Congressional Research Service Reports - 996 Matching Results

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Farmers' Markets: The USDA Role

Description: This report discusses federal programs aimed at promoting farmers’ markets. Policy issues include the extent to which the programs contribute to the markets’ success, and the need if any for additional governmental support.
Date: January 3, 2006
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Fruits, Vegetables, and Other Specialty Crops: A Primer on Government Programs

Description: U.S. farmers grow more than 250 types of fruit, vegetable, tree nut, flower, ornamental nursery, and turfgrass crops in addition to the major bulk commodity crops. Although specialty crops are ineligible for the federal commodity price and income support programs, they are eligible for other types of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) support, such as crop insurance, disaster assistance, and, under certain conditions, ad hoc market loss assistance payments. This report describes the federal … more
Date: January 26, 2005
Creator: Rawson, Jean M.
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Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Funding Plant and Animal Health Emergencies: Transfers from the Commodity Credit Corporation

Description: This report examines the Secretary of Agriculture's authority to transfer funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) for emergency control programs. The Secretary’s use of this authority has increased in recent years, and has become an issue within government concerning the method for funding plant and animal health programs.
Date: October 19, 2005
Creator: Monke, Jim & Becker, Geoffrey S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Genetically Engineered Soybeans: Acceptance and Intellectual Property Rights Issues in South America

Description: This report discusses issues regarding genetically engineered soybeans in South America. U.S. soybean growers and trade officials charge that Argentina and Brazil–the United States’ two major export competitors in international soybean markets–gain an unfair trade advantage by routinely saving genetically-engineered (GE), Roundup Ready (RR) soybean seeds from the previous harvest (a practice prohibited in the United States) for planting in subsequent years.
Date: October 17, 2003
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Grain Transport: Modal Trends and Infrastructure Implications

Description: This report examines the grain-handling system and the infrastructure that supports it. The first part of the report briefly identifies transportation funding issues before Congress that are particularly relevant to grain shippers. The report then describes how grain is delivered to market, including long-term trends taking place and the underlying reasons for those trends. The final part identifies some of the implications these trends have for targeting future investment in the grain-handling… more
Date: January 5, 2005
Creator: Frittelli, John F.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Grazing Regulations: Changes by the Bureau of Land Management

Description: This report discusses the two-pronged approach to grazing reform the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is taking by proposing changes to grazing regulations and considering other changes to grazing policies. BLM asserts that regulatory changes are needed to increase flexibility for grazing managers and permittees, to improve rangeland management and grazing permit administration, to promote conservation, and to comply with court decisions.
Date: August 24, 2005
Creator: Vincent, Carol Hardy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Green Payments in U.S. and European Union Agricultural Policy

Description: This report compares current United States and European Union (EU) efforts in the area of green payments. Green payments refer to "payments made to agricultural producers as compensation for environmental benefits that accrue at levels beyond what producers might otherwise achieve under existing market and regulatory conditions" (summary). The report gives an overview of policies, programs, financing, and various other aspects of comparison related to the topic.
Date: November 22, 2005
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E. & Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Implementing International Agreements on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): Proposed Amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act

Description: The focus of this report is on proposed amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This report does not constitute a legal analysis of the bills or of existing law. Instead, it begins by describing the three international agreements and relevant provisions of TSCA. The report then summarizes selected provisions of H.R. 4591 and H.R. 4800, as introduced, and compares them in a brief narrative and more detailed table.
Date: March 28, 2006
Creator: Schierow, Linda-Jo
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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Predator Control and Compound 1080

Description: This reports explains how Compound 1080 was used before 1972, to kill coyotes which hunt on sheep. But this also killed many other non-targeted wildlife. So, the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA) cancelled the registration predator toxicants which led to even more sheep deaths. During 97th Congress, EPA decided to reevaluate the sue of Compound 1080 with a possibility of re-registering it for the usage. A judge suggested them for the suspension of this poison, and it's finally approved by … more
Date: May 4, 1984
Creator: Aidala, Jim
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 Doha Development Agenda: The WTO Framework Agreement

Description: On July 31, 2004, the 147 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) reached a Framework Agreement for conducting future Doha Round trade negotiations. The Framework Agreement is the latest step in the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) round of trade negotiations at the WTO, which was launched at the 4th Ministerial of the WTO at Doha, Qatar in November 2001. This report provides analysis of the framework agreement and its significant results (agriculture, industrial market access, services, and… more
Date: February 10, 2005
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F. & Hanrahan, Charles E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Emergency Funding for Agriculture: A Brief History of Supplemental Appropriations, FY1989-FY2006

Description: From FY1989 through FY2006, 33 appropriations, authorization, or farm disaster acts added approximately $55.4 billion in supplemental funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs. The two most recent supplemental appropriations were provided in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf of Mexico and in preparation for a possible U.S. outbreak of avian influenza. Some FY1989, the vast majority of the total supplemental funding has been paid directly to farmers, primarily … more
Date: July 3, 2006
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agricultural Biotechnology: Background and Recent Issues

Description: Since the first genetically engineered (GE) crops (also called GM [genetically modified] crops, or GMOs, genetically modified organisms) became commercially available in the mid-1990s, U.S. soybean, cotton, and corn farmers have rapidly adopted them. As adoption has spread, there have been policy debates over the costs and benefits of GE products. Issues include the impacts of GE crops on the environment and food safety, and whether GE foods should be specially labeled. Congress generally has b… more
Date: September 5, 2006
Creator: Becker, Geoffrey S. & Cowan, Tadlock
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agroterrorism: Threats and Preparedness

Description: The potential of terrorist attacks against agricultural targets (agroterrorism) is increasingly recognized as a national security threat, especially after the events of September 11, 2001. This report focuses primarily on biological weapons (rather than chemical weapons) because biological weapons generally are considered the more potent agroterrorism threat. This report also focuses more on the threat of agroterrorism against agricultural production, rather than on food processing and distribu… more
Date: August 25, 2006
Creator: Monke, Jim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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