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United States Department of Agriculture
Industry: Government
Number of terms: 41534
Number of blossaries: 0
Company Profile:
A trade agreement involving three or more countries (as with the World Trade Organization) in contrast to a bilateral agreement (as with the US-Canada Free Trade agreement) involving only two countries.
Industry:Agriculture
A concept advanced by the European Commission in the context of the WTO that would allow governments to offer farmers compensation for additional function such as meeting other demands from society.
Industry:Agriculture
A multilaterally negotiated umbrella agreement, adopted in 1973 within the GAAT framework, setting guidelines for bilaterally negotiated quantitative controls on imports of textiles and clothing products by the industrialized countries from "low cost" suppliers where these cause "market disruption".
Industry:Agriculture
A natural or artificial layer of plant residue or other material on the soil surface. Mulch reduces erosion, conserves soil moisture, inhibits weed growth, and can provide the soil with organic matter as it breaks down. Mulch till prepares the soil so as to leave plant residues (or other mulching materials) on or near the surface.
Industry:Agriculture
A commitment that a country will extend to another country the lowest tariff rates it applies to any third country. MFN is a basic principle of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (1947). Almost all countries are effectively accorded permanent MFN status by the United States. However, Title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 established conditions on U.S. MFN tariff treatment to certain non-market economies, one of which is certain freedom-of-emigration requirements (better known as the Jackson-Vanik amendment). The Act authorizes the President to waive a country’s full compliance with Jackson-Vanik under specified conditions, and this must be renewed by June 3 of each year. Once the President does so, the waiver is automatic unless Congress passes (and sustains a Presidential veto of) a disapproval resolution. MFN status for China, which had been originally suspended in 1951, was restored in 1980 and has been continued in effect through subsequent annual Presidential extensions. Since the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, however, the annual renewal of China’s MFN status has been a source of considerable debate in the Congress. Several Members have sought through legislation to terminate China’s MFN status or to impose additional conditions relating to improvements in China’s actions on various trade and nontrade issues. Agricultural interests generally have opposed attempts to block MFN renewal for China, contending that several billion dollars annually in current and future U.S. agricultural exports could be jeopardized if that country retaliated.
Industry:Agriculture
Enacted August 30, 1890 (chapter 841, 26 Stat. 417), this law authorized additional direct appropriations for the land grant colleges of agriculture that had been established under the Morrill Act of 1862. The most significant feature of the second Morrill Act was that the 1862 schools could receive the additional funds only if they admitted blacks into their programs or if they provided separate but equal agricultural higher education to black students. In the period following the Civil War, sixteen southern states established separate land grant colleges of agriculture for black students under this Act; Congress designated Tuskegee University an 1890 institution at a later date. Federal funds for research and extension at the 1890 schools are provided under subsequent acts, not the second Morrill Act.
Industry:Agriculture
Enacted July 2, 1862 (chapter 130, 12 Stat. 503), this law allocated federal land to each state and directed the states to sell the land and use the proceeds to establish a college dedicated to the agricultural and mechanical arts. States without federal lands within their borders received land in scrip, giving them the right to sell federal land located in other states. The act resulted in the establishment of the land grant colleges of agriculture. The purpose of the Act was not only to improve the economic and social welfare of farmers, but also to make higher education with a practical application generally available to all segments of U.S. society. The Act pertained only to the original establishment of the colleges of agriculture, and is not an authority under which the colleges currently receive federal funds.
Industry:Agriculture
Rate of disease incidence; an important measure in epidemiological studies.
Industry:Agriculture
An international agreement, to which the U.S. is a signatory, for controlling emissions of chemicals that deplete stratospheric ozone (including methyl bromide). The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 contain provisions for implementing the Montreal Protocol, as well as explicit, separate authority for the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate ozone depleting chemicals.
Industry:Agriculture
A pattern of crop or tree production that relies on a single plant variety.
Industry:Agriculture