Page images
PDF
EPUB

returns to farmers (including their impact upon improving the economic viability of small farmers) and food quality and costs to

consumers.

DIRECT MARKETING ASSISTANCE WITHIN THE STATES

SEC. 5.3 (a) In order to promote the establishment and operation of direct marketing from farmers to consumers, the Secretary shall provide that funds appropriated to carry out this section be utilized by State departments of agriculture and the Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of conducting or facilitating activities which will initiate, encourage, develop, or coordinate methods of direct marketing from farmers to consumers within or among the States. Such funds shall be allocated to a State on the basis of the feasibility of direct marketing from farmers to consumers within that State as compared to other States and shall be allocated within a State to the State department of agriculture and to the Extension Service on the basis of the types of activities which are needed in the State and on the basis of which of these two agencies, or combination thereof, can best perform these activities. The activities shall include, but shall not be limited to

(1) sponsoring conferences which are designed to facilitate the sharing of information (among farm producers, consumers, and other interested persons or groups) concerning the establishment and operation of direct marketing from farmers to consumers;

(2) compiling laws and regulations relevant to the conduct of the various methods of such direct marketing within the State, formulating drafts of enabling legislation needed to facilitate such direct marketing, determining feasible locations for additional facilities for such direct marketing, and preparing and disseminating practical information on the establishment and operation of such direct marketing; and

(3) providing technical assistance for the purpose of aiding interested individuals or groups in the establishment of arrangements for direct marketing from farmers to consumers.

(b) In the implementation of this section, the Secretary shall take into account consumer preferences and needs which may bear upon the establishment and operation of arrangements for direct marketing from farmers to consumers.

ANNUAL REPORT

SEC. 6. The Secretary shall periodically review the activities carried out under this Act and shall report to the Committee on Agriculture, United States House of Representatives, and the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, within one year of the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, with respect to the effectiveness of this Act. The Secretary shall include in such report a State-by-State summary of the results of the survey conducted under this Act, and a summary of the activities and accomplishments of the Extension Service and the State departments of agriculture in the

U.S.C. 3004.

7 U.S.C. 2005.

development of direct marketing from farmers to consumers during the previous year.

AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 7.5 (a) For purposes of carrying out the provisions of sections 4 and 6, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are

necessary.

(b) For purposes of carrying out the provisions of section 5, there is authorized to be appropriated $1,500,000 for each of the fiscal years ending September 30, 1977, and September 30, 1978.

EMERGENCY HAY PROGRAM

SEC. 8. In carrying out any emergency hay program for farmers or ranchers in any area of the United States under section 305 of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974 because of an emergency or major disaster in such area, the President shall direct the Secretary of Agriculture to pay 80 percent of the cost of transporting hay (not to exceed $50 per ton) from areas in which hay is in plentiful supply to the area in which such farmers or ranchers are located. The provisions of this section shall expire on October 1, 1977, and shall become effective on October 1, 1976, or on the date of enactment of this Act, whichever is later.

57 U.S.C. 3006.

42 U.S.C. 5145 note. With respect to the administration of this provision, see the Act of September 24, 1980, Public Law 96-356, 94 Stat. 1177, which provides that the Act of December 20, 1944 (58 Stat. 836; 12 U.S.C. 1150), is amended by adding at the end thereof a new section 4 as follows:

"SEC. 4. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no persons who have received or have owing to them, prior to the date of enactment of this section, payments at rates announced by the Secretary of Agriculture for self-hauling of hay or other roughages under the hay transportation assistance program shall be liable for, or be obligated to refund, any amount that is determined by the Secretary to be in excess of the payment computed in accordance with the maximum rate provided by section 8 of the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976: Provided, That the Secretary determines that such persons have otherwise complied with the terms and conditions of, and are otherwise entitled to payments under, the hay transportation assistance program. Any payments made pursuant to this Act shall be made out of funds appropriated or otherwise available on the date of enactment of this Act for disaster relief.".

PART IV. RESEARCH AND PROMOTION

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING AGREEMENT ACT OF 1937 1

The Agricultural Adjustment Act as reenacted and amended by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, ch. 25, 50 Stat. 246, 7 U.S.C. 601.

ORDERS

SEC. 8c. (1) The Secretary of Agriculture shall, subject to the provisions of this section, issue, and from time to time amend, orders applicable to processors, associations of producers, and others in the handling of any agricultural commodity or product thereof specified in subsection (2) of this section. Such persons are referred to in this title as "handlers." Such orders shall regulate, in the manner hereinafter in this section provided, only such handling of such agricultural commodity, or product thereof, as is in the current of interstate or foreign commerce, or which directly burdens, obstructs, or affects, interstate or foreign commerce in such commodity or product thereof.

COMMODITIES TO WHICH APPLICABLE

(2) Orders issued pursuant to this section shall be applicable only to (A) the following agricultural commodities and the products thereof (except canned or frozen pears, grapefruit, cherries, apples, or cranberries, the products of naval stores, and the products of honeybees), or to any regional, or market classification of any such commodity or product: Milk, fruits (including filberts, almonds, pecans and walnuts but not including apples, other than apples produced in the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, New York, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Indiana, California, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Illinois and Ohio, and not including fruits for canning or freezing other than pears, olives, grapefruit, cherries, cranberries, and apples produced in the States named above except Washington, Oregon, and Idaho), tobacco, vegetables (not including vegetables other than asparagus, for canning or freezing and not including potatoes for canning, freezing, or other processing), hops, honeybees and naval

8

1 The Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 reenacted, amended and supplemented certain provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act including section 8c relating to marketing orders. The provisions set forth are provisions of section 8c of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as reenacted and amended.

27 U.S.C. 608c.

The word "pears" was added by Public Law 92-466, 86 Stat. 780.

The words "cherries, apples, or cranberries," were added by section 141 of the Agricul tural Act of 1961, 75 Stat. 204.

The words "filberts, almonds," were added by the Act of June 29, 1949, 63 Stat. 282. The States of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Illinois, and Ohio were added by Public Law 91-341, 84 Stat. 438.

'The language referring to the States, other than Idaho, was added by section 141 of the Agricultural Act of 1961, 75 Stat. 304.

The exemption of potatoes was added by Public Law 91-196, 84 Stat. 14.

stores as included in the Naval Stores Act and standards established thereunder (including refined or partially refined oleoresin): Provided, That no order issued pursuant to this section shall be effective as to any grapefruit for canning or freezing unless the Secretary of Agriculture determines, in addition to other findings and determinations required by this Act, that the issuance of such order is approved or favored by the processors who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have been engaged in canning or freezing such commodity for market and have canned or frozen for market more than 50 per centum of the total volume of such commodity canned or frozen for market during such representative period; and (B) any agricultural commodity (except honey, cotton, rice, wheat, corn, grain sorghums, oats, barley, rye, sugarcane, sugar beets, wool, mohair, livestock, soybeans, cottonseed, flaxseed, poultry (but not excepting turkeys), eggs (but not excepting turkey hatching eggs), fruits and vegetables for canning or freezing including potatoes for canning, freezing, or other processing, and apples), or any regional or market classification thereof, not subject to orders under (A) of this paragraph, but not the products (including canned or frozen commodities or products) thereof. No order issued pursuant to this section shall be effective as to cherries, apples, or cranberries for canning or freezing unless the Secretary of Agriculture determines, in addition to other required findings and determinations, that the issuance of such order is approved or favored by processors who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have engaged in canning or freezing such commodity for market and have frozen or canned more than 50 per centum of the total volume of the commodity to be regulated which was canned or frozen within the production area, or marketed within the marketing area, defined in such order, during such representative period. No order issued pursuant to this section shall be applicable to peanuts produced in more than one of the following production areas: the Virginia-Carolina production area, the Southeast production area, and the Southwest production area. If the Secretary determines that the declared policy of the title will be better achieved thereby (i) the commodities of the same general class and used wholly or in part for the same purposes may be combined and treated as a single commodity and (ii) the portion of an agricultural commodity devoted to or marketed for a particular use or combination of uses, may be treated as a separate agricultural commodity. All agricultural commodities and products covered hereby shall be deemed specified herein for the purposes of section 8c (6) and (7) of this title.10

NOTICE AND HEARING

(3) Whenever the Secretary of Agriculture has reason to believe that the issuance of an order will tend to effectuate the declared policy of this title with respect to any commodity or product thereof specified in subsection (2) of this section, he shall give due notice of an opportunity for a hearing upon a proposed order.

The words "including potatoes for canning, freezing, or other processing," were added by Public Law 91-196, 84 Stat. 14, and became permanent by amendment in Public Law 92-233, 86 Stat. 39. 10 Amended by section 141 of the Agricultural Act of 1961, 75 Stat. 304,

FINDING AND ISSUANCE OF ORDER

(4) After such notice and opportunity for hearing, the Secretary of Agriculture shall issue an order if he finds, and sets forth in such order, upon the evidence introduced at such hearing (in addition to such other findings as may be specifically required by the section) that the issuance of such order and all of the terms and conditions thereof will tend to effectuate the declared policy of this title with respect to such commodity.

TERMS MILK AND ITS PRODUCTS

(5) In the case of milk and its products, orders issued pursuant to this section shall contain one or more of the following terms and conditions, and (except as provided in subsection (7)) no others:

(A) Classifying milk in accordance with the form in which or the purpose for which it is used, and fixing, or providing a method for fixing, minimum prices for each such use classification which all handlers shall pay, and the time when payments shall be made for milk purchased from producers or associations of producers. Such prices shall be uniform as to all handlers, subject only to adjustments for (1) volume, market, and production differentials customarily applied by the handlers subject to such order, (2) the grade or quality of the milk purchased, and (3) the locations at which delivery of such milk, or any use classification thereof, is made to such handlers.

(B) Providing:

(i) for the payment to all producers and associations of producers delivering milk to the same handler of uniform prices for all milk delivered by them: Provided, That, except in the case of orders covering milk products only, such provision is approved or favored by at least three-fourths of the producers who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, have been engaged in the production for market of milk covered in such order or by producers who, during such representative period, have produced at least three-fourths of the volume of such milk produced for market during such period; the approval required hereunder shall be separate and apart from any other approval or disapproval provided for by this section; or

(ii) for the payment to all producers and associations of producers delivering milk to all handlers of uniform prices for all milk so delivered, irrespective of the uses made of such milk by the individual handler to whom it is delivered: subject, in either case, only to adjustments for (a) volume, market, and production differentials customarily applied by the handlers subject to such order; (b) the grade or quality of the milk delivered; (c) the locations at which delivery of such milk is made; (d) a further adjustment to encourage seasonal adjustments in the production of milk through equitable apportionment of the total value of the milk purchased by any handler, or by all handlers, among producers on the basis of their marketings of milk during a representative period of time, which need not

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »