Congressional Research Service Reports - 58 Matching Results

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Farm Labor Shortages and Immigration Policy

Description: This report first explains the connection made over the past several years between farm labor and immigration policies. It next examines the composition of the seasonal agricultural labor force and presents the arguments of grower and farmworker advocates concerning its adequacy relative to employer demand. The report closes with an analysis of the trends in employment, unemployment, time worked and wages of authorized and unauthorized farmworkers to determine whether they are consistent with t… more
Date: February 9, 2004
Creator: Levine, Linda
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agroterrorism: Threats and Preparedness

Description: Although U.S. intelligence agencies have not identified any terrorist acts targeting agricultural production (i.e., agroterrorism) in the United States to date, the events of September 11, 2001 have awakened the nation to their possibility. Some experts estimate that a single agroterrorist attack using a highly contagious livestock disease could cost between $10 billion and $30 billion to the U.S. economy. This report addresses the use of biological weapons against agriculture, rather than the … more
Date: August 13, 2004
Creator: Monke, Jim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Appropriations for FY2005: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies

Description: Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture.
Date: September 23, 2004
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Iraq Agriculture and Food Supply: Background and Issues

Description: This report describes the influence military conflict and international sanctions have had on agriculture in relation to Iraq's economy. This includes the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, the 1991 Gulf War, and 2003 Iraq War, the varying degrees of government effort to promote and/or control agricultural production, and the response to 1990 U.N. Sanctions.
Date: June 7, 2004
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agricultural Disaster Assistance

Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers several permanently authorized programs to help farmers recover financially from a natural disaster, including federal crop insurance, the non-insured assistance program and emergency disaster loans. In recent years, Congress frequently has made supplemental financial assistance available to farmers and ranchers on an ad-hoc basis, most notably in the form of direct crop disaster payments and emergency livestock assistance. Congress provided an e… more
Date: November 2, 2004
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Humane Treatment of Farm Animals: Overview and Issues

Description: Animal protection activists in the United States have long sought legislation to modify or curtail some practices considered by U.S. agriculture to be both acceptable and necessary to animal health. Some Members of Congress over the years have offered various bills that would affect animal care on the farm, during transport, or at slaughter. The House and Senate Agriculture Committees from time to time have held hearings on farm animal welfare issues, but their members generally express a prefe… more
Date: November 19, 2004
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products: A Policy and Legal Analysis

Description: This report examines the legislative debate over giving FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and provides some analysis of S. 2461/H.R. 4433. It begins with an overview of the FDA’s 1996 tobacco rule that includes a summary of the agency’s arguments for asserting jurisdiction over tobacco products. That is followed by an analysis of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in FDA v. Brown & Williamson, which overturned the FDA tobacco rule. The report then reviews the 1997 proposed national to… more
Date: December 3, 2004
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen & Feder, Jody
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Appropriations for FY2005: U.S. Department of Agriculture and Related Agencies

Description: Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This Report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture.
Date: December 9, 2004
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Farm Commodity Programs: Honey

Description: This report discusses the honey price support program, which was first created by the Agricultural Act of 1949 (P.L. 81-439) to provide market price stability for honey producers and to encourage maintenance of sufficient bee populations for pollination
Date: December 3, 2004
Creator: Canada, Carol
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agriculture as a Source of Barge Demand on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers: Background and Issues

Description: This report provides background on the linkage between U.S. agriculture and the UMR-IWW navigation system. In addition, it explores several of the key issues and uncertainties behind evolving trade patterns and projections for future agricultural freight traffic on the UMR-IWW navigation system.
Date: May 26, 2004
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Animal Rendering: Economics and Policy

Description: Renderers convert dead animals and animal byproducts into ingredients for a wide range of industrial and consumer goods, such as animal feed, soaps, candles, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. This report describes the rendering industry and discusses several industry-related issues that arose in the 108th Congress.
Date: March 17, 2004
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Average Farm Subsidy Payments, by State, 2002

Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture makes direct subsidy payments through the Commodity Credit Corporation to farmers for commodity price and income support, certain conservation and environmental activities, and some disaster losses. In 2002, these direct farm subsidy payments amounted to $12.151 billion. This report examines the distribution of these payments among states, calculates the average size of payments going to recipient farms in each state, and distinguishes between payments receive… more
Date: September 16, 2004
Creator: Womach, Jasper
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Cotton Production and Support in the United States

Description: This report explains the various cotton subsidy programs and provides quantitative data on market revenues, production costs, and the size of the subsidies. Also, it characterizes the relative position of the United States vis-a-vis other countries as a producer, exporter and importer of cotton. The purpose of this examination is to provide U.S. policy makers with a complete overview of U.S. cotton production and the federal programs that support that production.
Date: June 24, 2004
Creator: Womach, Jasper
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Energy Use in Agriculture: Background and Issues

Description: This report provides information relevant to the U.S. agricultural sector on energy use, emerging issues, and related legislation. This report provides background on the relationship between energy and agriculture in the United States. The first section provides background information on current and historical energy use in the U.S. agricultural sector and how this fits into the national energy-use picture. Energy’s role in agriculture’s overall cost structure is detailed both for present circu… more
Date: November 19, 2004
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Farm Commodity Programs: Direct Payments, Counter-Cyclical Payments, and Marketing Loans

Description: This report discusses federal law that has authorized farm income and commodity price support programs for over 70 years.The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) authorizes the current programs for the 2002-2007 crop years. The payment framework combines direct payments of the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) with counter-cyclical payments of prior laws. Subsidies continue for wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, and rice, and soybeans and peanuts are added to the list of major crops. Dry peas, lentils, an… more
Date: December 13, 2004
Creator: Monke, Jim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Farm Credit Services of America Ends Attempt to Leave the Farm Credit System

Description: This report discusses Farm Credit Services of America's (FCSA) attempt at leaving the Farm Credit System (FCS) — a government-sponsored enterprise — to be bought by a private company. The option to leave the System is allowed by statute under the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended, but has been exercised only once, and did not involve an outside purchaser.
Date: October 22, 2004
Creator: Monke, Jim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Implementing the Conservation Security Program

Description: This report discusses the Conservation Security Program (CSP), which is a agricultural conservation program created in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, §2001). It provides incentives for farmers to pursue conservation and helps pay for conservation practices. Unlike some other NRCS programs, it pays for conservation on land that remains in production and makes eligible a wide range of farm lands (cropland, pastureland, rangeland, grassland, prairie land, tribal lands, and forested lands incide… more
Date: November 23, 2004
Creator: Johnson, Barbara
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The African Cotton Initiative and WTO Agriculture Negotiations

Description: This report discusses the African cotton initiative, over which disagreement has blocked progress on an agreement on agriculture in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations known as the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). In World Trade Organization (WTO) Negotiations on agriculture, a group of African countries have proposed that all subsidies for cotton be eliminated by the end of four years. The proposal also advocates compensating African cotton producing countries for revenues estim… more
Date: January 16, 2004
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Conservation Security Program in the 2002 Farm Bill

Description: The Conservation Security Program (CSP), a new program enacted in section 2001 of the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) and administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, creates a three-tiered system rewarding increased levels of conservation on agricultural operations with increased payments. Payments include a base payment for acreage enrolled, a payment for new or existing conservation practices, and an “enhancement” payment for conservation exceeding minimum program standards.
Date: February 17, 2004
Creator: Johnson, Barbara
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Private Testing of Mad Cow Disease: Legal Issues

Description: This report provides information on how most of the countries banned United States beef after a single report of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in a Canadian-born cow after the December 2003 U.S. report. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, proposed to conduct BSE rapid tests to be able to do exports, but USDA rejected this proposal since it implies as consumer safety rather than animal health. Updated December 3, 2004.
Date: December 3, 2004
Creator: Vina, Stephen R
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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