farm Service Agency.
Agricultural Adjustment Act Amendment of 1935 (P.L. 74-320): Signed into law August 24, 1935. The law gave the President authority to impose import quotas when imports interfered with agricultural adjustment programs. See Section 32.
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 (P.L. 73-10): Signed into law May 12, 1933. The law introduced the price-support programs, including production adjustments, and incorporated the Commodity Credit Corporation under the laws of the State of Delaware on October 17, 1933. The price-support payments were financed mostly by processing taxes on the specific commodity. The Act also made price-support loans by the CCC mandatory for the designated basic (storable) commodities (corn, wheat, and cotton). Support for other commodities was authorized upon recommendation by the USDA with the President’s approval. Commodity loan programs carried out by the CCC for 1933-37 included programs for cotton, corn, turpentine, rosin, tobacco, peanuts, dates, figs, and prunes. The provisions for production control and processing taxes in the Act were later declared unconstitutional.
Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 (P.L. 75-430): Signed into law February 16, 1938. The law was the first to make price-supports mandatory for corn, cotton, and wheat-to help maintain a sufficient supply in low production periods-along with marketing quotas to keep supply in line with market demand. It also established permissive supports for butter, dates, figs, hops, turpentine, rosin, pecans, prunes, raisins, barley, rye, grain sorghum, wool, winter cover-crop seeds, mohair, peanuts, and tobacco for the 1938-40 period. The 1938 Act is considered part of permanent legislation. Provisions of this law are often superseded by more current legislation. However, if the current legislation expires and new legislation is not enacted, the law reverts back to the 1938 Act (along with the Agricultural Act of 1949).
Agricultural appropriations: Under authority of Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, the authorization by an act of Congress that permits the USDA and other federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Farm Credit Administration (FCA) to incur obligations and make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes as established in the seven titles of the agricultural appropriations act: Agricultural Programs, Conservation Programs, Rural Economic and Community Development Programs, Domestic Food Programs, Foreign Assistance and Related Programs, Related Agencies, and General Provisions. The USDA carries out its widely varied responsibilities through approximately 30 separate internal agencies staffed by some 100,000 employees. The USDA is responsible for many activities outside of the agriculture budget function. Hence, spending for the USDA is not synonymous with spending for producers. Also, the agriculture appropriations act is not synonymous with USDA spending since the Act includes funds for non-USDA programs. Appropriations do not represent cash actually set aside in the Treasury for the purposes specified in the appropriations act; they represent limitations of amounts that agencies may obligate for the purposes and during the time periods specified in the appropriations act. Appropriations may be annual (one-year in duration), multiple-year (a definite period in excess of one fiscal year), or no-year (available indefinitely). Appropriations are also definite (for a specific amount of money) or indefinite (for an unspecified amount of money), and current (for the immediate fiscal year in question) or permanent (always available). See 302(a), 302(b), Authorization(s); authorize(d)(s); authority(ies), Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), Discretionary spending, Report language, Supplemental appropriation(s), and Unauthorized appropriation(s).
Agricultural Assistance Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-7): Signed into law February 20, 2003. The Act (Division N, Title II, of the Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003) provides assistance to producers who suffered losses due to weather-related disasters or other emergency conditions. The Act included a Tobacco Payment Program; extended and modified the Crop Disaster Program for either 2001 or 2002 crops; expanded the Livestock Compensation Program; included $250 million for the Livestock Assistance Program; and provided payments to first handlers of cottonseed and sugarcane processors and producers who suffered hurricane losses, sugarbeet producers who suffered losses due to drought or flood, and producers of specialty crops.
Agricultural association(s): Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a nonprofit or cooperative association of producers, growers, or ranchers incorporated or qualified under applicable state laws to recruit, solicit, hire, employ, furnish, or transport migrant agricultural workers or seasonal agricultural workers.
Agricultural attache service: The Foreign Agricultural Service network of agricultural counselors, attaches, and trade officers stationed overseas, and analysts, marketing specialists, negotiators, and related specialists located in Washington, D.C. The attache service has 105 professional agricultural economists and marketing specialists stationed in 64 posts covering 130 countries.
Agricultural bank(s): (1) A bank that has a significant involvement in agricultural lending. Three methods are commonly used to identify an agricultural bank: (a) location in an agricultural community; (b) a specified proportion of agricultural loans to total loans (e.g., above the average ratio for all banks or greater than 25 percent agricultural loans to total loans); or (c) a specified minimum amount of agricultural loans. (2) According to the Federal Reserve, banks that have above average proportions of farm loans in their loan portfolios. The average farm loan ratio was about 16.2 percent in June 1999, but a typical agricultural bank has an approximate 35 percent average proportion of farm loans to total loans. See Rural bank(s).
Agricultural Bioterrorism Protection Act of 2002: Title II, Subtitle B, of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness Response Act of 2002, which requires that entities such as private, state, and federal research laboratories, universities, and vaccine companies that possess, use, or transfer biological agents or toxins deemed a threat to public health or animal or plant health or products, register these agents with the appropriate federal department. See Overlap agents.
Agricultural commodity graders (grading): (1) Graders who apply quality standards to aid the buying and selling of commodities, and insure that retailers and consumers know the quality of the products they purchase. Although this grading is not required by law, buyers may not be willing to purchase ungraded commodities. Graders usually specialize in an area such as eggs, meat, poultry, processed or fresh fruits and vegetables, grain, tobacco, cotton, or dairy products. They examine product samples to determine quality and grade, and issue official grading certificates. To maintain sanitation standards, graders may inspect the plant and equipment used in processing. Grading services are provided by the Agricultural Marketing Service and Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration. (2) For tobacco, the sorting of cured leaves into uniform lots according to body, color, and degree of damage and spotting. (3) See Beef (carcass) grading.
Agricultural commodity(ies): (1) Grain and nongrain crops, vegetables, fruits, nuts, nursery plants, floriculture, Christmas trees, maple tree sap, animals, products from animals such as milk and eggs, and any other agricultural production, excluding timber, forestry, and forestry products. (2) Any crop planted and produced by annual tilling of the soil; or on an annual basis by one-trip planters; or sugarcane, alfalfa, and other multiyear grasses and legumes in rotation, as approved by the USDA. (3) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1613), any agricultural commodity, food, feed, fiber, or livestock that is subject to a covered program. (4) See Commodity(ies). (5) See Perishable agricultural commodity(ies). (6) For crop insurance purposes, any crop or other commodity produced, regardless of whether or not it is insurable.
Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP): A former program that carried out conservation and environmental protection practices on agricultural land. ACP was a cost-sharing program between agricultural producers, federal and state agencies, and other groups. Cost-sharing was available under annual or long-term agreements. In 1996, under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 334), the ACP was repealed and functions of the ACP were combined in the new Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
Agricultural conversion: The loss of agricultural land to urban, suburban, highway, and other nonagricultural development.
Agricultural cooperative(s): Also known as producers’ cooperatives, they are either federated or centralized types of organizations, although a few cooperatives are a mixture of both. Under a federated organization, individual cooperatives join together to create a business superstructure for the purpose of more coordinated and efficient operation. The individual cooperatives own and control the federated cooperative superstructure rather than vice versa. Members elect the board of directors of the federated cooperative through the local organizations. Under a centralized organization, the parent cooperative owns or controls various satellite or local cooperatives. Members vote directly for the board of directors, who control the total organization.
Agricultural credit: A loan made to a farmer, a rancher, or a producer or harvester of aquacultural or timber products, for any agricultural, aquacultural, or timber purpose and other credit needs of the borrower, including the financing for basic processing and marketing directly related to the borrower’s operation.
Agricultural Credit Act of 1978 (P. L. 95-334): Signed into law Aug. 4, 1978. This Act expanded the eligibility and increased the loan limits for real estate and other Farmers Home Administration farmer program loans, provided for loan servicing and forbearance, provided emergency credit, established new guaranteed loan authority, and established the Emergency Conservation Program.
Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 (P.L. 100-233) (12 U.S.C. §§ 2001 et seq.): Signed into law January 6, 1988. The law provided credit assistance to producers, strengthened the Farm Credit System, and facilitated the establishment of a secondary market for agricultural loans.
Agricultural Credit Associations (ACA): Associations that have been created by the merger of one or more Federal Land Bank Associations and one or more Production Credit Associations, and that have received a transfer of authority to make and participate in long-term real estate mortgage loans.
Agricultural Credit Bank(s) (ACB): Banks created by the merger of a Farm Credit Bank and a Bank for Cooperatives. The ACB makes loans of all kinds to agricultural, aquacultural, and public utility cooperatives, and is authorized to finance U.S. agricultural exports and provide international banking services for producer-owned cooperatives. See Farm Credit System (FCS).
Agricultural Credit Improvement Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-554): Signed into law Oct. 28, 1992. Established the down-payment loan program under which loans are made to qualified beginning farmers and ranchers who make a 10 percent participation down payment on the farm to be purchased. Loans may be made to provide an amount equal to 30 percent of the purchase price or appraised value, whichever is lower, of the property to be acquired. The interest rate is set at 4 percent. The remaining balance, not to exceed 60 percent, may be guaranteed by Farm Service Agency. The purchase price or appraised value of the farm, whichever is lower, cannot exceed $250,000.
Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund (ACIF): Authorized by Title III of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, the ACIF provides direct and guaranteed farm ownership, farm operating, and emergency disaster loans to individuals, joint owners, farm cooperatives, and private domestic corporations and partnerships that are controlled by farmers and ranchers engaged primarily and directly in farming and ranching.
Agricultural Credit Technical Corrections Act of 1988 (P.L. 100-399): Signed into law August 17, 1988. The law corrected the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, restoring language that exempted mergers of the Farm Credit System institutions from state transfer taxes. It also permitted Farm Credit Banks to make long-term real estate loans and provide other financial assistance and discounts to Federal Land Bank Associations, and made technical corrections to authority for the Farm Credit System Financial Assistance Corporation.
Agricultural Credits Act of 1923: Signed into law March 4, 1923. The Act provided for the creation of 12 regional Federal Intermediate Credit Banks to discount short- and intermediate-term loans made by commercial banks, livestock loan companies, and thrift institutions to farmers and ranchers.
Agricultural district(s): Generally, a form of “right to farm” law that provides protection to farming operations from urban encroachment, nuisance suits, adverse tax policy, and eminent domain.
Agricultural Economic Assistance Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-25): Signed into law August 13, 2001. The Act directed the USDA to use specified Commodity Credit Corporation funds for market loss assistance payments to farm owners and producers who were eligible for a final FY2001 production flexibility contract payment (proportional to total 2001 flexibility contract payments received). The Act authorized the use of CCC funds for supplemental 2000 payments to qualifying (a) oilseed producers, (b) peanut producers, (c) wool and mohair producers, (d) tobacco producers (payments to Georgia producers could be made only if Georgia provided specified funds for such purpose), and (e) cottonseed producers and first handlers. Funds were also provided for agricultural promotion activities. The Act also established a $150,000 individual payment limitation on 2001 loan deficiency payments and marketing loan gains.
Agricultural employer(s): Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a person who owns or operates a farm, ranch, processing establishment, cannery, gin, packing shed, or nursery, or who produces or conditions seed, and who either recruits, solicits, hires, employs, furnishes, or transports any migrant agricultural worker or seasonal agricultural worker.
Agricultural employment: (1) Any service or activity defined as agricultural employment in the Fair Labor Standards Act and in the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. (2) The handling, planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, or grading prior to delivery for storage of any agricultural or horticultural commodity in its unmanufactured state. This includes forestry and Christmas tree production.
Agricultural experiment station(s) (AES): See State agricultural experiment station(s) (SAES).
Agricultural Export/Import Statistics Report: See BICO report.
Agricultural Fair Practices Act of 1967 ( (P.L. 90-288) (7 U.S.C. §§ 2301 et seq.): Signed into law April 16, 1968. The Act, administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service, enables producers to file complaints with the USDA if processors refuse to deal with them because they are members of a producers’ bargaining association or marketing association. This statute makes it unlawful for handlers to coerce, intimidate, or discriminate against producers because they belong to such associations. The USDA will institute court proceedings when rights are found to have been violated.
Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-460): The Act requires a report to the Secretary of foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural lands. Foreign persons (including foreign governments and corporations with at least 10 percent foreign ownership) who hold, acquire, or transfer any interest in agricultural land (other than a security interest) must disclose their ownership. No barrier to foreign ownership is included in the Act. Foreign ownership accounts for one percent of all U.S. agricultural lands.
Agricultural Genome Initiative: A program first authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (Sec. 1671) as the Plant Genome Mapping Program and amended by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 835) and the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7208). The goals of the Initiative are to expand knowledge concerning genomes for species of importance to the food and agriculture sectors, focus on the species that will yield scientifically important results, build on other genome research to understand gene structure and function, develop improved bioinformatics to enhance both gene sequencing or structure determination and analysis of the biological function of genes and gene products, and to encourage collaboration and accessibility.
Agricultural holding: Agricultural lands and other units of agricultural production that are held under single management.
Agricultural inputs: Under the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Sec. 403(a)(1)), all farm management, agronomic, and field-applied agricultural production inputs such as machinery, labor, time, fuel, irrigation water, commercial nutrients, feedstuffs, veterinary drugs and vaccines, livestock waste, crop protection chemicals, agronomic data and information, application and management services, seed, and other inputs used in agricultural production.
Agricultural labor(er)(ers): Under provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, any employee engaged in cultivating the soil, growing or harvesting of crops, or raising livestock, bees, fur-bearing animals, or poultry. The definition does not include forestry or Christmas tree operations (including nurseries that produce seedlings for forestry or Christmas tree farms).
Agricultural land(s): (1) Cropland, rangeland, pastureland, forest land, and other land on which crops or livestock are produced. (2) Lands suitable for cultivation with a land capability classification of I, II, III, or IV.
Agricultural lien: An interest in farm products created by statute in favor of a person who either furnished goods or services in the ordinary course of business to a farm debtor or leased real property to a farm debtor, and is not dependent upon possession of the products.
Agricultural Loan Mediation Program: See Certified mediation program, and State mediation grants.
Agricultural Management Assistance (Program) (AMA and AMAP): A program, first established by the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (Title I, Sec. 133) and amended by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 2501), to provide cost-share payments to producers to voluntarily address issues such as water management, water quality, and erosion control by incorporating conservation into their farming operations. Producers may construct or improve water management structures or irrigation structures, plant trees for windbreaks or to improve water quality, and mitigate risk through production diversification or resource conservation practices, including soil erosion control, integrated pest management, or transition to organic farming. Assistance is available in 15 states where participation in the federal crop insurance program is historically low.
Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) (7 U.S.C. §§ 7201 et seq.): Title I of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 that authorized the use of production flexibility contracts. See Agricultural Market Transition program.
Agricultural Market Transition Act (AMTA) payment(s): See Production flexibility contract payment(s).
Agricultural Market Transition program: With passage of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Title I), the level of income support was no longer determined by current commodity prices or levels of production. Restrictions on acreage and crops planted were substantially reduced. These income supports were scheduled to be phased out by 2002, but nonrecourse loans and the marketing loan provisions were to be retained. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 replaced this program with fixed direct payments.
Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. §§ 1621 et. seq.): Signed into law Aug. 14, 1946. This Act amended the Bankhead-Jones Act of 1935 to broaden basic research authority to include marketing and distribution, barriers to free trade, new market opportunities, farm problems that may arise in the future, and related activities. The Act also set grading standards for agricultural products, and authorized voluntary inspection and certification for conformity.
Agricultural Marketing Agreements Act of 1937 (P.L. 75-137) (7 U.S.C. §§ 601 et. seq.): Signed into law June 3, 1937. This Act allowed the USDA to enter into agreements with processors, producers, and producer associations for the promulgation of marketing agreements and orders, including terms and conditions, administration of the Act, and enforcement, with the goal of establishing orderly marketing and fair prices.
Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS): The USDA agency that administers programs and enforces regulations authorized by 31 different statutory authorities to make marketing more orderly and efficient. The AMS mission is carried out in eight broad areas: (a) market news; (b) standards, grading, and shell egg surveillance; (c) market protection and promotion; (d) wholesale market development; (e) transportation services; (f) payments to states and possessions; (g) Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act program; and (h) strengthening agricultural markets and producer income. Its responsibilities include establishing grading standards for cotton, tobacco, meat, dairy products, poultry, eggs, fruits, nuts, and vegetables; operating grading services; and administering federal marketing orders and agreements. The agency also operates the federal-state Market News Service, in cooperation with agencies in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and 3 territories, reporting up-to-the-minute information on prices, supply, and demand for agricultural commodities.
Agricultural Mediation Program: See Certified mediation program, and State mediation grants.
Agricultural officers: Embassy officials responsible for addressing agricultural trade policy issues and preparing reports on agricultural commodities. These officers promote U.S. exports by providing market information, consultations, and facilitative contacts with foreign buyers, and by sponsoring trade events such as trade shows, missions, and seminars.
Agricultural operation(s): The management and use of farming resources for the production of crops, livestock, or poultry.
Agricultural product(s): (1) Includes meat, poultry, vegetables, fruits, and all other agricultural commodities in raw or processed form, except forestry products or fish or fishery products. (2) Under the U.S. Warehouse Act, as amended, an agriculturally-produced product stored or handled for the purposes of interstate or foreign commerce, including a processed product of such agricultural product.
Agricultural Program(s): (1) See Program(s) (agricultural). (2) Under agricultural appropriations, the Agricultural Programs title includes the Office of the Secretary; Executive Operations; Chief Economist; National Appeals Division; Office of Budget and ProgramAnalysis; Office of the Chief Information Officer; Common Computing Environment; Office of the Chief Financial Officer; Working Capital Fund; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration; Agricultural Buildings and Facilities and Rental Payments; Hazardous Materials Management; Departmental Administration; Outreach for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations; Office of Communications; Office of the Inspector General; Office of the General Counsel; Office of the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics; Economic Research Service; National Agricultural Statistics Service; Agricultural Research Service; ARS Buildings and Facilities;Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service Research and Education Activities; Native American Institutions Endowment Fund; Extension Activities; Integrated Activities; Office of the Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs; Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service; APHIS Buildings and Facilities; Agricultural Marketing Service – Marketing Services; Funds for Strengthening Markets, Income, and Supply; Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration; Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety; Food Safety and Inspection Service; Office of the Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services; Farm Service Agency; State Mediation Grants; Dairy Indemnity Program; Agricultural Credit Insurance Fund Program Account; Risk Management Agency; Federal Crop Insurance Corporation fund; Commodity Credit Corporation fund; and Hazardous Waste Management. It is proposed that the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Farm Assistance Programs, and the Emergency Conservation Program be added.
Agricultural Programs Adjustment Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-258): Signed into law April 10, 1984. The law froze target price increases provided in the 1981 Act; authorized paid land diversions for feed grains, upland cotton, and rice; and provided a wheat payment-in-kind program for 1984.
Agricultural protection zones (APZ): Zones designed to minimize land-use conflicts in agricultural areas that are considered prime farmland. Uses of the land that would be disruptive to agriculture are prohibited. Nonfarm dwellings are generally permitted, but their numbers are limited.
Agricultural Quarantine Inspection program (AQI): Part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service pest and disease exclusion programs that protect American agriculture from exotic diseases and pests (in coordination with the U.S. Customs Service), as well as facilitate the entry of U.S. agricultural products into international markets. In 2003, the function of inspecting passengers and cargo at land border crossings with Mexico and Canada was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.
Agricultural Reconciliation Act of 1987 (P.L. 100-203): Signed into law December 22, 1987. This Act is Title I of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987. The Act set the 1988 and 1989 crop year target prices for wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, extra-long staple cotton, and rice, and limited the reduction of the 1988 and 1989 crop year loan rates. The Act also directed the USDA to implement a paid land diversion program for the 1988 and 1989 feed grain crops; reduce 1988 and 1989 peanut program, sugar program, and tobacco program costs by 1.4 percent; reduce honey loan levels; and reduce 1988 milk price-supports. The Act provided advance deficiency payments for the 1988 through 1990 crop years of wheat and feed grains at between 40 percent and 50 percent of the projected payment rate, and rice and upland cotton at between 30 percent and 50 percent of the projected payment rate. The Act significantly reformed payment limitation authority.
Agricultural Research Facilities Planning and Closure Commission: The Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 authorized the creation of a commission to make recommendations to Congress on federal agricultural research facilities, including reviewing existing and proposed research facilities, and identifying those that should be closed, realigned, consolidated, or modernized. This authority was repealed in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 864).
Agricultural research facility(ies): Under the Research Facilities Act, a proposed facility for research in food and agricultural sciences for which federal funds have been requested by a college, university, or nonprofit institution to assist in the construction, alteration, acquisition, modernization, renovation, or remodeling of the facility.
Agricultural Research Service (ARS): The USDA agency that conducts basic, applied, and developmental research of regional, national, and international scope. ARS conducts research in the areas of livestock; plants; soil, water, and air quality; energy; food safety and quality; human nutrition; food processing, storage, and distribution efficiency; nonfood agricultural products; and international development.
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA) (P.L. 105-185): Signed into law June 23, 1998. Reauthorization and reform of federally supported agricultural research, extension, and teaching programs. The Act mandated better integration of research with technology transfer and information dissemination activities, encouraged regional and multi-state cooperation, and sought to target research to the most worthy institutions and programs.
Agricultural Resources Conservation Program (ARCP): A conservation program authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 that combined previous conservation programs with new ones. The ARCP contained three parts: the Environmental Conservation Acreage Reserve Program, the Agricultural Water Quality Protection Program , and the Environmental Easement Program. This umbrella classification was dropped in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996.
Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (ARPA) (P.L. 106-224): Signed into law June 20, 2000. The Act contained two major components: (a) a financial aid package for producers, and (b) funding for crop insurance payments and reforms. Title I (crop insurance) was estimated to cost $7.219 billion over the FY2001-05 period. It contained provisions to increase the premium subsidy for all levels of crop insurance above the catastrophic coverage level, subsidize some of the additional cost of revenue insurance products, improve coverage for producers affected by disasters in multiple years, authorize pilot insurance programs for livestock producers, and ease eligibility requirements for permanent disaster aid for noninsurable producers. Title II included $7.113 billion for additional farm income and related assistance, of which $5.5 billion was to be spent in FY2000. ARPA shifted the focus of new product development research away from the Risk Management Agency to the private sector, removed the Noninsured Assistance Program area yield threshold, required NAP participants to sign up before planting time, and required producer payment of a processing fee. The financial aid package contained additional Agricultural Market Transition Act payments, marketing assistance loans, and loan deficiency payments. See Prohibition on continuous coverage.
Agricultural runoff: Excess water from rainfall or other precipitation that runs off the land. When uncontrolled, such runoff removes nutrients, organic material, pesticides, and sediment, and carries these to water bodies where they become pollutants.
Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS): Prior to the recent reorganization of the USDA, this agency was responsible for administering the price-support and income support programs, as well as some conservation and forestry cost-sharing programs, environmental protection, and emergency programs. ASCS offices were located in nearly all farming counties. See Farm Service Agency (FSA).
Agricultural supplies: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 5402), farm supplies, agricultural-related equipment, agricultural processing equipment, and other capital goods used in storing and handling agricultural commodities or products.
Agricultural Telecommunications Program (7 U.S.C. § 5926): Authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (Sec. 1673), the program goal is to encourage the development and utilization of an agricultural communications network to strengthen agricultural extension, resident instruction, research, and domestic and international marketing of U.S. agricultural commodities through a partnership between eligible institutions and the USDA. The network will employ satellite and other telecommunications technology to disseminate and share academic instruction, cooperative extension programming, agricultural research, and marketing information.
Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-501): Signed into law October 1, 1978. The Act authorized the Commodity Credit Corporation to finance intermediate-term credit export sales of agricultural products, provided financing for deferred payments sales, and established U.S. Agricultural Trade Offices abroad.
Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (Food for Peace) (P.L. 83-480): Signed into law July 10, 1954. The law became the basis for selling and bartering surplus commodities overseas and for overseas relief. The program made U.S. agricultural commodities available through long-term credit sales at low interest rates, provided food relief, and authorized Food for Development programs. See Mickey Leland Food for Peace Act.
Agricultural Trade Office(s) (ATO): Established by the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978, agricultural trade offices are designed to develop, maintain, and expand international markets for U.S. agricultural commodities. The 15 offices are located in major centers of commerce throughout the world, and serve as centers to assist export sales promotions for U.S. exporters, trade groups, and state export marketing officials, and as contact points for importers seeking to buy U.S. farm products.
Agricultural use value: The valuing of agricultural lands for real estate tax purposes at an agricultural value rather than a “highest and best use” value. Agricultural use value represents what producers will pay to buy land in light of the net farm income they can expect to receive from it. See Differential assessment(s).
Agricultural use(s): Generally, land that has been planted to an agricultural crop, used for haying and grazing, idled due to weather-related reasons or natural disasters, or diverted from crop production to an approved cultural practice that prevents erosion or other degradation.
Agricultural waste: Crop, fruit, and vegetable harvest residue, animal manure, and residual materials from the production, processing, and marketing of animals.
Agricultural Water Quality Protection Program (AWQPP): A voluntary program authorized by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 designed to enroll ten million acres of farmland under agricultural water protection plans by 1995. Producers were to agree to enroll cropland for three to five years in exchange for annual incentive payments and cost-sharing with the USDA to carry out the wetland and wildlife habitat option. The AWQPP was repealed in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 336).
Agricultural zoning: The use of police power to regulate privately owned land by adoption of a zoning ordinance that establishes agricultural and other rural uses permitted or exclusively reserved in the area in question.
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-86): Signed into law August 10, 1973. The law established target prices and deficiency payments to replace former price-support payments. It also set payment limitations at $20,000 for all program crops, and authorized disaster payments and a disaster reserve of inventories to alleviate distress caused by natural disasters.
Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 (P.L. 97-98): Signed into law December 22, 1981. The law emphasized making U.S. commodities competitive abroad. It set specific target prices for four years, eliminated rice allotments and marketing quotas, and lowered dairy price-supports.
Agriculture in Concert with the Environment (ACE): Begun in 1991, a joint grants program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the USDA. The primary purpose of the grants program was to promote the adoption of sustainable agriculture practices and reduce the use of highly toxic herbicides and other pesticides. ACE grants were distributed from a joint pool operated by the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics and the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program’s four regional centers that also managed the evaluation, project selection, and distribution of funds for their regions. EPA funds were phased out and USDA funds were subsequently diverted to other funding priorities.
Agriculture Innovation Center Demonstration Program: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 6402), of funds made available for the Value-added Agricultural Product Marketing Development grants program, the USDA shall establish demonstration centers to provide technical assistance, business and marketing planning, and other nonfinancial assistance to value-added agriculture businesses.
Agriculture Risk Management Education Competitive Grants Program (RME): The Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (Sec. 133) amended the Federal Crop Insurance Act to require the USDA to establish a competitive grants program for the purpose of educating agricultural producers about the full range of risk management activities. See Risk management education (RME).
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (P.L. 105-277): Signed into law October 21, 1998. The Act, part of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999, provided $5.9 billion in additional direct assistance to producers to mitigate the effects of low crop prices and natural disasters. Included in this amount was $3.057 billion in market loss assistance payments to compensate grain, cotton, and dairy producers for low commodity prices; $1.5 billion in crop loss disaster payments for 1998 crop losses; $875 million for producers affected by multiple years of disaster; and $200 million for the livestock assistance program.
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 (P.L. 106-78): Signed into law October 22, 1999. Under Title VIII, Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Producers, the Act provided market loss payments and other disaster assistance. Included were supplemental payments to commodity producers through advanced Agricultural Market Transition Act payments; additional payments to dairy, tobacco, peanuts, and livestock producers; crop loss disaster payments; an extension of the dairy price-support program for one year; a one-year recourse loan program for honey and mohair; funding for the Dairy Indemnity Program; resumption of the Step 2 payments for cotton handlers; and suspension of the sugar marketing assessment. See Emergency and Disaster Assistance for Producers.
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (P.L. 106-387): Signed into law October 28, 2000. Under Title IX, Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, the Act set forth provisions respecting presidential and congressional authorities and procedures for the imposition of new, and termination of existing, unilateral agricultural or medical sanctions-particularly sanctions affecting Cuba. The Act provided for limited trade with Cuba, but it also included new travel restrictions. Further restrictions are that no U.S. Government assistance, including foreign assistance, export assistance, and any credit or guarantees, shall be available for exports to Cuba. The same applies to commercial exports to Iran, Libya, North Korea, or Sudan, unless a waiver from the prohibition is granted by the President. The Act also included an increase in the payment limitation on marketing loan gains and loan deficiency payments for producers from $75,000 to $150,000 for the 2000 crop year.
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (P.L. 107-76): Signed into law November 28, 2001. The Act provided 2000 crop year market loss assistance for apple producers; prohibited funds to be used to pay the salaries of personnel to carry out a conservation farm option program; amended the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the USDA to make grants to state agencies to establish rural broadband service in rural areas without local dial-up internet access or broadband service; amended the Agricultural Market Transition Act to extend the milk price-support program through May 31, 2002, and terminated the recourse loan program for commercial processors of dairy products; and renamed the Farmer-to-Farmer Program as the John Ogonowski Farmer-to-Farmer Program.
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (P.L. 109-97): Signed into law November 10, 2005. The Act contained funding levels for most USDA discretionary programs ($17,088 billion), although tight budget constraints required keeping FY2006 discretionary spending close to the FY2005 level. The Act postpones mandatory country of origin labeling provisions through September 30, 2008 (Sec. 792). The Act also effectively prohibited the slaughter of horses for human food by banning appropriated funds to pay for federal inspection of slaughtering plants for approximately the last six months of the fiscal year (Sec. 794).
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (P.L. 109-97): Signed into law November 10, 2005. The Act contained funding levels for most USDA discretionary programs ($17,088 billion), although tight budget constraints required keeping FY2006 discretionary spending close to the FY2005 level. The Act postpones mandatory country of origin labeling provisions through September 30, 2008 (Sec. 792). The Act also effectively prohibited the slaughter of horses for human food by banning appropriated funds to pay for federal inspection of slaughtering plants for approximately the last six months of the fiscal year (Sec. 794).
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (P.L. 109-97): Signed into law November 10, 2005. The Act contained funding levels for most USDA discretionary programs ($17,088 billion), although tight budget constraints required keeping FY2006 discretionary spending close to the FY2005 level. The Act postpones mandatory country of origin labeling provisions through September 30, 2008 (Sec. 792). The Act also effectively prohibited the slaughter of horses for human food by banning appropriated funds to pay for federal inspection of slaughtering plants for approximately the last six months of the fiscal year (Sec. 794).
Agrigenomics; agri-genomics: The study of the make-up of and interaction between genes in crops and combinatorial chemistry.
Agripreneurship: Generally, sustainable, community-oriented, directly-marketed agriculture. Also includes agritourism and civic agriculture.
Agritourism; agrotourism: Agricultural activities that feature educational and recreational activities in addition to the traditional role as commodity production.
Agro-silvo-pastoral: Land-use system in which woody perennials are grown with agricultural crops, forage crops, and livestock. See Agroforestry.
Agrobiodiversity: The fundamental feature of agriculture worldwide that encompasses many types of biological resources tied together, including (a) genetic resources (the essential living materials of plants and animals); (b) edible plants and crops (including varieties, cultivars, hybrids, and other genetic material developed by breeders); (c) livestock; (d) freshwater fish; (e) soil organisms vital to soil fertility, structure, quality, and soil health; (f) naturally occurring insects, bacteria, and fungi that control insect pests and diseases of domesticated plants and animals; (g) agroecosystem components and types (polyculture/monoculture, small/large scale, and dryland/irrigation) indispensable for nutrient cycling, stability, and productivity; and (h) “wild” resources (species and elements) of natural habitats and landscapes that can provide services (for example, pest management and ecosystem stability) to agriculture. See Biodiversity.
Agrobiology: The science of improving soil conditions and crop yields.
Agrochemical(s): See Agrichemical(s).
Agroecology: (1) A form of sustainable agriculture that often incorporates ideas about a more environmentally and socially sensitive approach to agriculture, focusing not only on production, but also on the ecological sustainability of the productive system. (2) The study of purely ecological phenomena within the crop field, such as predator/prey relations or crop/weed competition.
Agroecosystem(s): The complex of living organisms interwoven within the agricultural environment. See Ecosystem(s).
Agroforestry: The intentional growing of trees and shrubs in combination with crops and forage. It includes trees and shrub plantings on a farm or ranch that improve habitat value or access by humans and wildlife, or that provide woody plant products in addition to agricultural crops or forage. It is distinguished from conventional forestry by having the additional aspect of a closely associated agricultural or forage crop.
Agronomic rate(s): The rate at which manure can be applied so that it matches the nitrogen and phosphorus requirements of the crop. The rate is determined by evaluating the soils, the expected yield of the crop, and the contributions made by nitrogen and phosphorus from other sources such as crop residues and applied fertilizer.
Agronomy; agronomic: The science of crop production and soil management.
Agrostology: The study of grasses.
AgSTAR program: A voluntary program jointly sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, USDA, and Department of Energy to encourage the use of methane recovery (biogas) technologies for concentrated animal feeding operations that manage manure as liquids or slurries. The technologies reduce greenhouse gas concentrations while achieving other environmental benefits.
AHS: Administrative Heads of Agriculture Section
AI: Artificial insemination
AILFP: American Indian Livestock Feed Program
AIN: Animal identification number(s)
AIN/RF tag(s): An animal identification number tag that also contain a RFID transponder.
Air-cured tobacco: A process that uses natural atmospheric conditions to prepare the crop for use. Usually this tobacco is cured without supplementary heat, although artificial heat is sometimes used to control excess humidity during the drying period. See Curing (tobacco).
Air-injection stunning: The now-banned practice of using a captive bolt stun gun built to inject compressed air into the cranium of cattle so as to disrupt the brain structures and induce total and prolonged unconsciousness. See Penetrative stunning device(s).
Air-jet spinning: A continuous cotton-spinning process where fibers wrap around each other separately and then wrap around each other creating fiber bundles. The fiber bundles are then transformed to yarn by rotating the fiber bundles in opposite directions.
Alar: A pesticide that makes apples redder, firmer, and less likely to drop from trees before growers are ready to harvest.
Alaska Native-Serving and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions Education Grants Program: A formula grants program to promote and strengthen the ability of public or private non-profit Alaska native-serving institutions (20 percent native students) and native Hawaiian-serving institutions (10 percent native students), including both 2-year and 4-year institutions, to carry out higher education academic programs in the food and agricultural sciences. Grants also may be used for other educational activities having a direct and explicit connection to higher education, such as recruitment, mentoring, and support programs, for under-represented students at the high school level in order to enhance educational equity and prepare them for advanced study at the collegiate level, and for careers related to the food, fiber, agricultural, and renewable natural resource systems.
ALB: Asian long-horned beetle
Alfalfa: A valuable leguminous crop for forage or hay used in livestock feeding.
Algicides: Pesticides used to control algae in lakes, canals, swimming pools, water tanks, and other sites.
Alkaline; alkalinity: (1) The measure of a solution on a pH scale that is greater than 7.0. (2) Soil with a pH of more than 7.0.
Allelopathy: Inhibition of the growth of one plant by compounds produced by another plant or its decay products. Plants that produce such compounds are called allelopathic. Allelopathy is considered to be a defense mechanism that reduces competition from other plants.
Alley cropping: An agroforestry practice of planting trees or shrubs in rows or corridors with alleys of agronomic crops or forages between for the purposes of (a) producing crops and forage, (b) producing wood and tree products, and (c) improving product quality and quantity by improving the microclimate. See Conservation buffer(s) strip(s).
Alley(s): (1) A walking area for cattle within a barn or holding pen, such as a loafing alley or feeding alley. (2) See Alley cropping.
Alliance(s): (1) See Strategic alliance(s). (2) The creation of economies of scale and effective marketing coordination among producers thereby increasing member marketing leverage. Alliances can integrate the livestock market both horizontally (among producers) and vertically (among producers, breeders, feedlot operators, and packers). An alliance is generally developed around some common goals or values which may include a health and management program, a specific breed, a geographic identity, or an emphasis on leanness. Alliances allow livestock producers to share equally in potential profits through retained ownership, and improve livestock consistency by grouping together animals of like type, finish, and cutability. Alliances do not guarantee profits. Premiums are given only to animals that meet specifications. See Horizontal integration, and Vertical integration;vertically integrated.
Allied industry(ies); allied business(es); allied company(ies): Traditionally, companies that supply goods and services to the food processing industry, including transportation, feed, packaging, ingredients, storage, chemicals, communications, marketing, equipment, and technical services companies.
Allocation(s): The division of things into shares or portions. In economics, the term refers primarily to the “allocation of resources,” the process by which economic resources are allotted to their particular uses for directly or indirectly satisfying human wants. The allocation process includes market allocation, “forcible allocation,” “governmental allocation,” and “traditional” (or “customary”) allocation of resources, depending upon the kinds of social processes and incentives by which various sorts of scarce resources are allocated.
Allotment management plan(s) (AMP): Prescribes specific range improvements and activities permissible on federal grazing leases.
Allotment transfer: As authorized by the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and amended by the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (Sec. 204(b)(8)), allotments for fire-cured tobacco, dark air-cured tobacco, and Virginia sun-cured tobacco may be transferred, although the total acreage allotted to any farm after the transfer cannot exceed 50 percent of the acreage of cropland on the farm.
Allotment(s): See Acreage allotment(s), Allotment(s) (marketing order), and Sugar (marketing) allotment(s).
Allotment(s) (marketing order): A quantity provision, such as volume control, in a marketing order that determines the amount of a regulated commodity that individual handlers may market.
Allowance for loan losses: Funds set aside to absorb the estimated amount of probable losses in a credit institution’s loan portfolio.
Allowed synthetic: A substance that is included on the National List of Allowed Synthetic and Prohibited Non-Synthetic Substances for use in organic production or handling.
Alluvial soil: A soil consisting of recently deposited alluvium and showing practically no horizon development or other modification of the deposited material. The term alluvium, originally including any sort of water deposit, is increasingly being restricted to the finer soil fractions such as clay and silt. Deposits from particularly strong water action are sometimes termed diluvium.
Alluvium: See Alluvial soil.
almonella enteritidis (SE): A foodborne illness associated with raw and undercooked eggs that can cause death in the elderly, infants, and those with weakened immune systems. See Foodborne illness(es).
Alternate hosts: Alternate plant hosts, such as weeds, that provide food and habitat for pests from which they may later launch an invasion on nearby primary crops.
Alternate stocking: The repeated grazing and resting of forage using two paddocks in succession.
Alternative (loan) repayment rate: A loan repayment rate that reflects current market prices for an eligible commodity. The USDA uses different formulas to determine the repayment rate for the covered commodities and other commodities such as peanuts, wool, mohair, honey, small chickpeas, lentils, and dry peas, and announces it at different times and for different time intervals. In the cases of wheat, feed grains, and oilseeds, the rate is commonly known as the posted county price. In the cases of upland cotton and rice, it is the adjusted world price. See Marketing loan repayment (provision) (MLR).
Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Center: See Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Corporation (AARC).
Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Center (AARC): See Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Corporation (AARC).
Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Corporation (AARC): Established in 1990 to encourage research and assist with the commercialization of new nonfood, nonfeed uses for traditional and new agricultural commodities. Its goal was to create jobs, enhance economic development in rural economies, and diversify markets for raw agricultural and forestry products. Programming direction for the Corporation was provided by an 11-member board of directors representing the USDA and processing, commercialization, scientific, managerial, financial, and commodity production interests. The Corporation operated as an independent entity under the general supervision of the Secretary. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 722) converted the AARC from a center to a corporation. The authorization for the corporation was repealed in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 6201).
Alternative agriculture: Generally, small, low-cost, resource-conserving, environmentally sound, and economically viable farming practices. Options include (a) the production of nontraditional feed and forage, fiber, fuel, edible and industrial oils, food grains, pseudocereals, legumes, ethnic and specialty vegetables, fruits and nuts, horticultural/nursery crops, agroforestry/forest products, game animals, exotic animals, minor breeds, special-use animals and poultry, and medicine-related crops, (b) aquaculture, (c) recreation and education, (d) farm and home enterprises and services, and (e) value-added, on-farm processing. See Alternative farming.
Alternative calculation methods: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1001), for the purpose of making direct payments and counter-cyclical payments with respect to a farm, a producer has the opportunity to elect a method by which the base acres of all covered commodities on the farm are to be determined. Producers may elect one of two calculations for determining base acres: (a) acreage planted to a covered commodity from the 1998 through 2001 crop years and any acreage of a covered commodity a producer was prevented from planting during the same time period, or (b) the contract acreage used to calculate the 2002 production flexibility contracts and the 1998 through 2001 crop years average of eligible oilseed acreage. Producers who fail to make the one-time election shall be considered to have selected the 2002 contract acreage and the four-year average of oilseed plantings, if applicable. See Base acres (acreage), Crop acreage base (CAB), and Update; updating.
Alternative catastrophic (crop insurance) coverage: Under the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, beginning with the 2001 crop year, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation shall offer producers the option of selecting either (a) standard catastrophic risk protection coverage, or (b) alternative catastrophic coverage that indemnifies the producer on an area yield-and-loss basis if such a policy or plan is offered for the agricultural commodity in the county in which the farm is located. The coverage shall be offered with a higher combination of yield and price protections.
Alternative conservation system: A combination of conservation practices, including crop rotation and installing conservation structures, that achieves a significant reduction in soil erosion.
Alternative crop(s): (1) Under former farm bills, any crop other than program crops that a producer was permitted to grow on Acreage Reduction Program, flex, or set-aside acres. (2) Crops that can be manufactured into products that provide an alternative to traditional products for industrial use or that substitute for imported products. (3) Crops that provide an alternative source of income to producers in addition to, or instead of, normal production. Also Supplemental crop(s). See Nontraditional crop(s).
Alternative farming: Production methods other than energy- and chemical-intensive, one-crop farming (monoculture). Alternatives include the use of animal and green manure rather than chemical fertilizers, integrated pest management to reduce reliance on chemical pesticides, reduced tillage, crop rotations (especially with legumes to add nitrogen), alternative crops, or diversification of the farm enterprise. See Alternative agriculture.
Alternative fuel(s): (1) Fuels other than fossil fuels, including biofuels, electricity, methanol, ethanol, hydrogen, coal-derived liquid fuels, and solar energy. The development of alternative fuels is promoted as providing energy security and environmental benefits. (2) As defined by the EPA, methanol, denatured ethanol, and other alcohols, separately or in mixtures of 85 percent by volume or more with gasoline or other fuels.
Alternative pest control: The development and use of nonchemical control of pests in crops, primarily through the finding and employing of natural enemies of pests and the utilization of advances in biotechnology, for the purpose of minimizing negative effects of (a) chemical residue in soil, water, and food; (b) pest resistance; (c) injury to nontarget crops; (d) elimination of beneficial insects; and (e) impacts on fish, birds, and mammals.
AMA: Agricultural Management Assistance
AMAP: Agricultural Management Assistance Program
Amaranth: A grain (although related to spinach) with origins in Central America, it largely disappeared following the Spanish conquest. Amaranth is a hardy crop that is resistant to drought and cold and is higher in fat and oil than other grains. It contains high-quality protein and is also high in fiber with an abundance of calcium, iron, and vitamin C.
Amber Box policies: Government internal supports with significant consequences beyond a country’s borders that seriously distort trade. For Amber Box policies, countries are not able to exceed the level of support to which they have agreed as measured by the Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS). The AMS essentially totals, commodity by commodity, a country’s support measures linked to production. Generally, these policies involve transfers from consumers or are linked to production of specific commodities. They include price-supports, marketing loans, payments based on acreage or number of livestock, input subsidies, and certain subsidized loan programs.
Amendments to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (PACA) (P.L.104-48): Signed into law November 15, 1995. This Act amended the longstanding law designed to promote fair trade in the fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable industry by increasing license fees for all licensees except retailers, simplifying the procedure for trust protection for sellers, and giving the USDA new authority to fine PACA violators rather than revoking or suspending their licenses. See Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 1930 (PACA).
American Agri-Women (AAW): A national coalition of farm, ranch, and agribusiness women’s organizations founded in 1974. American Agri-Women works in areas of legislation, regulations, consumer relations, promotion, and education. Since food and fiber producers represent less than two percent of the population, the mission of American Agri-Women is to magnify the political influence of agriculture and to educate consumers and school children as to the needs of agriculture.
American Agriculture Movement (AAM): A grassroots organization dedicated to reforms in federal farm policy. The AAM was founded in 1977 and galvanized during the farm strike tractorcade on Washington, D.C. in 1979.
American Association of Schools and Colleges of Agriculture and Renewable Resources (AASCARR): An association of public non-land grant institutions of higher education with significant agricultural programs.
American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF): Formed in 1919, it is the nation’s largest general farm organization. The federation is composed of organizations in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, representing over 2,800 county farm bureaus with nearly five million family members. The AFBF mission is to implement policies that are developed by its members and to promote the financial well-being and quality of life for farmers and ranchers.
American Farmland Trust (AFT): A private, nonprofit organization founded in 1980 to protect the nation’s farmland. The AFT works to stop the loss of productive farmland and to promote farming practices that lead to a healthy environment.
American foulbrood: A bacterial disease that causes bee larvae to deteriorate into a brown, stringy mass with a foul odor. Although foulbrood spores can be found in honey, they pose no threat to humans.
American Indian Livestock Feed Program (AILFP): Provided emergency financial feed assistance to livestock owners on tribal-governed land affected by a natural disaster that caused more than a 35 percent reduction in feed produced in the region for a defined period. The Commodity Credit Corporation contracted with the governments of the affected tribes who administered the program. Funding was discontinued for FY2002.
American Meat Institute (AMI): Founded in Chicago in 1906, soon after passage of the Federal Meat Inspection Act and now based in Washington, D.C., it represents the interests of its 1,100 member meat and poultry companies, subsidiaries, and plants to the federal government, Congress, the media, and the public. The AMI has been active in supporting food safety research and consumer education.
American Pima; Pima: Often referred to as extra-long staple (ELS) cotton because of its long, fine fiber. Pima is a different species from commonly grown upland cotton. American Pima fiber is primarily used for sewing thread and in high-quality broad cloth and other fabrics where silky smoothness, softness, and luster are desired.
American Sheep Industry Association (ASI): A federation of state organizations and individuals representing sheep and goat producers across the nation. ASI also has associate members from national breed associations and businesses directly and indirectly involved in the industry. ASI represents the interests of the 70,000 American sheep and goat producers before Congress and the Administration, and is dedicated to creating coalitions among all industry segments.
American Soybean Association (ASA): Organized in 1925 and incorporated in 1946, the ASA is a nonprofit, producer-controlled organization working to strengthen soybeans as a viable crop. Its aim is to ensure an ongoing demand from food and feed processors for soybeans. ASA encourages the development and promotion of soy-based products and promotes the use of U.S. soybeans and soybean products.
American Sugarbeet Growers Association (ASGA): Incorporated in 1975, the ASGA is dedicated to uniting the sugarbeet producers in the U.S., and promoting the common interests of its members which include legislative and international representation and public relations. The ASGA represents over 12,000 sugarbeet producers in 13 states.
AMI: American Meat Institute
AMLAP: Apple Market Loss Assistance Program
Ammonia; See Anhydrous ammonia.
Amortize(d); amortization: The gradual elimination of a liability, such as a mortgage, in regular payments over a specified period of time. See Reamortization; reamortize.
AMP: Allotment management plan
AMR: Advanced meat recovery
AMS: Aggregate Measure of Support
AMS: Agricultural Marketing Service
AMS: Agricultural Marketing Service
AMTA: Agricultural Market Transition Act
Anaerobe: An organism that grows in the absence of oxygen or air.
Anaerobic: An environment without air.
Anaerobic decomposition: The degradation of materials into simpler compounds by microorganisms that can survive in the partial or complete absence of oxygen. The process is generally slower than aerobic decomposition.
Anaerobic digester(s): Systems producing conditions that encourage the natural breakdown of organic matter by bacteria in the absence of air. The digestion process takes place in a warmed, sealed, airless container that creates the ideal conditions for the bacteria to ferment the organic material in oxygen-free conditions. The digestion tank must be warmed and mixed thoroughly to create the ideal conditions for bacteria to convert organic matter into biogas. See Anaerobic decomposition, and Anaerobic digestion (AD).
Anaerobic digestion (AD): A type of resource recovery process that turns residues and waste from livestock production and food processing into biogas and fertilizer through the degradation of organic matter by microorganisms in the absence of oxygen.
Anaerobic lagoon: A liquid-based manure management system where waste is stored and treated in water to a depth of at least six feet for a period ranging between 30 and 200 days. The lagoon acts as a biological tank in which the manure is partially decomposed in an oxygen-depleted environment before it is used on land as a fertilizer. See Aerobic lagoon, Anaerobic decomposition, Anaerobic digestion (AD), and Covered lagoon.
Anaplasmosis: A bacterial infection causing blood diseases in cattle. The bacterial infection, transmitted by flies and mosquitos, destroys red blood cells and is often fatal.
Anatomist: One who studies the anatomy of plants and animals.
Andean Pact: An arrangement between Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela-first established in 1969 (Venezuela joined in 1973; Chile joined but left in 1976)-for the coordination of economic policies including the elimination of trade barriers within the group; the creation of a customs union with common external tariff; harmonization of economic, social, and economic policies; and the adoption of a joint industrialization program.
Anhydrous ammonia: A fertilizer that is a colorless gas under normal conditions but becomes liquified when cooled and placed under high pressure. It is injected into the soil under its own pressure at approximately four to eight inches under the surface.
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS): Formerly an agency of the USDA. The agency conducts regulatory and control programs to protect animal and plant health in order to preserve the marketability of U.S. agricultural products both for domestic use and for export. The agency is responsible for inspection and certification of animals, plants, and certain related products to meet health and/or sanitary requirements. APHIS activities include pest and disease exclusion programs, plant and animal health monitoring programs, pest and disease management programs, animal care programs, scientific and technical services, and resolving and managing trade issues related to animal or plant health. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Sec. 402) authorized the transfer of APHIS to the new Department of Homeland Security.
Animal Care (AC): The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service unit that conducts inspections to ensure the proper stewardship of animals used in research, exhibition, or other regulated industries.
Animal Damage Control (ADC): See Wildlife Services (WS).
Animal Damage Control Act (7 U.S.C. §§ 426-426c): Signed into law March 2, 1931, and amended in 1987 (P. L. 100-202) and 1991 (P. L. 102-237). The Act gives the USDA broad authority to investigate and control certain predatory or wild animals and nuisance mammal and bird species.
Animal digester: See Animal tissue digester.
Animal Drug Availability Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-250): Signed into law October 9, 1996. Due to a slowdown in the approval of animal drugs in recent years, Congress streamlined the Food and Drug Administration approval process. The goals of the act are to (a) insure safer food products, (b) continue the availability of affordable food, (c) provide much-needed medicines for the effective, therapeutic treatment of animals, (d) protect American jobs and open potential markets worldwide, and (e) insure that U.S. agriculture continues to be the strongest in the world.
Animal drugs: Drugs used for the treatment of disease in animals, as defined in Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (Sec. 201), as amended. The Food and Drug Administration is mandated with the responsibility to assure the safety and effectiveness of animal drugs. Failure to treat diseased animals can lead to the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Animal enterprise: A commercial or academic enterprise that (a) uses animals for food or fiber production, agriculture, research, or testing; (b) a zoo, aquarium, circus, rodeo, or lawful competitive animal event; or (c) any fair or similar event intended to advance agricultural arts and sciences.
Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-346) (18 U.S.C. § 43): Signed into law Aug. 26, 1992. The Act makes it a federal offense, punishable by fine and/or imprisonment for up to one year, to cause physical disruption to the functioning of an animal enterprise resulting in economic damage exceeding $10,000. The Act also imposes sentences of up to ten years or life imprisonment, respectively, on persons causing the serious bodily injury or death of another person during the course of such an offense.
Animal feeding operation(s) (AFO): Agricultural enterprises where livestock are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs congregate animals, feed, waste management, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures or fields. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, an animal feeding operation is a lot or facility (other than an aquatic animal production facility) where: (a) animals have been, are, or will be stabled or confined and fed or maintained for a total of 45 days or more in any 12-month period, and (b) crops, vegetation, forage growth, or post-harvest residues are not sustained in the normal growing season over any portion of the lot or facility. EPA regulations provide detailed criteria for determining when an AFO is also a concentrated animal feeding operation subject to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program. The EPA estimates that 238,000 out of 1.3 million livestock operations in the U.S. are AFOs. See Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations.
Animal food manufacturer: Under 12 U.S.C.§ 601, any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing or processing animal food derived wholly or in part from carcasses, or parts of products of the carcasses, of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, mules, or other equines.
Animal Health and Disease Research (7 U.S.C. § 3195): Formula funds made available by the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (Sec. 1433) to accredited schools or Colleges of Veterinary Medicine or state agricultural experiment stations that conduct animal health and disease research. Research funds are provided for support of new research initiatives or enhanced research capacity in livestock and poultry disease research, specifically targeting improved animal health, reduced use of antibacterial drugs, and improved food safety. Funds are distributed based upon the relative value of the livestock and poultry industry in each recipient state and the research capacity at each eligible institution. Amounts provided in excess of $100,000 must be matched. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7107) extended the authority through FY2007.
Animal Health and Disease Research (7 U.S.C. § 3195): Formula funds made available by the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (Sec. 1433) to accredited schools or Colleges of Veterinary Medicine or state agricultural experiment stations that conduct animal health and disease research. Research funds are provided for support of new research initiatives or enhanced research capacity in livestock and poultry disease research, specifically targeting improved animal health, reduced use of antibacterial drugs, and improved food safety. Funds are distributed based upon the relative value of the livestock and poultry industry in each recipient state and the research capacity at each eligible institution. Amounts provided in excess of $100,000 must be matched. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7107) extended the authority through FY2007.
Animal health official(s): Official responsible for livestock and poultry disease control and eradication programs.
Animal Health Protection Act (P.L. 107-171) (7 U.S.C. §§ 8301 et seq.): Title X, Subtitle E, Sections 10401-10418 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. The Act consolidates animal health programs in order to fill gaps in existing laws, clarify areas of uncertainty, standardize the USDA’s responsibility and authority, and enhance the USDA’s ability to carry out the mission of the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service. The Act allows APHIS to deal expeditiously with critical and emerging animal disease outbreaks that may threaten the health and economic viability of the animal agriculture industry.
Animal husbandry: The proper breeding, feeding, and care of farm animals.
Animal identification: Herd management programs for unique animal identification through the use of ear notching, ear tags, back tags, neck chains, tail tags, freeze brands, tattoos, paint marks, leg bands, electronic identification (including bar codes), and radio frequency identification. Animal identification is used to identify all animals that move beyond their herds of origin through the point of carcass inspection at the packing plant. Animal identification is important for disease control and eradication, disease surveillance and monitoring, emergency response to foreign animal diseases, global trade, livestock production efficiency, food safety, and emergency management programs.
Animal identification: Herd management programs for unique animal identification through the use of ear notching, ear tags, back tags, neck chains, tail tags, freeze brands, tattoos, paint marks, leg bands, electronic identification (including bar codes), and radio frequency identification. Animal identification is used to identify all animals that move beyond their herds of origin through the point of carcass inspection at the packing plant. Animal identification is important for disease control and eradication, disease surveillance and monitoring, emergency response to foreign animal diseases, global trade, livestock production efficiency, food safety, biodefense, and emergency management programs. See Country-of-origin labeling (COOL), National Animal Identification & Tracking, Traceability and Tracing.
Animal identification: Herd management programs for unique animal identification through the use of ear notching, ear tags, back tags, neck chains, tail tags, freeze brands, tattoos, paint marks, leg bands, electronic identification (including bar codes), and radio frequency identification. Animal identification is used to identify all animals that move beyond their herds of origin through the point of carcass inspection at the packing plant. Animal identification is important for disease control and eradication, disease surveillance and monitoring, emergency response to foreign animal diseases, global trade, livestock production efficiency, food safety, biodefense, and emergency management programs. See Country-of-origin labeling (COOL), National Animal Identification & Tracking, Traceability and Tracing.
Animal identification number (AIN) allocator: The program administered by APHIS that releases and maintains a record of animal identification numbers provided to AIN tag manufacturers.
Animal identification number (AIN) tag distributor: A person or entity that distributes and/or takes orders for AIN tags. The distributor has an agreement with an AIN tag manager who must report distribution information to the National Animal Records Repository.
Animal identification number (AIN) tag manager: An entity authorized by APHIS to distribute AIN tags to a premises. The tag manager agrees to validate the premises number of the receiving operation and report the animal identification number distributed to that receiving operation to theNational Premises Information Repository.
Animal identification number (AIN) tag manufacturer(s): A company that is authorized by APHIS to receive animal identification numbers and produce AIN tags.
Animal identification number (AIN) tag(s): Official, visual animal identification devices that have an AIN printed on them
Animal identification number(s) (AIN): The sole national numbering system for the official identification of individual animals in the U.S. The format contains 15 digits: the first three are the country code (840 for the U.S.) and the following 12 digits are the animal’s national number.
Animal movement (event(s)): Reportable movement of animals including change of ownership, interstate movement, and multiple owners commingling their animals.
Animal protein: Protein in animal feed that is produced from meat, animal products, milk, poultry, and other animal sources. Feed made from mammal animal protein, with few exceptions, was prohibited for use in ruminant animals on August 4, 1997, by the Food and Drug Administration.
Animal rights: A philosophy that animals have the same rights as people. In its extreme, animal rights activists propose the end of the use of animals for companionship, pets, food, fiber, entertainment, and medical research.
Animal tissue digester: A system for animal carcass disposal most commonly using a sodium hydroxide solution (lye) and heat treatment, the combination of which digests the tissue into a liquid waste and destroys microorganisms. After chemical dilution to decrease the pH of the waste, it can be discharged in municipal sanitary wastewater treatment systems.
Animal tissue disposal system: See Animal tissue digester.
Animal unit day: The amount of dry forage consumed by one animal unit per 24-hour period. Animal unit day is used to express the quantity of forage intake for a period of time and may be extrapolated to other time periods such as week, month, or year.
Animal unit month (AUM): Amount of feed or forage required to maintain one animal unit (cow and her calf, or one horse, or five sheep or goats) for one month.
Animal unit(s): (1) A standard measure based on feed requirements, used to combine various classes of livestock according to size, weight, age, and use. (2) One thousand pounds of live weight of any given livestock species. (3) A cow and her calf, or one horse, or five sheep or goats.
Animal waste management facility: A structural practice used for storage or treatment of animal waste.
Animal waste utilization: Using agricultural waste on land in an environmentally friendly manner while maintaining or improving soil and plant resources.
Animal welfare: The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 addresses animal welfare issues such as the handling of nonambulatory livestock, humane slaughter, and interstate shipment of fighting birds. The Act further clarifies Congressional intent regarding regulation of certain animals used in biomedical research under the Animal Welfare Act.
Animal Welfare Act (AWA) (P.L. 89-544) (7 U.S.C. §§ 2131-2156): Signed into law August 24, 1966, and amended in 1970, 1976, 1985, 1990, and 2002. It authorizes the USDA to regulate the transport, sale, and handling of dogs, cats, primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits intended for research and for other purposes. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Secs. 10301-10305) amends the AWA to address issues such as the handling of nonambulatory livestock, humane slaughter, and interstate shipment of fighting birds. The Act also denies birds, rats, and mice bred for use in research AWA protection.
Annecy, France: The round involved negotiations with nations that desired GATT membership. Principal emphasis was on tariff reduction.
Announced loan level: See Announced loan rate.
Announced loan rate: Under former farm bill programs also known as the announced loan level and effective loan rate. Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the announced loan rate was calculated as an adjustment to the basic or formula loan rate. The USDA, at its discretion, could (a) reduce the basic loan rate by 10 percent if the projected year-end stocks-to-use ratio was 30 percent or more, or (b) reduce the basic loan rate by 5 percent if the projected stocks-to-use ratio was 15 to 30 percent, or (c) make no reduction if the projected stocks-to-use ratio was less than 15 percent. A similar provision was found in the feedgrains program. The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 established a set loan rate for marketing assistance loans. See Basic loan rate, Findley loan rate, and Formula loan rate.
Announced loan repayment rate: See Adjusted world price (AWP), and Posted county price (PCP).
Announced world price: See Adjusted world price (AWP).
Annual (contract) payment rate: See Payment rate.
Annual(s): Generally, a plant that completes its entire life cycle in one growing season.
Antemortem (inspection): Required pre-slaughter inspection of animals under federal inspection programs.
Anthracnose: A fungal disease characterized by black, sunken lesions on fruits, leaves, or stems.
Anthrax: A disease of cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses, and humans caused by the Bacillus anthractis bacterium. In animals, anthrax causes high fever, swelling, nonclotting bleeding, and death.
Antibiotic(s): Used in livestock and poultry production to improve feed efficiency and growth rate through the control of disease. Antibiotics have been credited for making large feedlots and other confinement feeding operations feasible.
Antibody: A protein produced by the immune system of humans and higher animals in response to the presence of a specific antigen.
Antibody (based) assay(s): A rapid assay that links a familiar characteristic on a pathogen’s surface (the antigen) to a substance known to be an antibody. When this connection is made, the test registers “success.” See Nucleic acid (based) assay(s).
Anticipated residue level (ARL): The expected level of pesticide in food crops and in processed foods. Data on ARLs comes from the proportion of the crop actually treated. The data used may vary depending on whether the estimate is made prior to registration of a pesticide or after a pesticide is in use. Residue data on foods collected in market basket surveys can be used, or ARL may be from manufacturers’ field trials and processing studies.
Antigen(s): A foreign substance (almost always a protein) that, when introduced into the body, stimulates an immune response.
Antimicrobial resistance (in livestock): The belief that the emergence of antibiotic resistance in humans is linked to the agricultural use of antibiotics in livestock.
Antimicrobial(s): Pesticides that kill microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.
Antioxidant(s): Protect key cell components by neutralizing the damaging effects of free radicals.
APEP: Accelerated Pseudorabies Eradication Program
APH: Actual production history
APH: Actual Production History insurance
APH: Actual Production History insurance
Aphid(s): Among the smallest and most defenseless of all insects, aphids reproduce rapidly, feeding on nearly every type of green plant. Aphids feed on the sap of plants, attacking leaves, stems, fruit, and roots. Among the most destructive are the cabbage aphid, corn root aphid, greenbug aphid, green peach aphid, melon aphid, rose aphid, apple aphid, pea aphid, cotton aphid, and alfalfa aphid.
APHIS: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Apiary: A collection of bee colonies or bee hives kept for their honey.
Apomixis: Asexual seed production that produces progeny that are uniform and exact replicas of the maternal parent.
Apple Market Loss Assistance Program (AMLAP): A program that provides payments to apple producers who experienced significant financial losses due to low prices or weather-related circumstances. The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 (Sec. 801), authorized the first Apple Market Loss Assistance Program (AMLAP I) for the 1998 and 1999 crops of apples. A similar program (AMLAP II) was authorized in the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002 (Sec. 741), as amended by P.L. 107-117, for the 2000 crop of apples. Payments under AMLAP II were not sufficient to cover all of the losses incurred by producers with respect to their 2000 crop of apples, which led to the adoption of the AMLAP III provisions in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10105). Under Section 10105, producers can receive a payment on a per-pound basis for 2000 crop production from a qualifying operation, up to a maximum of 5 million pounds per separate apple operation. Section 10105 also specifies that benefits under the program would not be subject to income eligibility or payment limitations. At the close of the sign-up period, a national per-pound payment rate will be determined by dividing the available $94,000,000 by the total pounds of eligible apples from all applicants.
Applicable alternative repayment rate: The alternative repayment rate after all relevant adjustments for premiums, discounts, and location have been made.
Applied research: Problem-solving research for immediate application. Applied research attempts to determine and exploit the potential of scientific discoveries or improvements in technology, materials, processes, methods. devices, or techniques.
Apportionment: A distribution made by the Office of Management and Budget of amounts available for obligation. Apportionments divide amounts available for obligation by specific time periods (usually quarters), activities, projects, objects, or a combination thereof. The apportionment process is intended to achieve the most effective and economical use of amounts made available for obligation. Federal agency obligations may not be incurred in excess of the amount of budget authority apportioned. See Reapportionment.
Appraised yield: Production, as determined by the Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, a reinsured company, or other appraiser acceptable to the Commodity Credit Corporation, that was unharvested but reflected the crop’s yield potential at the time of appraisal.
Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas: A program managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) that provides information to farmers and other rural users on a variety of sustainable agricultural practices including crop and livestock operations. It helps agriculture by giving reliable, practical information on production techniques and practices that reduce costs and that are friendly to the environment. Producers can request information via a toll-free telephone number: 800-346-9140.
Appropriation account: A single, unnumbered paragraph in an appropriation measure. Most appropriation accounts include a number of activities or projects of a federal agency with a separate appropriation for each.
Appropriation(s): The legal authority for federal agencies to incur obligations and to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. Thirteen regular appropriations bills are considered every year by the Congress, and supplemental appropriations are considered from time to time.
Appropriation(s) (agricultural): See Agricultural appropriations.
Appropriation(s); appropriated: The legal authority for federal agencies to incur obligations and to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. Thirteen regular appropriations bills are considered every year by the Congress, and supplemental appropriations are considered from time to time. See Agricultural appropriations.
Approved warehouse storage: A public warehouse with a Commodity Credit Corporation storage agreement in effect that is approved by the CCC for price-support purposes. See Public warehouse(s), and Warehouse(s).
Approved yield: (1) The amount of production per acre using actual production history, or if not applicable, the yield assigned to determine the guarantee.
APZ: Agricultural protection zones
AQI: Agricultural Quarantine Inspection program
Aquaculture center(s): Five regional research, development, demonstration, and extension education centers [Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center (NRAC) in MA, North Central Regional Aquaculture Center (NCRAC) in MI, Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC) in MS, Western Regional Aquaculture Center (WRAC) in WA, and the Tropical and Subtropical Regional Aquaculture Center (TSRAC) in HI] that enhance viable and profitable U.S. aquaculture production to benefit consumers, producers, and service industries.
Aquaculture facility: Any land, structure, or other appurtenance that is used for aquaculture, including any laboratory, hatchery, rearing pond, raceway, pen, incubator, or other equipment used in aquaculture.
Aquaculture; aquacultural: (1) The production of aquatic plants or animals in a controlled environment, such as ponds, raceways, tanks, or cages, for all or part of their life cycle. In the U.S., baitfish, catfish, clams, crawfish, freshwater prawns, mussels, oysters, salmon, shrimp, tropical (or ornamental) fish, and trout account for most of the aquacultural production. Less widely established but growing species include alligator, hybrid striped bass, carp, eel, red fish, northern pike, sturgeon, and tilapia. Aquaculture, depending upon the type of plant or animal reared, uses either fresh, brackish, or salt water. Also Fish farming. (2) Under Sec. 1404(3) of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. § 3103), the propagation and rearing of aquacultural species, including, but not limited to, any species of finfish, mollusk, or crustacean (or other aquatic invertebrate), amphibian, reptile, ornamental fish, or aquatic plant, in controlled or selected environments. (3) The farming or husbandry of fish, shellfish, or other aquatic organisms. Such farming includes freshwater operations, shellfish and seaweed culture, net-pen culture and other open-ocean aquaculture, and fish hatcheries. See Farm-raised fish, and Hydroponic(s); hydroponic horticulture.
Aquifer(s): A water-bearing layer of rock that will supply usable water for wells and irrigation.
Arable (land): Land that is capable of being cultivated for the production of crops.
Arbitrage: In commodity futures trading, the simultaneous purchase and sale of a similar commodity in different markets to take advantage of a price discrepancy.
Arbitration: (1) The settlement of disputes outside of legal channels through the mediation efforts of facilitators or arbiters/arbitrators. (2) In commodity futures trading, the procedure of settling disputes between members, or between members and customers.
Arbitrator: (1) See Arbitration. (2) Under the Pigford v. Veneman consent decree, those who make all final decisions on Track B claims.
Arboretum: A living museum where trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes.
Arboriculture: The cultivation, growing, and tending of trees and shrubs, individually or in small groups, generally for ornamental and instructional purposes rather than use or profit.
ARCP: Agricultural Resources Conservation Program
Area cross-compliance: Under the former peanut price-support program, the sharing of program losses across the three producing regions. To meet the requirements of the no net-cost program mandate, the net gains of producers in one region were liable for helping to cover losses in any of the regions. A more equitable sharing formula, targeted to funds within a region where the losses occurred, was adopted in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 that included other sources of funds in a prioritized list such as assessment funds, buy-back gains, and gains from the sale of Commodity Credit Corporation-owned or -controlled additional peanuts sold for domestic edible use. See Individual cross-compliance.
Area plan: Under the Resource Conservation and Development Program, a resource conservation and use plan developed through a planning process by a council for a designated area of one or more states, or of land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe, that includes one or more of the following elements: (a) land conservation, (b) water management that provides one or more clear environmental or conservation benefits, (c) community development, and (d) land management.
Area quota pool(s): Under the former peanut program, the USDA required that each of the three peanut area marketing associations establish pools and maintain complete and accurate records by area and segregate quota peanuts handled under loan and additional peanuts placed under loan, except that separate pools were established for Valencia peanuts produced in New Mexico. Net gains on peanuts marketed in each pool were distributed only to producers who placed peanuts in the pool and were distributed in proportion to the value of the peanuts placed in the pool by each producer. See Marketing associations (peanuts), Peanut (price-support) program, and Pool(s)(ing)(ed).
Area salvage: Timber sales in which the Forest Service sells dead timber within a given area. It usually covers more than one operating season and requires the operator to return annually to remove any dead timber present.
Area trigger: See Area yield threshold.
Area Veterinarian in Charge (AVIC): The lead federal veterinarian for APHIS Veterinary Services in an area. They administer the federal veterinary programs within their assigned areas in conjunction with state animal health officials. Nationwide, there are 42 areas that encompass one or more states.
Area yield options contract: A contract entitling the holder to receive a payment when the area yield is below the put options strike yield. Producers insuring a crop do so at the level of the expected yield of the region where they produce. The value of the put option is the difference between the coverage level selected by the producer and the actual yield. The strike yield is the yield at which the holder of an option contract can exercise the option.
Area yield threshold: The former requirement under the Noninsured Assistance Program that an area must realize a 35 percent loss before any individual losses could qualify for payments. Also Area trigger. See Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 (ARPA), and Noninsured (Crop Disaster) Assistance Program (NAP).
Area yield; area yield history: For any crop for which an actual yield is not available on a program crop for determining a program yield, the Farm Service Agency may assign a yield for the crop in question for any particular crop year by using an average of the actual yields of similar farms in the area. For purposes of the Agricultural Market Transition Act, the USDA used the yield history as of the 1995 crop. See County average, and Partial county yield average.
Area(wide) marketing associations: See Marketing associations (peanuts).
Areas of critical environmental concern: Areas within public lands where special management attention is required to protect and prevent irreparable damage to important historic, cultural, or scenic values; fish and wildlife resources; or other natural systems or processes; or to protect life and safety from natural hazards.
AREERA: Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998
Arid; arid climate: A dry climate with an annual precipitation usually less than ten inches. Not suitable for crop production without irrigation.
ARL: Anticipated residue level
Armyworms: Worms, up to two inches in length, that attack fields of crops in hordes, feeding mostly at night. Armyworms are particularly injurious to corn and small grains.
Aromatic (milled) rice: Special varieties of rice that have a distinctive and characteristic aroma; e.g., basmati and jasmine rice.
ARP: Acreage Reduction Program
ARPA: Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000
ARS: Agricultural Research Service
Articles like or directly competitive: Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program, like products or directly competitive products falling under the same HTSUS number used to identify the agricultural commodity in the petition.
Artificial insemination (AI): The mechanical injection of semen into the womb of the female animal with a syringe-like apparatus.
Artificial regeneration; artificially regenerated: Forest renewal through planting or direct seeding; establishing a new stand of trees by planting seeds or seedlings by hand or machine.
ASA: American Soybean Association
ASBR: Asian soybean rust
ASCS: Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service
Aseptic processing: A variation on heat sterilization whereby the product is sterilized under high-temperature, short-time pasteurization separately from the container which is sterilized chemically. The two are brought together under sterile conditions.
Aseptic; aseptically: Free from bacterial contamination, sterile; used to describe a type of food processing and packaging characterized by unrefrigerated storage and long-shelf-life products. See Aseptic processing.
ASF: African swine fever
ASGA: American Sugar Beet Growers Association
ASI: American Sheep Industry Association
Asian longhorned beetle (ALB): A serious insect exotic pest of hardwood trees that has no known natural enemy in the U.S. The only way to eradicate the beetle is to remove and destroy infested trees.
Asian soybean rust (ASBR): A serious, rapidly-spreading disease causing crop losses of between 10 percent and 100 percent in infected fields. It is an air-borne fungus that can travel 300 miles in a day. In late 2004, soybean rust was first detected in Louisiana where it subsequently spread to many states across the southeast and southwest. If left unchecked, the epidemic can spread to the major Midwestern soybean production states. The epidemic most likely originated in Brazil and spread to the U.S. as a result of Hurricane Ivan. A complicating factor for pest detection and control are the large number of legume hosts that can harbor soybean rust such as kudzu, yellow sweet clover, green beans, kidney beans, lima beans, butter beans, cowpeas, and blackeyed peas. At present, there are no soybean-resistant varieties in the U.S. Also Soybean rust.
Assay: Determination of the purity or potency of a substance.
Assembly: (1) The transportation of milk to processing plants. (2) See Vertical integration; vertically integrated.
Assessment(s) (programs): (1) The requiring of producers to pay a fee per unit of production in order to share program costs with the government or to help reduce the budget deficit. For example, to be eligible for price-supports under the 1989 flue-cured tobacco program, producers were required to contribute one cent per pound of tobacco marketed to an account to ensure the operation of the program at no net-cost to the taxpayers. In addition, both producers and buyers had to contribute 0.12 cents per pound each for a budget deficit assessment, instead of a 1.4 percent reduction in price-supports. For other types of tobacco under the price-support program, growers paid the full assessment. The authority for the assessment expired after 1997. Under the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004, an assessment on domestic manufacturers of tobacco products and importers of foreign tobacco was established to provide for compensation payments to tobacco quota owners andtransition payments to active tobacco producers. Dairy producers were required to pay a deficit reduction assessment, but the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 141 (g)) repealed the assessment paid by all dairy producers. The Dairy Producer Stabilization Act of 1983 provided for a per-hundredweight assessment for a generic dairy products promotion, research, and nutrition education program, and an additional assessment on imported dairy products was authorized in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1505) to help support the program. Under former farm bill authority, a budget deficit marketing assessment was levied against processors and refiners of domestic sugar production for the marketing of raw cane sugar and beet sugar. Authority for the assessment was deemed to have been repealed effective October 1, 2001, with passage of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1401). Under the former peanut program, peanut producers and first-purchasers paid an assessment equal to 1.2 percent of the quota loan rate or additional loan rate, with producers paying 54.2 percent of the total and first purchasers paying 45.8 percent of the total. Assessments received from the 1996 through 1998 crop years were applied against program losses. Assessment authority was repealed in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. (2) Mandatory or voluntary deductions from the sale of agricultural commodities to support research and promotion programs. See Checkoff programs, Commodity research and promotion program(s), Dairy Promotion and Research Program, Peanut marketing assessment(s), and Sugar marketing assessment(s).
Asset (quality) classification(s): Credit institutions use asset quality classifications to identify and disclose risk in the loan portfolio. The classifications express the degree of risk of nonpayment in individual assets. Farm Credit System institutions classify assets as (1) Acceptable – assets of the highest quality; (2) Special Mention – assets that are currently protected but are potentially weak and constitute an undue and unwarranted credit risk; (3) Substandard – assets that are inadequately protected by the repayment capacity, equity, and/or collateral pledged, and have a well-defined weakness or weaknesses that could hinder normal collection of the debt; (4) Doubtful – assets that have all the weaknesses inherent in those classified Substandard with the added characteristic that weaknesses make collection or liquidation in full (on the basis of currently existing facts, conditions, and values) highly questionable and improbable with the possibility of loss extremely high; and (5) Loss – assets that are considered uncollectible and of such little value that their continuance as bookable assets is not warranted.
Asset value (AV): The appraised value of the real or personal property.
Asset(s): Anything owned of monetary value. Assets may include real property, personal property ,and enforceable claims against others.
Assign(ed): (1) To make an options seller perform his obligation to assume a short futures position (as a seller of a call option) or a long futures position (as a seller of a put option). See Call; call option(s), Commodity option(s), and Put; put option(s). (2) See Assigned yield(s). (3) See Assignment (of payment).
Assigned yield(s): (1) Under the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation is required to assign a producer a yield for a crop when the producer has not had a share of the production of the crop for more than two years, has not before farmed the land, or rotates to a crop that has not been produced on the farm. Also, except for producers who double-crop in a double-cropping area, a producer who plants a second crop will be assigned a recorded yield of 60 percent of the producer’s actual production history for the crop on which a prevented planting guarantee is paid. (2) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1102(d)(3)) for oilseeds and (Sec. 1102(e)(4) for covered commodities, the USDA can assign yields equal to 75 percent of the county average if a producer had yields of below 75 percent for any of the 1998 through 2001 crop years. (3) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1302), historic peanut producers may elect to substitute the 1990 through 1997 county average yield for up to three of the four crop years (1998 through 2001) used to determine the payment yield for peanuts. (4) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1102(c)), the USDA can establish a farm program payment yield for covered commodities (other than soybeans and other oilseeds) using farm program payment yields for similar farms before they are updated. See Area yield; area yield history, Partial county yield average, and Update; updating.
Assignment (of payment): Under Farm Service Agency and Commodity Credit Corporation programs, producers having money coming from one or more farm programs administered by either the FSA and CCC may arrange to have all or part of their cash payments made directly to another party. Program payments that cannot be assigned are farm ownership and operating loans, commodity price-support loans, and purchase agreement proceeds.
Assistance Type Cooperative Agreement: The transfer of USDA funds to support a recipient to accomplish a public purpose that will not benefit USDA directly. Substantial involvement is anticipated between the USDA and the recipient during the performance. These grants should be competitive as practical. See Outgoing grant(s).
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights: The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10704) amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (Sec. 218) to create the new position of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights who is to be responsible for (a) ensuring compliance with all civil rights and related laws by all agencies and under all programs of the USDA; (b) coordinating administration of civil rights laws (including regulations) within the USDA for employees of, and participants in, programs of the USDA; and (c) ensuring that necessary and appropriate civil rights components are properly incorporated into all strategic planning initiatives of the USDA and its agencies.
Assisting America’s Small Farmers and Ranchers in the 21st Century: The report, published in February 2003 by the Small Farm Coordinators, that provided highlights of the continuing efforts made by USDA to assist the nation’s small farmers and ranchers since the USDA National Commission on Small Farms published its report, A Time to Act, in January 1998. This report reflected accomplishments through October 2001. See Advisory Committee on Small Farms, Building on a Time to Act, Small farm(s), Small Farm Council, and Small farms policy(ies) (USDA).
Assistive Technology Program for Farmers with Disabilities (7 U.S.C. § 5933): A Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service grants program for state and regional projects designed to assist farmers, ranchers, or farm workers with disabilities and their families to continue to earn their livelihoods in agriculture. The program was reauthorized through FY2007 by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 7122). Also AgrAbility.
Association(s) of (agricultural) producers: Under the Agricultural Fair Practices Act, any association composed of producers of agricultural products engaged in marketing, bargaining, shipping, or processing.
Astroculture: The production of plants in space. Limiting factors are the effects of microgravity on plant physiology, and the difficulties in delivering water and nutrients.
At grass: An animal-in particular a horse-that has been turned out to graze in a paddock or field.
At-the-money option: In commodity options trading, an option with a strike price that is equal, or approximately equal, to the current market price of the underlying futures contract. See Commodity option(s), In-the-money option, and Out-of-the-money option.
Atmosphere: The gaseous environment surrounding the Earth.
ATO: Agricultural Trade Office(s)
Atrazine: A herbicide widely used on corn, the use of which has caused concern about possible groundwater contamination.
Atrophy: A defect or failure of nutrition or physiologic function manifested as a wasting away or reduction in the size of cell, tissue, organ, or body part.
Attainable yield: See Yield (economic maximum).
Attainment area: A geographic area in which levels of a criteria air pollutant meet the health-based primary standard for that specified pollutant.
Attractant(s): Pesticides that lure pests such as rodents or insects into traps.
Attribution: (1) In the case of various government agricultural programs, “piercing” through business entities such as corporation arrangements to determine the actual entities involved in the farming or business operation for program purposes. (2) An “attribution rule” would include all payments directly and indirectly received by an individual in computing whether the payment limitation had been reached by that individual.
Auction (sale) barn: See Auction market(s).
Auction (tobacco): A warehouse sale where tobacco producers sell their leaf to the highest bidder. The bidders are buyers for manufacturers, dealers, and exporters, as well as independent dealers or speculators.
Auction market system (tobacco): Traditionally, the selling of tobacco at auction resulting in the payment of the highest bid going to the producer or the placement of tobacco in storage as price-support loan security with payment of an advance against the loan provided to the producer.
Auction market(s) (tobacco): A market or place where tobacco is delivered by producers or their agents for sale at auction through a warehouseman or commission merchant.
AUM: Animal unit month
Australian Wheat Board (AWB): An Australian grower-owned corporation that maintains a monopoly on domestic and export marketing of wheat and wheat products.
Authorization(s); authorize(d)(s); authority(ies): (1) Enabling legislation or organic legislation that establishes a program, creates an agency, or prescribes a function. Usually, authorizations do not provide monies. Appropriation aughorizations are most often included in the enabling legislation to authorize the appropriation of funds to implement the enabling legislation. Notable exceptions are the creation and use of revolving funds or government corporations such as theCommodity Credit Corporation. SeeAgricultural appropriations, andMandatory spending (agriculture). (2) A legal or government-mandated power or right.
Authorized commodity: A commodity for which a cooperative marketing association is approved by the Commodity Credit Corporation to obtain marketing assistance loans or loan deficiency payments.
Authorized representative: Under the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program, an association of agricultural commodity producers.
Autoclave: An airtight chamber that can be filled with steam under pressure and is used for sterilization.
Automatic take-off: In dairy farming, a milking machine device that senses the end of milk flow, thereby shutting off the milking vacuum and retracting the milking unit from the cow’s udder.
AV: Asset value
Available forage: Forage that can be grazed and still allow sustainable forage production on rangeland.
Average adjusted gross income: For farm program purposes, the three-year average of the adjusted gross income or comparable measure of the individual or entity over the three preceding tax years, as determined by the USDA. The three preceding tax years would be the three years before the year for which the benefits are being requested.
Average daily balance (ADB): A measure of the volume of loan activity by a credit institution that takes out the peaks and valleys. The ADB is determined by looking at the volume over an entire period and dividing by the number of days in that period. Since large loans can be taken out one day and paid off the next, a snapshot analysis may be considerably inaccurate when looking at the health of the institution.
Average world price: See Adjusted world price (AWP).
Average yield(s): See Actual production history (APH), Area yield; area yield history, County average, Expected county yield, Farm program payment yield(s), National average yield, Payment yield, Transition(al) yield(s), and Update; updating.
Avian influenza: A highly contagious viral poultry disease affecting the respiratory, intestinal, or nervous systems of many kinds of poultry and birds. The most virulent form is an acute generalized disease characterized by a short duration and extremely high mortality.
AVIC: Area Veterinarian in Charge
AWA: Animal Welfare Act
AWB: Australian Wheat Board
AWP: Adjusted world price
AWQPP: Agricultural Water Quality Protection Program