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Tobacco Price Support: An Overview of the Program

Description: Over 93% of U.S. tobacco production is flue-cured and burley (both being cigarette tobacco types). These crops are particularly important to the agriculture of North Carolina (where flue-cured is grown) and Kentucky (where burley is grown). Together, these two states produce 65% of the total U.S. tobacco crop. The federal tobacco price support program is designed to support and stabilize prices for farmers. It operates through a combination of mandatory marketing quotas and nonrecourse loans. M… more
Date: July 6, 1998
Creator: Womach, Jasper
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Conservation Compliance for Agriculture: Status and Policy Issues

Description: This program, known as "conservation compliance," was amended in 1990 and 1996. This paper reviews the compliance concept, the program requirements, and the implementation record. It also introduces three policy topics: the effect of compliance on erosion rates and patterns; the effectiveness and flexibility of implementation; and the possible impact of changes to commodity policies enacted in the 1996 farm bill.
Date: April 10, 1998
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tobacco-Related Programs and Activities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Operation and Cost

Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has long operated programs that directly assist farmers and others with the production and marketing of numerous crops, including tobacco. In most cases, the programs themselves are not controversial. Increasingly, however, where tobacco is involved, the use of federal funds is being called into question.
Date: July 6, 1998
Creator: Womach, Jasper
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): Status and Issues

Description: The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides farmers with financial and technical assistance to plan and implement soil and water conservation practices. EQIP was enacted in 1996 and most recently amended by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Section 2301 of P.L. 107-171). It is a mandatory spending program (i.e., not subject to annual appropriations), administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). EQIP is guaranteed a total of $6.1 billion f… more
Date: March 2, 1998
Creator: Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Farm Commodity Programs: Sugar

Description: This report discusses the federal sugar program, which authorized by the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 seeks to ensure the viability of the U.S. sugar producing sector primarily by supporting the incomes of sugar beet and sugarcane producers and of those firms that process each crop into sugar.
Date: April 24, 1998
Creator: Jurenas, Remy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Agriculture and the International Monetary Fund

Description: Congress is considering legislation to provide supplemental resources to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to strengthen its ability to deal with future financial crises like those currently in Asia and in 1994-95 in Mexico. many in U.S.
Date: July 6, 1998
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Tobacco Control: Enforcement and Effectiveness of Federal and State Youth Access Laws

Description: This report reviews recent efforts to limit youth access to cigarettes through enforcement of federal and state laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors. Under the federal Synar Amendment, states must conduct compliance checks and enforce their minimum age-of-sale laws or risk losing block grant funds
Date: August 19, 1998
Creator: Redhead, C. Stephen & Austin-Lane, Joy
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S. Farm Income: Recent National and Regional Changes and the Federal Response

Description: Major segments of U.S. agriculture are experiencing declining farm income and financial difficulty. The degree of decline, however, differs among regions and commodities. In 1996, the overall farm sector experienced record high income that declined 6.7% in 1997, and is forecast to decline by another 3.6% in 1998. Several factors are responsible for the recent drop in farm income. Reduced export demand and large global supplies have reduced crop prices
Date: December 15, 1998
Creator: Heykoop, Jerry & Jones, Jean Yavis
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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U.S.-European Agricultural Trade: Food Safety and Biotechnology Issues

Description: The European Union (EU) is the second largest market for U.S. agricultural exports. The EU's ban on meat produced using growth-promoting hormones is a food safety issue that has been particularly contentious in U.S.-EU agricultural trade relations. EU policy on bio-engineered products has also been an issue. A World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel has ruled that the ban contravenes the EU's international obligations under the WTO, but left open the option to the EU to conduct a risk… more
Date: October 21, 1998
Creator: Hanrahan, Charles E.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Grazing Fees and Rangeland Management

Description: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM, Department of the Interior) and the Forest Service (Department of Agriculture) manage approximately 70% of the 650 million acres of land owned by the federal government and many of these lands are classified as rangeland. Both agencies have well-established programs permitting private livestock grazing. The Administration issued new, controversial BLM rangeland management rules effective in August 1995. Supporters contended that the Administration's new rules… more
Date: December 4, 1998
Creator: Cody, Betsy A. & Baldwin, Pamela
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Compensating Farmers for the Tobacco Settlement

Description: The legislative proposals designed to reduce smoking, primarily by teenagers, are likely to have negative economic consequences for tobacco growers and tobacco-dependent communities. This report discusses the possibility of some kind of compensation to farmers as part of the settlement package legislation.
Date: July 6, 1998
Creator: Womach, Jasper
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Farm Disaster Assistance: USDA Programs and Recent Legislative Action

Description: Several regions of the country have experienced natural disasters this year that have significantly reduced farm income for affected producers. The U.S. Department of Agriculture administers three major, permanently authorized programs to help mitigate the financial effects of natural disasters -- federal crop insurance, emergency disaster loans, and a noninsured assistance program. Some disaster programs are also available to help livestock producers rebuild herds or purchase feed when a disas… more
Date: November 4, 1998
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Appropriations for FY1999: 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 Appropriations.
Date: December 21, 1998
Creator: Chite, Ralph M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension Issues in the 105th Congress

Description: The public agricultural research, education, and extension system is comprised of a nationwide network of federal and state agricultural research laboratories and departments, land grant Colleges of Agriculture, colleges of forestry and veterinary medicine, and the nationwide Cooperative Extension System. Although the basic authority to conduct agricultural research and extension programs is permanent, Congress since 1977 has provided funding authority and policy guidance for USDA's in-house re… more
Date: January 15, 1998
Creator: Rawson, Jean M.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Agriculture and EPA’s New Air Quality Standards for Ozone and Particulates

Description: This report considers the effects of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality regulations on agriculture. Moreover, the report summarizes these EPA regulations and what pollutants they target. Specifically, the report discusses the negative effects of these pollutants on agriculture and the benefits of these regulations.
Date: March 24, 1998
Creator: McCarthy, James E. & Zinn, Jeffrey A.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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