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United States Department of Agriculture
Industry: Government
Number of terms: 41534
Number of blossaries: 0
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This Act is P.L. 75-430 (February 16, 1938) which was enacted as an alternative and replacement for the farm subsidy policies found unworkable in the AAA legislation of 1933. The 1938 Act was the first to make price support 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 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. Also, Title V of the Act established the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. The 1938 Act is considered part of permanent legislation for commodity programs and farm income support (along with the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and the Agricultural Act of 1949). Provisions of this law are often superseded by more current legislation (such as the FAIR Act of 1996). However, if the current legislation expires and new legislation is not enacted, the law reverts back to the permanent provisions of the 1938 Act.
Industry:Agriculture
An agricultural expert, employed by the Foreign Agricultural Service, on the staff of an U.S. embassy, consulate, or agricultural trade office.
Industry:Agriculture
Used generally to refer to both pesticides and fertilizers and in some situations may include animal drugs.
Industry:Agriculture
Administered by the Farm Service Agency, this largest and oldest conservation cost-sharing program paid farmers up to $3,500 per year as an incentive to install approved conservation practices. It was terminated in the FAIR Act of 1996 and replaced by a new Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
Industry:Agriculture
This Act is P.L. 100-233 (January 6, 1988) which was enacted in response to the severe financial crisis of the early- to mid-1980s which affected both farmers and their lending institutions. The Act authorized a $4 billion financial assistance package for financially vulnerable institutions of the Farm Credit System (FCS), protected the full value of FCS borrower stock when retired, established a permanent insurance mechanism to ensure the repayment of funds borrowed by the FCS for lending purposes, required the FCS and Farmers Home Administration to restructure severely delinquent farm loans that meet certain criteria, mandated FCS consolidation and established a secondary market for farm real estate loans.
Industry:Agriculture
An institution of the Farm Credit System that has direct lending authority to make short-, intermediate- and long-term loans to agricultural producers, rural homeowners and some farm-related businesses.
Industry:Agriculture
A planning term which defines an area in which farming is the preferred economic activity. Districts may be voluntarily created by landowners who receive benefits, usually in return for not developing the land for a certain number of years, or they may be designated in a local land use plan.
Industry:Agriculture
A system of farming that encourages production of a variety of plants and animals and their products as opposed to monoculture or large-scale specialization. Advocates of diversification argue that it provides greater income stability. Specialized farms benefit from economies of size.
Industry:Agriculture
This law (P.L. 90-288) was enacted to protect farmers from retaliation by handlers (buyers of their products) because the farmers are members of a cooperative. The act permits farmers to file complaints with USDA, which can then institute court proceedings, if they believe their rights under the law have been violated. Several bills have been introduced in recent years on behalf of producers (among them, some poultry growers who have contracts with large companies), to give them more bargaining power under the act, which, some producers contend, lacks adequate enforcement authorities.
Industry:Agriculture
Title I of the FAIR Act of 1996. It allows farmers who have participated in the wheat, feed grain, cotton, and rice programs in any one of the 5 years prior to 1996 to enter into 7-year production flexibility contracts for 1996-2002. Total national production flexibility contract payments (sometimes called AMTA payments, or contract payments) for each fiscal year are fixed in the law. The AMTA allows farmers to plant 100% of their total contract acreage to any crop except fruits and vegetables, and receive a full payment. Land must be maintained in agricultural uses. Unlimited haying and grazing and planting and harvesting alfalfa and other forage crops are permitted with no reduction in payments.
Industry:Agriculture