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United States Department of Agriculture
Industry: Government
Number of terms: 41534
Number of blossaries: 0
Company Profile:
The movement of water downward and radially through subsurface soil layers, usually continuing downward to groundwater. The rate at which soils permit percolation is a measure of the vulnerability of groundwaters to contamination by surface waters as well as a determinant in the siting of septic fields.
Industry:Agriculture
The federal program that supports the farm price of peanuts by offering price support loans to peanut growers and by placing limits on the amount of peanuts allowed to be sold for domestic food use. Farmers may sell peanuts produced in excess of marketing limits (referred to as the peanut poundage quota — one example of a marketing quota), primarily for export and crushing into peanut oil and meal. Two nonrecourse loan levels are available to producers, depending on the end use and destination of the peanuts sold. Peanuts marketed for food use in the United States (quota peanuts) are eligible for a higher loan reflecting the historical price premium associated with selling into the high-value domestic market. The FAIR Act of 1996 freezes the quota loan rate for the 1996-2002 crops at $610 per ton. All other peanuts (called additional peanuts) are eligible for a lower level of support ($175/ton for the 1999 crop) to ensure that the Commodity Credit Corporation does not incur any losses on its peanut loan operations. The 1996 Act also requires that the national peanut poundage quota be set at an amount equal to projected "domestic edible" (food) and related uses (excluding seed). For the 1999 crop, the national quota is set at 1.18 million short tons. Other provisions are designed to make the peanut support program operate as a no cost program.
Industry:Agriculture
A peanut price support program supply control mechanism authorized by the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to regulate the marketing of peanuts consumed domestically for food when production becomes excessive. The FAIR Act of 1996 requires that (for the 1996-2002 crops) the poundage quota be set equal to projected food demand and related uses (but not including seed use). A related provision allocates a separate temporary (annual) quota to all peanut producers, based on the amount of seed peanuts planted on each farm. The national quota is allocated among states based on a historical share, and then divided among farms based on production history. Owners (via inheritance or purchase) of farm quota may sell peanuts produced against their quota, or sell, lease and transfer their quota to other producers. The FAIR Act of 1996 permits the sale, lease, and transfer of a farm quota across county lines up to specified limited percentages of a county’s total of all farm quotas. Quota owners in certain counties, depending on the size of the state or county quota, have unlimited rights to transfer their farm quota within the state. Government entities and out-of-state quota owners cannot hold quotas after the 1997 crop. Peanuts marketed outside the quota limits must be crushed for nonedible uses or exported and are called additional peanuts.
Industry:Agriculture
Term used to refer to Article 13 of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture which exempts certain policies from challenges in the World Trade Organization so long as countries are meeting their commitments under the agreement.
Industry:Agriculture
A program administered by the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior to compensate counties for the tax-exempt status of federal lands; the fixed payments per entitlement acre (on most but not all federal lands) are adjusted for low county populations and for other revenue-sharing payments (e.g., Forest Service county payments) in a complicated formula.
Industry:Agriculture
Generally, the amount paid per unit of production (i.e., bushel, pound, hundredweight) to each participating farmer for eligible production under commodity income and price support programs.
Industry:Agriculture
The quantity of production eligible for production flexibility contract payments under the FAIR Act of 1996. Payment quantity is calculated as the farm’s program yield (per acre) multiplied by 85% of the farm’s contract acreage (but subject to payment limitations).
Industry:Agriculture
The maximum annual amount of commodity program benefits a person can receive by law. Persons are defined under payment limitation regulations, established by USDA, to be individuals, members of joint operations, or entities such as limited partnerships, corporations, associations, trusts, and estates that are actively engaged in farming. The three entity rule limits the number of farms from which a person can receive program payments. The FAIR Act of 1996 sets payment limits at $40,000 per person per fiscal year on production flexibility contracts (down from $50,000 on target price deficiency payments). The limits of $75,000/person/year with respect to marketing assistance loan gains and loan deficiency payments for crops of contract commodities or oilseeds is maintained.
Industry:Agriculture
In general, a payment made in the form of CCC-owned commodities (or title to them) in lieu of cash. This form of payment was widely used during the 1980s for paid diversion, deficiency payments, and export subsidy payments as a means of disposing of or avoiding the acquisition of commodity inventories. PIK certificates entitled the holder to a specific quantity of commodities.
Industry:Agriculture
Pathogens are infectious or toxin forming microorganisms causing disease. A food borne pathogen is a microorganism that causes illness through the ingestion of food.
Industry:Agriculture