L:

L: Slope length (factor)

L (Slope length factor): See Slope length (factor) (L).

Label(s)(ed)(ing) (food): Written, printed, or graphic material on the immediate container of an agricultural product that contains (a) the name of the product, (b) the ingredients list (if applicable), (c) the name and address of the manufacturer, (d) an accurate statement of the net contents, and (e) safe-handling instructions (required for raw products). Some labels may contain quality claims.

Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (P.L. 97-79) (16 U.S.C. §§ 3371-3378): Signed into law November 16, 1981. Originally enacted in 1900, the Lacey Act, as amended in 1981 and 1998, makes it illegal to import, export, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase fish, wildlife, or plants taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of U.S. or tribal law. In addition, this Act makes it unlawful to engage in interstate or foreign commerce involving any fish, wildlife, or plant material taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of state or foreign law.

LACIE: Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment

Lactose: A sugar naturally occurring in milk, also known as “milk sugar,” that is the least sweet of all natural sugars, and is used in baby formulas and candies.

Lag year: The tax year immediately prior to the insurance year. Tax documents for the lag year will generally not have been filed with the IRS by the sales closing date.

Lagoon: See Aerobic lagoon, and Anaerobic lagoon.

LAM: Loss Adjustment Manual

Lamb (meat): Meat from an ovine animal less than one year old. See Mutton.

Lamb Meat Adjustment Assistance Program (LMAAP): A four-year, $67.7 million program authorized by Section 32 and begun in 2000 to help stabilize the lamb meat market. Producers receive direct payments in cash to encourage significant changes in production practices in order to adjust toimport competition.

Lambs wool: Wool shorn from lambs. It is soft and possesses superior spinning properties.

Land application: The beneficial use of animal waste material applied to land as fertilizer, based upon crop and pasture needs and the composition of the animal waste material.

Land capability: A measure of the suitability of land for use without damage. Arable soils are grouped according to their limitations for sustained production of common cultivated crops without soil deterioration. Nonarable soils are grouped according to their limitations for the production of permanent vegetation and their risks of soil damage if mismanaged.

Land characteristic(s): (1) A land attribute that can be measured and classified. (2) Under the Conservation Reserve Program, land is eligible for enrollment that is generally highly erodible in nature, with some exceptions. Highly erodible land is land that, if left without cover, would erode at rates equal to or exceeding eight times that soil’s tolerance rate. Highly erodible lands that eroded at a rate greater than the tolerance level for 1981-85 are eligible.

Land classification: See Land capability, Land characteristic(s), and Soil classes (classification).

Land conservation (element): For purposes of developing an area plan under the Resource Conservation and Development Program, erosion, and sedimentation control.

Land conservation committee: See Conservation district(s).

Land evaluation and site assessment (LESA): A numerical system that measures the quality of farmland. It is generally used to select tracts of land to be protected or developed.

Land grant system: See Land grant(s); land grant institution(s); land grant university(ies); land grant college(s); land grant colleges and/or universities.

Land grant(s); land grant institution(s); land grant university(ies); land grant college(s); land grant colleges and/or universities: Seventy-six institutions, including state colleges and universities and Tuskegee University, eligible to receive funds under the Morrill Act of 1862 and the Morrill Act of 1890. The federal government granted land to each state and territory to encourage practical education in agriculture, human environmental sciences, and mechanical arts. In 1994, 30 tribal colleges were also designated land grant colleges and provided special federal funding. See 1994 Land grant colleges (institutions).

Land in farms: A USDA estimate published annually that consists primarily of agricultural land used for crops, pasture, or grazing. Land in farms is an operating unit concept, and includes land owned and operated as well as land rented from others during the year. It includes crop and livestock acreage, wasteland, land in summer fallow, woodland, pastureland, idle cropland, and land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, and other set-aside or commodity acreage programs. It excludes public, industrial, and grazing association land and nonagricultural land. It excludes all land operated by establishments not qualifying as farms.

Land in orchards: This includes land in bearing and nonbearing fruit trees, citrus or other groves, vineyards, and nut trees of all ages, including land on which all fruit crops failed.

Land leveling: The filling of low areas and the reduction of high areas of farmland, primarily through the use of precision equipment. Land leveling is used to facilitate the uniform spread of irrigation water. See Laser level(ing).

Land Link: See Farm Link.

Land management (element): For purposes of developing an area plan under the Resource Conservation and Development Program, energy conservation, including the production of energy crops; the protection of agricultural land from conversion to other uses; farm land protection; and the protection of fish and wildlife habitats.

Land management; land management practice(s): Conservation practices that primarily require site-specific management techniques and methods to conserve, protect from degradation, or improve soil, water, or related natural resources in the most cost-effective manner.

Land retirement program: A multiyear voluntary land retirement program. The land idled must be planted to soil-conserving cover crops or trees. The government generally pays the landowner an annual rental fee, plus the cost of establishing a cover crop or trees. SeeSoil Bank Program, and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Land treatment: (1) Traditionally, the tilling of shallow lifts of contaminated soil to mix and aerate, thereby promoting biodegradation of the contamination. Control of soil moisture is usually required. (2) The whole range of best management practices implemented to control or reduce nonpoint source pollution.

Land trust: A private, nonprofit conservation organization formed to protect natural resources such as productive farm and forest land, natural areas, historic structures, and recreational areas. Land trusts purchase and accept donations of conservation easements.

Land-use planning: A decision-making process to determine present and future uses of land. The resulting plan is the key element of a comprehensive plan describing recommended location and intensity of development on public and private land uses such as residential, commercial, industrial, recreation, and agricultural.

Landfill gas: A type of biogas that is generated by decomposition of organic material at landfill disposal sites. Landfill gas is approximately 50% methane.

Landowner Assistance Programs: Forest Service programs to help private landowners protect, improve, restore, and sustain forests. These programs include the Forest Legacy Program, Forest Stewardship Program, Forestland Enhancement Program, and Cooperative Forestry. See Economic Action Programs, and Urban and Community Forestry Program.

Landrace(s); landrace cultivars: Relatively primitive, often heterogeneous crop plants, grown for centuries in a given area, that have been improved through selection pressure of local pests and pathogens, and by selection of superior types by indigenous producers.

Lands substantially altered by flooding: Areas where flooding has created wetland hydrology conditions that, with a high degree of certainty, will develop wetland soil and vegetation characteristics.

LANDSAT: The longest running enterprise (since 1972) for the acquisition of imagery of the Earth by satellite. The images are used in the areas of global change, agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, and national security.

Lanolin: Purified wool grease.

LAP: Livestock Assistance Program

Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE): A NASA remote sensing project, authorized in 1974, to test advanced satellite techniques for surveying and forecasting important food crops.

Large CAFO: An animal feeding operation with at least 700 mature dairy cows; or 1000 veal calves; or 1000 beef cattle or heifers; or 500 horses; or 2,500 swine (each 55 lbs or more); or 10,000 sheep or lambs; or 10,000 swine (each under 55 lbs); or 55,000 turkeys; or 30,000 ducks (other than with a liquid manure handling system); or 5,000 ducks (with a liquid manure handling system); or 30,000 chickens (with a liquid manure handling system); or 125,000 chickens, except laying hens (other than with a liquid manure handling system); or 82,000 laying hens (other than with a liquid manure handling system). See Concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), Designated CAFO, and Medium CAFO.

Large family farms: Family farms with sales between $250,000 and $499,999.

Laser level(ing): The use of automatic laser guidance for leveling equipment to allow for a high degree of precision in the leveling of land. Land leveling is used to facilitate the uniform spread of irrigation water. See Land leveling.

Late claim application: Under Pigford v. Veneman, a person could not file a claim after the deadline of October 12, 1999, without first getting permission to do so from the Arbitrator. The procedure required to receive permission was known as the 5(g) process because it was explained in paragraph 5(g) of the consent decree. The Arbitrator was allowed to approve a late claim application only if the Arbitrator determined that a person was unable to file his or her claim on time because of extraordinary circumstances beyond his or her control. The deadline for filing a late claim application was September 15, 2000.

Late postemergence: The period after specified crops or weeds are well established. See Postemergence, and Pre-emergence.

Launching Our Communities’ Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (LOCAL) (P.L. 106-553): Signed into law December 21, 2000, and amended by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 6404). The Act provided for the establishment of the LOCAL Television Loan Guarantee Board consisting of the Secretaries of Agriculture, Treasury, and Commerce, and the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or their designees. The Board was authorized to approve local television loan guarantees.

Layby (application): A final herbicide application designed to eliminate or suppress weeds through harvest, usually with or after the last cultivation of a crop. See Overtop application; over-the-top application, Postemergence (directed), and Pre-emergence application.

Layers; laying hens: Hens, usually at least 18 to 20 weeks of age, maintained for egg production.

LCP: Livestock Compensation Program

LD50: The dose or quantity of a substance that will be lethal to 50 percent of the organisms in a specific test situation.

LDC: Less (least) developed countries

LDP: Loan deficiency payment(s)

LDP-like payments: Payments in lieu of loan deficiency payments. Under the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, producers of wheat, oats, and barley in the 2001 crop year, on a farm with a production flexibility contract who graze the acreage, could receive a payment under the same terms and conditions as a producer who harvested a crop and applied for a loan deficiency payment. See Loan deficiency payment(s) (LDP).

Leachate: Water or other liquid that has washed from a solid material such as a layer of soil or debris. Leachate may contain contaminants such as organics or mineral salts.

Leaching: The removal of soluble materials by the passage of water through soil. The soluble materials are carried down by the moving water and may enter groundwater aquifers.

Leaf account tobacco: The quantity of tobacco purchased or otherwise acquired by or for the account of a warehouse operator, not counting tobacco in the form not normally marketed by producers.

Leaf grade(s) (cotton): Leaf grade is provided visually as the amount of cotton plant particles within the sample. There are seven leaf grades (Number 1 through 7) and one below grade (Number 8). A highly trained human classer determines the leaf grade by comparison with the practical forms of the Universal standards for the grades. See Trash; trashy.

Leafy spurge: A noxious weed, found particularly in the Great Plains, that is difficult to control and that ruins rangeland for cattle grazing.

Leaker(s): An individual egg that has a crack or break in the shell and shell membranes to the extent that the egg contents are exuding or free to exude through the shell. See Check(s).

Lean: The component of meat that is muscle and not fat.

Lean yield (pork): The lean yield of pork carcasses (and live hogs) is usually based on measurements or estimates of fatness, muscling, and weight. These factors are combined in a variety of regression equations to determine a predicted lean yield. TheAgricultural Marketing Service has adopted the Standardized Fat-Free Lean Index for determining a common percentage lean measurement and as the basis for the guidelines in the uniform reporting of market information for swine.

Leaness: The ratio of muscle and acceptable trim fat to bone and waste fat.

LEAP: Livestock Environmental Assistance Program

Lease(s)(ing): Acquiring the control of an asset (e.g., land, machinery) by renting for a specified period of time. A rental payment is made by the lessee (or tenant) to the lessor (or landlord) to cover the lessor’s cost of ownership. Examples include operating leases, financial leases, real estate leases, and custom hiring. See Crop-share lease, and Cash lease.

Leasing of quota: (1) Payment for the right to grow and sell a specified quantity of tobacco. Quota tobacco can be grown on farms other than the farm to which it is assigned, if the farms are in the same county (in Tennessee, cross-county leasing is permitted forburley tobacco). Leasing is permitted for burley tobacco and some other types, but is generally no longer permitted for flue-cured tobacco. (2) Under the former peanut program, up to 40 percent of a county’s peanut poundage quota (from 1996 through 2000) could be leased across county lines, but within the same state.

Least developed country(ies): See Developing country(ies).

Least-cost alternative: If two or more loan restructuring alternatives are available to a lender with respect to a distressed loan, the lender shall restructure the loan with the alternative that results in the least cost to the lender.

Leave strip: See Buffer strip(s); buffer acreage.

Leaving money on the table: A common usage for the inability of producers to receive maximum income support, price-support, and disaster payments due to payment limitations.

Left-hand side: For payment limitation purposes, the left-hand side of the significant contribution element of the actively engaged in farming requirement is the contribution of land, equipment, capital, or a combination thereof. See Right-hand side.

Leg(s): A vertical conveyor belt with scoops bolted to it that is used to elevate grain when moving grain to storage. Also Bucket elevator. See Belt(s), Marine leg, Sampler, and Tripper.

Legend(s): See Official inspection legend.

Legume(s): A family of plants that includes many valuable food and forage species such as peas, beans, soybeans, peanuts, clovers, alfalfas, and sweet clovers. Legumes can convert nitrogen from the air to nitrates in the soil through a process known asnitrogen fixation. Many of these species are used as cover crops and are plowed under for soil improvement.

Leguminous (crops): See Legume(s).

Length: See Fiber length.

Length uniformity: Measures the degree of cotton fiber length uniformity in a sample. Fiber length uniformity is related to spinning efficiency, yarn uniformity, and yarn strength.

Lentils: A legume whose disk-shaped seeds are low in fat and high in protein and fiber. Lentils cook quickly, have a mild flavor, and are widely used in soups and salads and as a side dish.

Leptospirosis: A disease of cattle and swine causing fever, abortion, and decline in milk production.

LESA: Land evaluation and site assessment

Less (least) developed countries (LDC): See Developing country(ies).

Letter(s) of credit: A document, usually issued by a bank, in which the issuer agrees to accept drafts, under conditions set forth in the document, to be charged against credit previously established. See Commercial letter(s) of credit, and Confirmed letter(s) of credit.

Leukosis: A virus-produced form of cancer affecting cattle. Only a small percentage of animals that are positive to serological tests develop clinical signs. Trade in animals from areas with leukosis may be restricted.

Level bushel: See Winchester bushel.

Level playing field: The concept that all producers have an equal opportunity to compete in all markets or have equal treatment under government policies. Commonly used in food and agricultural policy, it sometimes refers to U.S. producers having trade advantages equal to producers in the European Union and Japan.

Leverage: (1) The ability to control large dollar amounts of a commodity with a comparatively small amount of capital. (2) The use of borrowed funds to help finance the farm business. The optimal amount of leverage depends on several factors includingfarm profitability, the cost of credit, tolerance for risk, and the degree of uncertainty in income.

Levy(ies): (1) To assess or impose a tariff on imported merchandise; the charge on imports. (2) See Variable (import) levy(ies).

LGM; Livestock Gross Margin insurance

Liberalization: The process of reducing tariffs and other protective measures that limit world trade unilaterally, bilaterally, or multilaterally, thus facilitating market access.

LIBOR: London Interbank Offered Rate

Licensed exclusive variety(ies): See Variety release.

Lien(s): A claim by a creditor on property or assets of a debtor in which the property may be held as security or sold in satisfaction (full or partial) of a debt. Liens may arise through borrowing transactions where the lender is granted a lien on the borrower’s property. Examples of liens include tax liens against real estate with delinquent taxes, a mechanic’s lien against property on which work has been performed, and a landlord’s lien against crops grown by a tenant. Limit order: In commodity futures trading, an order in which the customer sets a limit on the price and/or time of execution.

LIFDC: Low income, food deficit countries

Lignin: A compound in plant cell walls that contributes to structural strength and disease resistance. In biofuels production, the presence of lignin hinders extraction of cellulose.

Lignocellulosic: See Cellulosic.

Like (product): A product that is substantially identical in inherent or intrinsic characteristics. See Articles like or directly competitive and Directly competitive.

Limbing: To cut branches off felled trees.

Limit order: In commodity futures trading, an order in which the customer sets a limit on the price and/or time of execution.

Limitation on Administrative Expenses: An account under Title I, Agricultural Programs, of agricultural appropriations. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 initiated a system of user fees for the cost of grading and classing tobacco, cotton, naval stores, and for warehouse examinations designed to limit costs, facilitate commerce, and protect participants in the industry.

Limited coverage

An insurance plan offering coverage that is at or between 50 but less 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 theFederal Crop Insurance Corporation. See Additional coverage.

Limited cross-compliance: See Cross-compliance.

Limited global import quota: Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1207(c)), whenever the base-quality cotton spot price for a month exceeds 130 percent of the average for the previous 36 months, a limited global import quota equal to 21 days of consumption of upland cotton by domestic mills must be opened for a 90-day period. Limited global import quotas cannot overlap nor can a limited global import quota be established if a special import quota is already in effect.

Limited-resource farmer(s): (1) A producer or farm operator with an annual gross income of $20,000 or less derived from all sources, including income from a spouse or other members of the household, for each of the prior two years. (2) Producers on family farms with gross sales of less than $100,000; farm assets of less than $150,000; and a household income of less than $20,000. Unlike farmers in the other groups of small farms, limited-resource farmers are not restricted to one major occupation. They may report farming, a nonfarm occupation, or retirement as their major occupation. (3) A low-income owner or operator of a family farm who is unable to develop a feasible plan of operation if Farm Service Agency loans are to be repaid at the regular interest rate. A limited-resource farmer may need additional help and supervisory assistance to be successful in obtaining credit from commercial lenders. See Supervised credit.

Linebreeding: A form of inbreeding in which an attempt is made to concentrate the inheritance of one ancestor or line of ancestors in a herd. The average relationship of the individuals in the herd to this ancestor (outstanding individual or individuals) is increased by linebreeding.

Linecross: Offspring produced by crossing two or more inbred lines.

Lint; lint cotton: (1) The spinnable fibers produced on a cotton seed. (2) The cotton fiber remaining after the seeds have been ginned out.

Linter cotton: See Grabbot cotton.

Linters: The fuzzy material on the cotton seed used for padding materials, blending with other fibers and nonwoven fabrics, and as a source of cellulose for making rayon, plastics, and other products.

LIP: Livestock Indemnity Program

Lipids: The group name for all types of fat.

Liquid sugar: A direct-consumption sugar that is not principally of crystalline structure and that is a substantially colorless pure sugar and water solution containing not less than 60 percent pure sugar by weight (60 degrees Brix). Liquid sugar is exclusive ofcane syrup and edible molasses.

Liquid waste management system; liquid manure handling system: Any system involved in the collection, storage, distribution, or disposal of liquid animal waste. For the purpose of classifying animal waste management systems, a liquid waste is waste to which water has been added. Dry manure management systems that exceed five days’ unprotected exposure of waste will be considered liquid waste management systems.

Liquidate; liquidation (longs): When a long futures position is offset by the corresponding selling of a futures contract.

Liquidity: The ability to supply funds or raise money by selling assets to pay off debts.

LISA: Low input sustainable agriculture

Listeria; listeriosis: A serious bacteria-caused foodborne illness associated with a variety of raw, undercooked foods such as meat, vegetables, and dairy products. It is especially dangerous to pregnant women and newborns. See Foodborne illness(es).

Lithosphere: The abiotic elements of Earth such as rock.

Litter bank: Litter that is collected and distributed outside an impacted watershed to reduce potential point source and nonpoint source pollution. Also nutrient bank.

Litter birth-weight: The total birth weights of all live-born pigs in a litter.

Litter weaning-weight: The total weight of all pigs weaned off a breeding female during one lactation.

Litter(s): (1) Most commonly, a group of pigs associated with a lactating breeding female; also known as a birth, nurse, or wean litter. (2) Poultry house bedding material mixed with manure. (3) The uppermost layer of organic debris on a forest floor, composed mainly of fresh or slightly decomposed leaves, bark, twigs, flowers, fruits, and other vegetable matter.

Littoral (water) rights: See Riparian (water) rights.

Live hauler(s): The people who buy live fish from the farm and function as a middleman, usually between the producer and processor.

Live poultry dealer: Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, any person engaged in the business of obtaining live poultry by purchase or under a poultry growing arrangement for the purpose of either slaughtering it or selling it for slaughter by another, if (a) poultry is obtained by such person in commerce, or (b) if poultry obtained by such person is sold or shipped in commerce, or (c) if poultry products from poultry obtained by such person are sold or shipped in commerce.

Live weight: The weight taken immediately before slaughter. It is assumed that animals intended for slaughter are kept in the slaughterhouse premises for 12 hours and are not fed or watered during this time.

Live-weight pricing: A price generally negotiated between the packer and the feedlot based on the expected value of the cattle when processed. Pencil shrinkage is usually included and packers pay transportation from the feedlot to the packing plant. With live-weightpricing, high-quality cattle are often undervalued and low-quality cattle often overvalued.

Livestock: (1) Traditionally, meat animals such as beef cattle, sheep, and hogs; under some programs, aquaculture, dairy cattle, goats, buffalo, beefalo, slaughter horses, broilers, turkeys, and other poultry are also included. (2) Animals produced for food or fiber. (3) Under terms of the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999, cattle, swine, and lambs. (4) Under Treasury regulations, cattle, hogs, horses, mules, donkeys, sheep, goats, fur-bearing animals, and other mammals. However, it does not include poultry, chickens, turkeys, pigeons, geese, other birds, fish, frogs, and reptiles. (5) Under the Packers and Stockyards Act, cattle, sheep, swine, horses, mules, or goats – whether live or dead. (6) Under the Emergency Livestock Feed Assistance Act of 1988, cattle (including producing dairy cattle), sheep, goats, swine, poultry (including egg-producing poultry), equine animals used for food or in the production of food, and fish used for food. (7) Under theEnvironmental Quality Incentives Program, dairy cattle, beef cattle, laying hens, broilers, turkeys, swine, sheep, and other such animals as determined by the USDA. (8) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10403(10)), any farm-raised animal. (9) Under the Flood Compensation Program, beef and dairy cattle, buffalo and beefalo (when maintained in the same manner as beef cattle), sheep, goats, swine, poultry, and equine animals used commercially for human food or kept for the production of food or fiber on the owner’s farm.

Livestock Assistance Program (LAP): Direct payments to eligible livestock producers who suffered grazing losses due to natural disaster during calendar years 1998 and 1999. LAP benefits were available to eligible producers, in approved counties, that suffered a 40 percent or greater loss of available grazing for at least three consecutive months during 1998 and 1999. Eligible livestock producers included producers of beef and dairy cattle, buffalo or beefalo, sheep, goats, swine, and equine animals used commercially for human food or kept for the production of food and fiber on the owner’s farm. The program was reauthorized in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 10104); however, the USDA was prohibited from using Commodity Credit Corporation funds to provide assistance. Funding of $250 million was provided by the Agricultural Assistance Act of 2003 and producers were given the choice of receiving payments for either 2001 or 2002 losses. Producers cannot receive payments from both the LAP and the Livestock Compensation Program (LCP).

Livestock Compensation Program (LCP): Payments to producers of beef and dairy cattle, buffalo and beefalo (when maintained on the same basis as beef cattle), goats, and sheep in counties that received primary disaster designations due to drought in 2001, 2002, or 2003. Payments are to be determined by multiplying the number of eligible animals by the respective payment rate based on standard feed consumption data for each eligible type of livestock. Eligible producers are subject to the $2.5 million gross income limit, and payments are limited to $40,000 per person. This program was established by the USDA for 2001 and 2002 under existing Section 32 authority. The Agricultural Assistance Act of 2003 extended the Livestock Compensation Program into 2003. See Livestock Assistance Program (LAP).

Livestock Environmental Assistance Program (LEAP): A program proposed for the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 to help livestock producers improve environmental and water quality. The program was to make available $100 million annually to provide technical assistanceand cost-share assistance in implementing structural and management practices to protect water, soil, and related resources from degradation associated with livestock production.

Livestock Feed Program; Livestock Feed Assistance: See Emergency Feed Assistance Program (EFAP).

Livestock Gross Margin insurance (LGM): A pilot livestock revenue insurance policy that provides coverage to hog producers from production and marketing risks. The product provides coverage for the difference between the actual total gross margin (actual prices for lean hogs during the month the insured actually markets the hogs, less feed costs as determined using corn and soybean meal futures settlement prices at the Chicago Board of Trade for the last five days of the futures contracts) and the gross margin guarantee (Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures price, less the price of feed based on the Chicago Board of Trade futures price for corn and soybean meal for the last five days of the futures contracts). The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation does not subsidize this program. See Livestock Risk Protection insurance (LRP).

Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP): An emergency effort administered by the Farm Service Agency to help livestock producers who suffered losses from recent natural disasters. It provides partial reimbursements to eligible producers for livestock losses. Producers with losses in excess of the normal mortality rate for the animal category are paid a calculated rate for those losses over the normal mortality rate. Eligible animal categories are beef and dairy cattle, buffalo or beefalo, sheep, goats, swine, equine animals used for human food or the production of food, and poultry including egg-laying poultry. See 1999 Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), Phase I, and 1999 Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), Phase II.

Livestock Insurance Pilot Program: See Livestock revenue insurance.

Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-78): Signed into law October 22, 1999. Part of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 (Title IX), that amended the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946. The Act instituted aprogram of mandatory market reporting for certain meat packers regarding the prices, volumes, and terms of sale for the procurement of domestic livestock, livestock production, and livestock products to improve the collection of information regarding the marketing of livestock. The purpose of the Act is to establish a program of information regarding the marketing of livestock products (a) that is transparent and can be readily understood by livestock producers, including information with respect to the pricing, contracting for purchase, and supply and demand conditions for livestock production and livestock products; (b) that improves the price and supply reporting services of the USDA; and (c) that encourages competition in the marketplace for livestock and livestock products. The reporting plan is effective for five years and requires the USDA to collect and publish, at least monthly, information on retail prices for meat and poultry products. The law imposes reporting requirements on only 10 percent of all cattle and hog plants, but still captures 94 percent of all such market transactions.

Livestock production (system): Farm and ranch operations involving the production, growing, raising, breeding, and reproduction of livestock or livestock products. The commonly recognized stages are breeding, nursery, and finishing.

Livestock protection collar: A livestock collar consisting of two rubber bladders, held in place with straps for attachment beneath the throat and just behind the jaw, that contain lethal doses of sodium fluoroacetate (Compound 1080). The collar is targeted for use against actual livestock predators that attack animals at the throat.

Livestock revenue insurance: The Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 amended the Federal Crop Insurance Act of 1980 to authorize livestock revenue insurance pilot programs, similar to crop insurance, designed to protect against the unexpected loss of revenue. SeeLivestock Gross Margin insurance (LGM), and Livestock risk protection insurance (LRP).

Livestock Risk Protection insurance (LRP): A form of livestock revenue insurance, reinsured by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, that covers the downside risk in hog prices. The LRP is a 90- to 180-day continuous policy designed to offer hog producers an indemnity when hog prices drop below a predetermined coverage price using an Agricultural Marketing Service cash index. Producers aren’t required to report prices received for the covered hogs to receive an indemnity payment. The FCIC provides a 13 percentpremium subsidy. See Livestock Gross Margin insurance (LGM).

Livestock windbreak: A windbreak or shelterbelt of closely spaced trees or shrubs planted perpendicular to the prevailing troublesome winds and adjacent to livestock areas such as feedlots.

Living modified organism (LMO): Any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology.

Living snow fence(s): Row of trees, shrubs, or other plants used to help manage snow deposits. They can be designed to help provide cover and protection for wildlife and livestock, and to collect snow to enhance soil moisture and nearby water supplies.

LMAAP: Lamb Meat Adjustment Assistance Program

Load averaging: The averaging of the moisture content of different loads delivered by the same seller. Price, quantity, and discounts are based on the average moisture content. This allows the seller to offset the potential loss from discounts for grain delivered at moisture levels above the base, with the extra dry matter delivered in grain at a moisture content below the base. Payment is made on an average moisture content for all loads delivered. The end result is similar to that achieved by physicallyblending the grain before delivery.

Loam: Soil composed of sand, clay, and silt that is no more than approximately one-half sand and one-quarter silt and that is between approximately one-quarter and one-half clay. See Texture.

Loan collateral: (1) For Farm Service Agency farm ownership and operating loans, real property or chattel pledged to insure loan repayment. If a loan so secured is in default, the creditor can satisfy the terms of the loan and seek to offset any potential loss by taking possession of the pledged property. (2) For FSA nonrecourse marketing assistance loans, one of 16 loan-eligible commodities pledged as loan security.

Loan commodity(ies): (1) Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 102), each contract commodity, extra-long staple cotton, and oilseeds. (2) Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1001), commodities for which a marketing assistance loan can be made, including wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, extra-long staple cotton, rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, wool, mohair, honey, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas. (3) Under the payment limitation rules (Sec. 1603), loan commodity does not include wool, mohair, or honey. See Loan peanuts.

Loan deficiency payment(s) (LDP): A provision giving the USDA authority to provide payments to producers who although eligible agree not to obtain in exchange for payments. Under former farm bill legislation, LDPs were available to producers of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, rice, and oilseeds The payment was determined by multiplying the loan deficiency payment rate (loan rate minus the posted county price or adjusted world price) by the amount of commodity eligible for loan. Producers who entered into aproduction flexibility contract for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, and rice were eligible; producers of any oilseed were eligible whether or not they entered into a production flexibility contract. LDPs are active when thealternative repayment rate (the posted county price or adjusted world price) at a given location is less than the base loan rate at the same location. Premiums and discounts were not considered when determining the LDP rate. Under provisions of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000, for the 2000 crop year only, producers growing a contract commodity on a farm with no Agricultural Market Transition Act contract were eligible for loan deficiency payments subject to the same terms and conditions as a farm with a contract. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1205), LDPs are continued for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, and LDPs are newly available for peanuts, wool, mohair, honey, small chickpeas, lentils, and dry beans. LDPs may be made available to producers of unshorn pelts, hay, and silage, but extra-long staple cotton remains ineligible. Also Producer option payment(s).

Loan forbearance: A period of time (at the discretion of the lender) that a lender agrees to forego exercising legal remedies and temporarily postpones a borrower’s principal repayment obligation. Generally, interest continues to accrue and is payable during theforbearance period.

Loan forfeiture: The forfeiting of commodities placed under loan instead of repaying the loan in cash or through certificates.

Loan guarantee(s): An agreement by an individual, a unit of government, insurance firm, or other party to repay all or part of a loan made by a lender in the event that the borrower is unable to repay. An example is the loan guarantee program available to agricultural lenders from the Farm Service Agency in which up to 90 percent of the loss on a qualified loan may be covered by the guarantee. The government may also subsidize interest rates on guaranteed loans. See Guarantee(s); guaranteed; guaranteed loan(s).

Loan identified for cancellation: A farm loan that a claimant in the Pigford v. Veneman lawsuit owed to USDA and that the Adjudicator identified to be cancelled.

Loan maturity (nonrecourse loans): See Loan settlement, and Maturity.

Loan origination fee (soybeans): See Oilseed loan origination fee.

Loan participation: A loan in which two or more lenders share in providing loan funds to a borrower. An example is a loan participation between a local bank and a correspondent bank in which the loan request exceeds the local bank’s legal lending limit. Generally, one of the participating lenders originates, services, and documents the loan.

Loan peanuts: Peanuts for which a marketing assistance loan was made. See Loan commodity(ies).

Loan preservation: See Preservation Loan Servicing Program.

Loan program; See Nonrecourse loan(s), and Price-support program(s).

Loan rate(s): The price per unit (pound, bushel, bale, or hundredweight) at which the government will provide loans to producers enabling them to hold their crops for later sale, thus providing price support. Under provisions of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the loan rates were established annually at the national level. The national rates were based on a combination of statutory formulas and limits. With the exception of rice, national loan rates for each loan-eligible commodity were adjusted to the local level to reflect spatial differences in markets, transportation costs, and other relevant factors. The loan rate for rice was frozen at $6.50 per hundredweight through the 2002 crop. Loan rates were also adjusted, when applicable, for discounts and for whether the crops were on-farm stored or warehouse stored. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1202), loan rates for marketing assistance loans were locked in and the USDA was not given discretion to raise or lower rates from year to year. See Nonrecourse loan(s), and Price-support loan rate.

Loan repayment rate: See Marketing loan repayment (provision).

Loan restructuring: (1) Under Farm Service Agency farmer program loans, the consolidation, rescheduling, reamortization, or deferral of debt. (2) Under Farm Credit Services programs, the rescheduling, reamortization, renewal, deferral of principal or interest, monetary concessions, and the taking of any other action to modify the terms of, or forebear on, a loan in any way that will make it probable that the farming operation of the borrower will become financially viable. See Cost of foreclosure, Cost of restructuring, Least-cost alternative, Loan servicing, and Restructure(d); restructuring.

Loan service program: Under Farm Service Agency farmer program loans, a primary loan service program or a preservation loan service program. See Loan servicing.

Loan servicing: The adjusting of farm debt to a level that a producer-borrower can continue to make debt payments by consolidating loans and providing extended terms, rescheduling non-real estate debt at a lower interest rate with longer terms, reamortizing real estate debt at a lower interest rate with longer terms, deferring loan repayment until a later date, writing down debt to its current market value, or a combination of debt adjustment with debt liquidation.

Loan settlement: A producer may settle an outstanding nonrecourse loan anytime during the loan period by repaying the loan (principal and interest) with cash or certificates, or upon loan maturity by forfeiting the commodity to the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Loan term(s)

Under the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Sec. 133), the Act authorized nine-month nonrecourse loans for loan commodities, except for upland and extra-long staple cotton which were authorized for ten-month loans.Loan extensions were prohibited. Under the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Sec. 1203), the term for loan commodities is nine months and may not be extended. For sugar, a loan may be taken for a maximum of nine months and must be liquidated at the end of the fiscal year. See Supplemental loan (sugar).

Loan to (asset) value; loan to AV (LTV): The operating commitment divided by the appraised value of the real or personal property pledged as collateral on the loan.

Loan(s): See Direct loan(s), Guarantee(s); guaranteed; guaranteed loan(s), Down payment (farm ownership) loan program (for beginning farmers), Emergency loans; emergency loan assistance (EM), Emergency Loans for Seed Producers program, Farm Storage Facility Loan Program (FSFL), Price-support program(s), Single-family direct and guaranteed housing loans, Socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (loans), Water and Waste Disposal loan(s) (direct), and Water and Waste Disposal loan(s) (guaranteed).

Loan-eligible commodities: Under provisions of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, the 16 commodities eligible for nonrecourse marketing assistance loans were wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, soybeans, minor oilseeds (flaxseed, oil-type sunflowerseed, other-type sunflowerseed, canola, rapeseed, safflowerseed, and mustard seed), rice, upland cotton, and extra-long staple cotton. See Eligible production, and Loan commodity(ies).

Lobbyist(s): Individuals and organizations that represent private interests or certain public agencies and attempt to influence decisions by members of Congress, staff, and other government officials. Registration and reporting are controlled by provisions of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.

LOCAL: Launching Our Communities’ Access to Local Television Act of 2000

Local currency sale: A direct or P.L. 480 sale, made by the Commodity Credit Corporation, in which payment is made in the recipient country’s currency.

Local television (broadcast signal) loan guarantee (program): Loan guarantees, authorized by the Launching Our Communities’ Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (Sec. 1001), of up to 80 percent of the total loan amount for no more than $1.25 billion in loans to facilitate access, on a technologically neutral basis, to signals of local television stations for households located in nonserved and underserved areas. The Rural Utilities Service may underwrite loans made to finance the acquisition, improvement, enhancement, construction, deployment, launch, or rehabilitation of the means by which local television broadcast signals will be delivered.

LOCAL TV Act: See Launching Our Communities’ Access to Local Television Act of 2000 (LOCAL).

Location value (milk): For purposes of the Class I differential for fluid milk, calculating how far a milk consumption region is from a milk production region, and establishing a minimum price that will attract sufficient milk to the market.

Lock-in: See Adjusted world price lock-in, and Request to lock-in.

Locoweed: A perennial plant, from the legume family, that grows mostly on rangeland and is poisonous to livestock.

LOEL/LOAEL: Lowest observable (adverse) effect level

Loess: A uniform and unstratified fine sand or silt – rarely clay – that is generally accepted as having been transported by wind.

London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR): The rate that international banks dealing in Eurodollars charge each other for large loans.

Long grain (rice): Rice that is four to five times as long as it is wide. The cooked grains are separate and fluffy. It is the preferred rice by most U.S. consumers. See Medium grain (rice), and Small grain (rice).

Long liquidation: Longs leave the market by selling out an existing position. Price drops after a bearish (down market) fundamental or technical development will often be credited to long liquidation.

Long run (costs): The period of time in which all costs are variable.

Long ton: Known as a British ton; 2,240 pounds.

Long yearling: An animal between 19 months and two years of age.

Long(s): See Go(ing) long.

Long-term market development (FAS): Foreign Agricultural Service activities to increase the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture by linking with world resources and international organizations to build a spirit of cooperation, develop new technologies and alternative products, and improve the demand base for U.S. agricultural products. These activities include the involvement of the USDA in agriculturally related initiatives sponsored by international organizations, administration of the Cochran Fellowship Program, management of the USDA’s bilateral exchanges, and management of cooperative research programs with foreign governments. See Emerging Markets (Democracies) program.

Loss (eggs): An egg that is inedible, cooked, frozen, contaminated, or containing bloody whites, large blood spots, large unsightly meat spots, or other foreign material.

Loss Adjustment Manual (LAM): The procedure manual, issued annually by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, that contains loss adjustment approved practices.

Loss ratio: The total indemnities paid out (that portion of the premium designated for anticipated losses and a reasonable reserve, other than that portion of the premium designated for operating and administrative expenses) divided by total premiumscollected (including the premium subsidy) by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

Lot: (1) A group of one or more livestock that is formed for the purpose of a single transaction between a buyer and a seller. (2) See Feed lot(s); feedlot(s). (3) Any definite quantity of a futures commodity of uniform grade; the standard unit of trading. See Round lot. (4) A standard unit for purposes of tobacco grading. (5) Any number of containers that contain an agricultural product of the same kind located in the same conveyance, warehouse, or packing house and that are available forinspection at the same time.

Low income, food deficit country (LIFDC): Food deficit countries with per capita GNP not exceeding the level used by the World Bank to determine eligibility for International Development Association assistance.

Low intensity animal production: A system of animal rearing for food products that strives to use less capital, energy, and fewer purchased inputs than conventional confinement feeding operations. An example of a low intensity system is a pasture and hutch swine production system.

Low-flow irrigation: The use of irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation, trickle irrigation, and subirrigation, that minimize evaporation losses and aid in conserving water.

Low-income country(ies): Country in which the standard of living is low, with few goods and services, and with many people not able to meet their basic needs. There are about 60 low-income countries with a combined population of more than two billion. See High-income country(ies) and Middle-income country(ies).

Low-input sustainable agriculture (LISA): (1) Alternative methods of farming that minimize the application of purchased inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides, and herbicides. The goals of these alternative practices are to diminish environmental hazards while maintaining or increasing farmprofits and productivity. Methods include crop rotations and mechanical cultivation to control weeds; integrated pest management strategies such as introducing harmless natural enemies; planting legumes that transform nitrogen from the air into a form plants can use; application of livestock manures, municipal sludge, and compost for fertilizer; and overseeding of legumes into maturing fields of grain crops or as postseason cover crops to reduce soil erosion. (2) A competitive grants program established in 1988; now called the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE).

Low-sales farms: Farming occupation farms with sales of less than $100,000.

Low-temperature, long-time pasteurization (LTLT): The use of lower heat for a longer time to kill pathogenic bacteria. For example, LTLT milk is pasteurized at 145° F (63° C) for 30 minutes. See High-temperature, short-time pasteurization (HTST).

Lowest Observable (Adverse) Effect Level (LOEL/LOAEL): The lowest dose of a chemical that produces a measurable (adverse) health effect on a laboratory animal. See No Observable (Adverse) Effect Level (NOEL/NOAEL).

LRP: Livestock Risk Protection insurance

LTLT: Low-temperature, long-time pasteurization

LTV: Loan to (asset) value

Luster: The very desirable natural gloss or sheen in a fleece or cotton.