Congressional Research Service Reports - 85 Matching Results

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Biotechnology in Animal Agriculture: Status and Current Issues

Description: This report discusses the status and current issues regarding animal agriculture that is being transformed by rapid advances in biotechnology. This report will be updated as significant developments in agricultural biotechnology occur and as Congress develops legislation addressing emerging agricultural biotechnology issues.
Date: March 27, 2006
Creator: Cowan, Tadlock & Becker, Geoffrey S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agricultural Biotechnology: The U.S.-EU Dispute

Description: In May 2003, the United States, Canada, and Argentina initiated a formal challenge before the World Trade Organization (WTO) of the European Union’s (EU’s) de facto moratorium on approving new agricultural biotechnology products, in place since 1998. Although the EU effectively lifted the moratorium in May 2004 by approving a genetically engineered (GE) corn variety, the three countries are pursuing the case, in part because a number of EU member states continue to block approved biotech produc… more
Date: March 10, 2006
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agriculture-Based Renewable Energy Production

Description: Since the late 1970s, U.S. policy makers at both the federal and state levels have enacted a variety of incentives, regulations, and programs to encourage the production and use of agriculture-based renewable energy. Motivations cited for these legislative initiatives include energy security concerns, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and raising domestic demand for U.S.-produced farm products. This report provides background information on farm-based energy production and how this fits in… more
Date: May 18, 2006
Creator: Schnepf, Randy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Avian Influenza: Agricultural Issues

Description: Since the fall of 2003, a strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has spread throughout Asia, infecting mostly poultry but also a limited number of humans. The virus reached Europe in 2005, and the Middle East and Africa in 2006. Avian flu is highly contagious in domestic poultry. Strict biosecurity measures are practiced by commercial poultry farms and encouraged by governments. The economic effects of avian flu outbreaks can be significant, especially given international trade rest… more
Date: May 10, 2006
Creator: Monke, Jim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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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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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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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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Exempting Food and Agriculture Products from U.S. Economic Sanctions: Status and Implementation

Description: In approving the FY2001 agriculture appropriations act, Congress codified the lifting of unilateral sanctions on commercial sales of food, agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical products to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Sudan, and extended this policy to apply to Cuba (Title IX of H.R. 5426, as enacted by P.L. 106- 387; Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, or TSRA). Other provisions place financing and licensing conditions on sales to these countries. Those that a… more
Date: June 29, 2006
Creator: Jurenas, Remy
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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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 25, 2006
Creator: Monke, Jim
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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WTO Doha Round: The Agricultural Negotiations

Description: On July 24, 2006, the WTO’s Director General announced the indefinite suspension of further negotiations in the Doha Development Agenda or Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The principal cause of the suspension was that a core group of WTO member countries — the United States, the European Union (EU), Brazil, India, Australia, and Japan — known as the G-6 had reached an impasse over specific methods to achieve the broad aims of the round for agricultural trade: substantial reductio… more
Date: September 12, 2006
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E. & Schnepf, Randy
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Workforce Investment Act (WIA): Program-by-Program Overview and FY2007 Funding of Title I Training Programs

Description: Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (P.L. 105-220) authorizes several job training programs, including Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker Activities, Job Corps, the Native American Program, the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program, and the Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program. This report briefly summarizes each WIA program, the FY2007 budget request, and for comparison, the FY2006 appropriation (P.L. 109-149).
Date: March 2, 2006
Creator: Lordeman, Ann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The World Trade Organization: The Hong Kong Ministerial

Description: The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its 6th Ministerial summit in Hong Kong from December 13-18, 2005. WTO Ministerials are held every two years to bring together trade ministers from member states, often to make political decisions for the body. Although an original goal of the Ministerial was to agree on a package of modalities (methods by which the round is negotiated) for the ongoing Doha Development Agenda (DDA) round of trade negotiations, this aim was dropped in order to avoid a high… more
Date: January 20, 2006
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F.; Cooper, William H.; Jones, Vivian C.; Langton, Danielle J.; Hanrahan, Charles E.; Fletcher, Susan R. et al.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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The Workforce Investment Act (WIA): Program-by-Program Overview and FY2007 Funding of Title I Training Programs

Description: Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) (P.L. 105-220) authorizes several job training programs, including Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker Activities, Job Corps, the Native American Program, the Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program, and the Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program. This report briefly summarizes each WIA program, the FY2007 budget request, and for comparison, the FY2006 appropriation (P.L. 109-149).
Date: March 2, 2006
Creator: Lordeman, Ann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

The World Trade Organization: The Hong Kong Ministerial

Description: The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its 6th Ministerial summit in Hong Kong from December 13-18, 2005. WTO Ministerials are held every two years to bring together trade ministers from member states, often to make political decisions for the body. Although an original goal of the Ministerial was to agree on a package of modalities (methods by which the round is negotiated) for the ongoing Doha Development Agenda (DDA) round of trade negotiations, this aim was dropped in order to avoid a high… more
Date: January 20, 2006
Creator: Fergusson, Ian F.; Cooper, William H.; Jones, Vivian C.; Langton, Danielle J.; Hanrahan, Charles E.; Fletcher, Susan R. et al.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
open access

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: October 6, 2006
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Report
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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