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Bill· SS. 2523 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 25 April 1990
Common Sense Agricultural Wetlands Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 with regard to the wetland conservation program to: (1) authorize graduated penalties for program violations; (2) require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a de minimis standard which shall consider the wetland's size, conservation, wildlife, and recreational value; and (3) exempt land from program requirements based upon a cost-benefit analysis, or because it has been traditionally devoted to crop production. Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to exempt from specified dredging and fill prohibitions wetland that has been traditionally devoted to crop production. Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to require the Secretary to make every effort to: (1) sell Farmers Home Administration inventory land without placing any permanent conservation easements on it; or (2) sell such land easement-free before transferring it to a third party.
Bill· SS. 2503 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to exempt converted wetland from other wetland regulation if such land: (1) was converted to wetland use prior to the enactment of such Act; or (2) was farmed for at least six of the 1975 through 1985 crops and mitigated on an acre for acre basis.
Bill· SS. 2509 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Federal Food Effort for the Elderly and Disabled Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to exclude Medicare payments from income for purposes of food stamp eligibility. Provides for food stamp issuance by mail in designated rural areas. Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to: (1) extend through FY 1995 authority for surplus agricultural reprocessing (into food products) agreements with private companies; and (2) make nutrition programs under the Older Americans Act of 1965 eligible for such processed commodities. Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to examine the effectiveness of the program of permitting simplified food stamp applications to be made at Social Security Administration offices.
Bill· SS. 2508 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
National Soil and Water Conservation Foundation Establishment Act of 1990 - Establishes the National Soil and Water Conservation Foundation to create a public-private sector partnership to further the objectives of the Soil Conservation Service.
Bill· HRH.R. 4588 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Fish Quality and Vessel Inspection Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to: (1) establish standards for fishing and fish processing vessels; and (2) make recommendations for the quality of fish harvesting waters. Provides for standards regarding the grading and the identity, quality, packaging, and labeling of fish and fish products. Directs the Secretary to implement a system for vessel registration under which a vessel's registration may be suspended for failure to permit inspection or if the Secretary finds a reasonable probability of serious or adverse health consequences or death. Directs the Secretary to establish an inspection program including intensive sampling for chemical and microbial contaminants, parasites, and toxins. Allows the Secretary to detain fish and fish products the Secretary has reason to believe are in violation of standards. Directs the Secretary to develop a program for the regular monitoring of waters in the Exclusive Economic Zone from which fish are harvested. Authorizes the Secretary to close waters that do not meet standards or that present a risk to human health. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) enter into agreements with Federal and State agencies and foreign governments to conduct registrations and inspections; and (2) provide for an official mark signifying that fish or fish products meet grade and trade standards. Directs the Secretary to establish a program for the education and training of private and State employees involved in implementing this Act. Makes it unlawful to: (1) fail to meet any standard; (2) fail to register a vessel; (3) fail to provide access to documents for inspection; (4) use an unapproved or counterfeit mark or use an official mark in an unapproved manner; or (5) harvest from closed waters. Sets forth civil monetary penalties. Prohibits discrimination against any employee because the employee has participated in the implementation of this Act.
Bill· HRH.R. 4592 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Crop Insurance Act of 1990 - Directs the President to appoint as an officer in the Department of Agriculture (Department) a Commissioner of Crop Insurance. Provides for the creation of: (1) a Crop Insurance Advisory Committee; and (2) an Office of Crop Insurance Operations (Office) in the Department. Provides for reviews of: (1) insurers; (2) rating organizations; and (3) crop insurance rates and policies. Preempts State and local law with regard to such reviews and related matters. Requires the Office to make premium vouchers available to agricultural producers to purchase multiple peril crop insurance. Authorizes the Office to provide hardship allowances for the first five years after enactment of this Act under specified circumstances. Directs the Commissioner to provide for an assigned crop insurance plan for those producers unable to obtain crop insurance. Creates a Federal catastrophic reinsurance program to protect insurers against nationwide losses exceeding specified levels. Establishes the Catastrophic Reinsurance Fund. Applies specified fraud remedies to insurance policies under this Act. Authorizes appropriations. Phases out the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, and repeals the Federal Crop Insurance Act upon the Corporation's dissolution. Directs the Commissioner, upon enactment of this Act, to implement its programs with a Three-Year Transitional Program operated through a Special Transitional Pool (insurance policy repository).
Bill· HRH.R. 4584 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 24 April 1990
Conservation Forestry Act of 1990 - Title I: National Goals for Windbreaks, Shelterbelts, Wildlife Corridors, and Sustainable Agroforestry Systems - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish national goals for windbreaks, shelterbelts, wildlife corridors, and sustainable agroforestry systems. Title II: Agroforestry Research - Directs the Secretary to establish a Semiarid Agroforestry Research, Development, and Demonstration Center at Forest Service facilities at Lincoln, Nebraska. Requires the Director of the Center to establish a National Clearinghouse on Agroforestry Conservation and Promotion. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Programs to Promote Tree Planting and Windbreak and Shelterbelt Establishment and Maintenance - Subtitle A: Conservation Reserve Program - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the conservation reserve program (CRP) through 1995. Provides for a minimum CRP acreage planted to trees. Makes cropland suitable for shelterbelts, windbreaks, wildlife corridors, or filter strips eligible for the CRP. Gives special consideration for such eligibility to cropland influencing surface or groundwater quality. Provides for cost sharing assistance. Makes uncropped wetlands and marginal pastureland eligible for the CRP if the owner agrees to plant trees on such land. Provides for cost sharing assistance. Subtitle B: Agricultural Conservation Program - Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to provide financial assistance for the establishment of shelterbelts or windbreaks under the agricultural conservation program. Subtitle C: Great Plains Conservation Program - Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to provide financial assistance for the establishment of shelterbelts or windbreaks under the Great Plains conservation program.
Bill· SS. 2487 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1990
Agricultural Water Quality Incentive Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an agricultural water quality incentive program to encourage agricultural producers to reduce surface and groundwater contamination, with emphasis on practices that increase farm profitability and productivity. Requires participants to: (1) develop a farm water quality management plan; and (2) enter into minimum five-year program contracts. Establishes 1991 through 1995 program acreage levels. Provides participants with annual incentive payments ($3500 maximum) on a per acre basis. Gives priority to land with the potential for surface or groundwater contamination. Provides for demonstration and model farm programs. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to make eligible for the conservation reserve program land that is not highly erodible but is subject to surface and groundwater contamination.
Bill· SS. 2489 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 20 April 1990
Mickey Leland Memorial Domestic Hunger Relief Act - Title I: Reducing Childhood Hunger - Subtitle A: Eliminating the Excess Shelter Deduction Cap - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to revise and increase the excess shelter expense deduction for FY 1991 and 1992. Subtitle B: Adequacy of Food Stamp Benefits - Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to adjust the basic benefit level upwards by specified increments at the beginning of each fiscal year from FY 1991 through 1995 until it reaches 105 percent of the cost of the thrifty food plan. Subtitle C: Protecting Households in Special Circumstances - Directs the Secretary to provide for emergency allotments to eligible households to replace food lost in a disaster. Excludes from the computation of household income any State allowance (provided at least annually) for obtaining school clothes for children in school or child care. Provides for allotment increases to cover State or local sales taxes for participants in demonstration projects. Authorizes a State, on or after April 1, 1992, and with the Secretary's approval, to implement an electronic food stamp benefit transfer system. Redefines "food" with regard to the homeless for purposes of such Act. Permits State agencies to develop standard estimates of the shelter and related expenses which homeless households may reasonably be expected to incur in order to certify such households based on reported expenses not exceeding such an estimate. Title II: Promoting Self-Sufficiency - Excludes the first $50 a month received as child support from consideration as income in determining the food stamp allotments of households also receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits. Increases from $4,500 to $5,500 from January 1 through September 30, 1991, with annual cost-of-living adjustments to follow, the limit on the fair market value of vehicles that food stamp recipients may own. Directs the Secretary to conduct a sufficient number of demonstration projects to evaluate the effects of excluding from such vehicle calculation the value of: (1) any licensed vehicle used for certain income-producing, transportation, or shelter purposes; and (2) one licensed vehicle used for job-related or job-seeking purposes (including commuting), for pursuing education or training, or for securing food or food stamp benefits. Allows States to use their own agency-designed forms instead of forms approved by the Secretary. Allows four States to give priority in the provision of services to voluntary participants (including both exempt and nonexempt), so long as performance standards are maintained. Authorizes an employment and training program to contain programs designed to increase the self-sufficiency of recipients through self-employment. Excludes from the computation of household financial resources any nonliquid resources necessary to allow the household to carry out an approved plan for self-sufficiency. Increases the dependent care deduction for purposes of eligibility and benefit levels. Increases the limit for reimbursements to recipients for costs incurred in employment and training activities. Revises: (1) low-income student eligibility provisions; and (2) educational expense exclusions. Excludes from income computation housing assistance payments made to a third party on behalf of a household member residing in transitional housing for the homeless. Title III: Simplifying Program Administration - Requires parents and minor children who live together to apply for food stamps as a single household. Requires the Secretary to issue rules under which State agencies must develop standards for identifying (for exclusion as inaccessible resources) those kinds of resources the household is unlikely to sell for any significant return because its interest is so slight or the cost of selling would be so great. Provides that a food stamp office need not consider any resources that the AFDC or supplemental security income benefit programs have already determined to be exempt. Directs State agencies to require only one adult representative of a household to sign all declarations required in the application process on behalf of the household. Makes recipients of State or local general assistance programs categorically eligible for food stamps. Changes from mandatory to discretionary aggregate allotments for households applying for benefits after the 15th day of the month. Title IV: Hunger in Rural America - Requires State agencies to designate rural project areas where low-income persons face substantial difficulties in getting transportation. Requires issuance of coupons by mail in such areas, except where households experience mail losses exceeding certain levels. Title V: Promoting Access for the Elderly and Disabled - Declares that State agencies, with respect to the excess medical deduction for the elderly and the disabled, shall not require further verification of a change in medical expenses if the change has been anticipated for the verification period. Requires annual adjustments to the value of the minimum food stamp benefit. Permits State agencies to establish a procedure allowing households whose regular food stamp benefits do not exceed $20 per month to receive up to $60 worth for intervals of up to three months. Requires that any applicant for or recipient of supplemental security income benefits be informed of the availability of food stamp benefits. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) make grants in FY 1991 through 1993 for demonstration projects to improve food stamp participation among homeless persons and families, low-income working families with children, and elderly and disabled persons; and (2) conduct pilot projects in FY 1994 and 1995 to test new food stamp procedures aimed at increasing rural participation. Title VI: Program Administration by State Agencies - Prohibits the application of disallowances for erroneous issuances or similar actions to any State for a fiscal year before FY 1991. Title VII: Program Integrity - Prohibits a wholesale-retail food concern from redeeming food stamps as a retail store unless: (1) it does a substantial level of retail food business; or (2) the Secretary determines that failure to so authorize the store would cause hardship to food stamp households. Requires applicant wholesale or retail food stores or concerns to provide the social security numbers of their owners, officers, and on-site managers. Increases fines for food stamp trafficking. Disqualifies a food store or concern permanently for selling guns, explosives, or controlled substances for food stamps, except that a fine may be imposed in lieu of disqualification under specified circumstances. Authorizes fines for: (1) food stores or concerns that accept loose coupons; and (2) unauthorized third-party food stamp acceptance. Reduces the election period during which a household required to repay a food stamp overissuance must decide whether to make such repayment through cash refund or allotment reduction. Title VIII: Reauthorization of Programs - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to make food stamp program authorization of appropriations permanent. Repeals allotment reduction and limitation on value provisions. Authorizes fund allocations through FY 1995 for food stamp job training. Extends through FY 1995 food stamp pilot program authority. Reauthorizes through FY 1995: (1) the nutrition assistance program for Puerto Rico; (2) the temporary emergency food assistance program under the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983; (3) the soup kitchen and food bank programs under the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988; (4) the commodity distribution and supplemental food programs under the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973; (5) the distribution of surplus commodities to special nutrition projects under the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981; and (6) the nutrition education program under the Food Security Act of 1985. Title IX: Miscellaneous - Amends the Commodity Distribution Reform Act and WIC Amendments of 1987 to: (1) make the food bank demonstration project permanent; and (2) authorize State option contracts (with reimbursement by a State distribution agency) for commodity distribution programs. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the appropriate congressional committees on the feasibility of providing food stamp allotments to elderly and disabled residents of board and care homes. Increases the amount and variety of food available under the Indian reservation food distribution program. Authorizes nutrition education grants. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 with regard to the special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children (WIC) to: (1) establish a specified FY 1991 authorization of appropriations; and (2) make WIC authorizations permanent. Title X: Indian Nutrition Gardening Program - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish an Indian (including Native Alaskan) gardening grant program to establish gardening operations on Indian reservations. Directs the Extension Service to provide training and technical assistance. Authorizes FY 1991 through 1994 appropriations. Title XI: Effective Dates - Sets forth effective dates for provisions of this Act.
Bill· SS. 2471 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 1990
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to study and report to the Congress on the National School Lunch Program, including the impact on child nutrition of reductions in Federal funds and bonus commodities and of changes in State and local administrative responsibilities and costs.
Bill· SS. 2473 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 1990
Peanut Price Support Extension Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to extend the following programs for the 1991 through 1995 peanut crops: (1) suspension of marketing quotas and acreage allotments; (2) national and farm poundage quotas; (3) sale, lease, or transfer provisions; and (4) marketing provisions. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend price supports for the 1991 through 1995 crops of quota and additional peanuts. Establishes the following quota peanut levels: (1) for 1991, the rate shall be the 1990 rate; (2) for 1992 and 1994, the rate shall be the adjusted rate of the immediately preceding crop; and (3) for 1993 and 1995, the rate shall be the rate of the immediately preceding crop. Provides for warehouse storage loans. Requires area marketing associations to maintain pools and records for quota and additional peanuts. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to take specified actions to improve the quality of edible peanuts. Directs the Secretary to establish the Peanut Regulatory Advisory Committee which shall terminate at the end of the 1995 marketing year.
Bill· HRH.R. 4576 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 19 April 1990
Rural Economic Development and School Partnership Act of 1990 - Directs the Administrator of the Rural Development Administration (RDA) (the Administrator) to make grants for certain projects to rural economic development and education partnerships. Prohibits such projects from including the development or acquisition of telecommunications facilities. Authorizes appropriations. Declares that this Act shall not be construed to affect in any manner the applicability of the Communications Act of 1934, or regulations and orders under it, or any State or local law relating to the regulation or provision of telecommunications facilities or services. Directs the Administrator to prescribe regulations for the grant program.
Bill· HRH.R. 4553 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 18 April 1990
Short-Term Export Credit Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the Short-Term Export Credit Program through FY 1995. Requires the Commodity Credit Corporation to make a specified amount available in credit guarantees under the Program to finance the export sales of U.S agricultural commodities (excluding wood and processed wood products). Requires the Corporation to insure that: (1) no more than 20 percent of such credit guarantees shall be extended to any one country; and (2) up to $2,000,000 of such guarantees shall be extended to preferred risk countries and those countries that constitute new customers for U.S. agricultural products. Prohibits the Secretary of Agriculture from charging an organization fee in excess of one percent of the credit extended under the Program. Requires the Secretary to establish a personnel system that provides an experienced group of employees to administer the Program.
Bill· SS. 2445 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1990
Food Stamp Trafficking Prevention and Penalty Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to require retail and wholesale food concerns participating in the food stamp program to provide the Secretary of Agriculture with their Internal Revenue Service taxpayer identifying numbers. Makes it unlawful to launder funds obtained from food stamp coupon trafficking. Provides for civil and criminal forfeiture and property disposition for violating this Act.
Bill· SS. 2431 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1990
Farms for the Future Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish the Agricultural Resource Conservation Demonstration Program to provide Federal guarantees and interest rate assistance for loans made by lending institutions to State trust funds. Authorizes the Secretary to establish in the Treasury the Agricultural Resource Conservation Revolving Fund. Terminates the Program on September 30, 1996.
Bill· SS. 2422 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 5 April 1990
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a research program on new technologies in food safety that includes: (1) developing technology for the rapid identification of infectious agents and toxins on farms and within the processing and distribution chain; (2) establishing a statistical framework for health risk assessment related to contamination of the animal product food chain by these infectious agents and toxins; (3) analyzing the animal product food chain to determine the most effective point for controlling or preventive intervention; and (4) developing techniques to monitor the production, processing, and distribution of food animals and their products in order to detect potential microbiological or chemical agents. Directs the Secretary to: (1) award grants for periods up to five years to pay the Federal share of the costs of funding research projects; (2) seek research proposals and, in so doing, to seek the widest participation from persons eligible for research grants, including entities involved in food safety research; and (3) perform peer review evaluations of proposals, seeking the widest participation of qualified scientists. Sets the Federal share of the grants at 75 percent, but allows the Secretary to increase that to 100 percent if such action is appropriate. Prohibits making a grant for any purpose for which a grant may be made under specified provisions, or for planning, rehabilitation, acquisition, or construction of a facility. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2419 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Agricultural Products Development Act of 1990 - Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to expand the program to develop agricultural product-based industrial products and processes. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 4509 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Sustainable Agriculture and Clean Water Act of 1990 - Title I: Agricultural Programs and Practices - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) establish an integrated crop management program; and (2) develop related technical guides. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to include in the conservation reserve program (CRP) non-highly erodible wetlands, converted wetlands, or surrounding uplands. Extends the CRP through 1995. Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a study regarding the advisability and effect of extending and expanding the CRP; (2) establish a soil testing program in areas with surface or groundwater problems; and (3) establish in the Extension Service a nutrient management education program. Directs the Agricultural Research Service and Cooperative State Research Service to increase agricultural and water quality research, including integrated crop management system research. Title II: Clean Water Act Programs - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize FY 1992 through 1995 appropriations for management of nonpoint source (including groundwater quality protection) pollution of navigable waters. Authorizes FY 1992 through 1995 appropriations for cost sharing programs to control rural area nonpoint source water pollution. Authorizes FY 1991 through 1995 appropriations for the clean lakes program.
Bill· HRH.R. 4490 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Composting Research Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) establish a Compost Task Force; (2) conduct a composting agricultural wastes study; (3) conduct research on potential uses of compost; (4) evaluate existing compost programs; and (5) initiate a composting extension program.
Bill· HRH.R. 4479 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Food Program Evaluation Integrity Protection Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to notify contracting researchers of any changes the Department of Agriculture (Department) has made to their studies and evaluations of food or nutrition programs before reporting on such studies to the Congress. Permits such persons to comment on Department revisions and requires that such comments be included in the congressional report. Prohibits Department discrimination against such persons with regard to future contracts.
Law· HJRESH.J.Res. 548 (101st)enacted
United States · United States Congress · 4 April 1990
Designates the week of August 19 through August 25, 1990, as National Agricultural Research Week.
Bill· SS. 2409 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 1990
Conservation Promotion Act of 1990 - Title I: Conservation Reserve Program - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to make eligible for the conservation reserve program (CRP): (1) environmentally sensitive lands, including sinkholes, filter strips, wetland, and other areas that involve groundwater protection; and (2) uncropped marginal lands that will be planted to trees after CRP enrollment. Extends CRP authority and CRP tree planting authority through 1995. Authorizes 1991 through 1995 enrollment at between 40,000,000 and 50,000,000 acres. Authorizes three to ten-year CRP contract extensions. Provides for farmwide CRP eligibility under specified conditions. Subjects land whose CRP contract has expired to provisions for loss of assistance for cropping on highly erodible land. Permits CRP participation of land whose ownership change during the preceding three-year period was due to a foreclosure on bankruptcy. Provides for CRP contract extension or optional 15-year contracts for land devoted to hardwood trees, shelterbelts, or windbreaks. Authorizes up to 75 percent cost sharing assistance for hardwood plantings. Waives ownership requirements as necessary for such plantings. States that: (1) no tenant shall lose agricultural benefits eligibility because of another tenants' crop production on the same farm or any other farm; and (2) no person shall lose such eligibility as to any crop on a farm other than on which such production is on highly erodible land. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to offer three-year cost-sharing soil restoration contracts under a Soil Restoration Program. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to count each acre devoted to surface water storage as an acre removed from production for purposes of calculating the acreage base under any acreage limitation or land diversion program. Title II: Wetlands - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary to establish a cost-sharing program of long-term and permanent easements to protect and restore wetlands. Limits fiscal year payments to any owner or operator to $50,000. Authorizes appropriations., Directs the Secretary to establish a cost sharing program to restore drained wetlands to their natural state and to enroll such land in the wetlands reserve. Exempts a producer from agricultural assistance ineligibility for crop production on wetland if the producer: (1) has a specified 1975-1985 cropping history on such land; or (2) agrees to acre-for-acre mitigation of previously converted wetland. Provides for flexible penalties for certain inadvertent violations of the highly erodible land and wetland conservation programs. Title III: Water Quality Protection - Directs the Secretary to establish an Agricultural Water Quality Board to coordinate related Federal activities and ensure consistency with State water quality programs. Authorizes the Secretary to provide land managers with accelerated technical assistance in the development of water quality best management practices. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish the water management practices cost share program; (2) establish the water quality education and outreach program; (3) accelerate Federal water quality research; and (4) utilize data base information to evaluate water quality best management practices. Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Integrated Crop Management - Directs the Secretary to establish the integrated crop management research program to conduct research related to economically and environmentally sound farming practices. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to develop integrated crop management technical guides. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a voluntary integrated crop management program option to assist eligible producers in adopting integrated crop management plans. Sets forth related provisions with regard to: (1) base and payment protection; (2) acreage reduction; (3) cross-compliance waiver; and (4) haying restrictions. Title V: Certified Organic Food - Directs the Secretary to establish an Organic Food Commission to: (1) determine the advisability of establishing a national program for organic food certification; and (2) review and approve State programs. Sets forth certification criteria. Title VI: Extension Service - Provides for Extension Service agent training in all aspects of integrated crop management, including specialist training and information dissemination. Title VII: Data Collection - Directs the Secretary to develop and disseminate information concerning the agricultural uses of pesticide and fertilizers. Title VIII: Great Plains Conservation Program - Amends the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act to: (1) extend the Great Plains conservation program through FY 2001; and (2) increase the program cost ceiling.
Bill· SS. 2394 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 3 April 1990
Farm Income and Flexibility Act of 1990 - Title I: Wool and Mohair - Amends the National Wool Act of 1954 to extend the wool and mohair price support program through 1995. Title II: Wheat - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the wheat price support program through 1995. Sets the minimum purchase and loan level at $2.75 per bushel and the minimum established price at $4.00 per bushel. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) deficiency payments; (2) conservation use of acreage; (3) payment rates; (4) estimated payments; (5) disaster payment-based reductions; (6) crop insurance; (7) acreage reduction and land diversion; (8) voluntary production limitations; and (9) cross compliance (not a required condition for price supports). Title III: Feed Grains - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the feed grain price support program through 1995. Sets the minimum purchase and loan level for corn at $2.10 per bushel and the minimum established price at $2.75 per bushel. Bases such levels for other feed grains on corn levels. Sets forth related provisions for feed grains similar to title II of this Act. Title IV: Oilseeds - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to establish loans for oilseeds (including soybeans, sunflower seeds, canola, rapeseed, safflower seeds, and flax) through 1995. Sets loan levels at: (1) $6.25 per bushel for soybeans; (2) 12.5 cents per pound for sunflower seed, canola, rapeseed, safflower seed, and flax; and (3) prices based on soybean levels for other oilseeds. States that cross-compliance shall not be required as a condition for price supports. Title V: Sugar - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the sugar price support program through 1995. Sets minimum sugarcane support levels at 18 cents per pound. Bases sugar beet support levels on such levels. Authorizes support level increases due to increases in domestic sugar production costs. Title VI: General Commodity Provisions - Subtitle A: Acreage Base and Yield System - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to direct the Secretary to establish normal crop acreage farm bases for each of the 1991 through 1995 crop years based upon planted program crops and oilseeds. Directs the county committees to determine such farm bases. Directs the Secretary to establish individual farm and crop program yields for each of the 1991 through 1995 crop years based upon current yields or the past five year average. Permits producers to plant mixes of program crops and oilseeds. Subtitle B: Wheat and Feed Grain Ending Stocks - Sets forth ending stock goals for wheat at 20 percent of projected domestic and export use and for feed grains at 15 percent of such use. Authorizes the Secretary to proclaim different ending stock goals, but requires an accompanying statement of resulting farm price changes and taxpayer costs. Directs the Secretary to request public comment on the 1991 and subsequent wheat and feed grain price support and acreage reduction programs. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Commodity Provisions - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend through the 1995 crop year: (1) agricultural program benefit and disaster payment limitations; (2) the prohibition on foreign persons receiving agricultural program benefits; and (3) multiyear set-asides. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend through the 1995 crop year: (1) advance deficiency payments; (2) diversion payments; (3) advance resource commodity loans; (4) interest payment certificates; (5) supplemental set-aside and acreage limitation authority; and (6) the special grazing and hay program. Sets forth Commodity Credit Corporation sales price restrictions. Authorizes the Secretary to make prevented planting disaster payments for the 1991 through 1995 crops of peanuts, oilseeds, sugar beets, and sugarcane. Authorizes reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to extend normally planted acreage provisions through 1995. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend advance and optional program provisions through 1996. Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to extend the National Agricultural Cost of Production Standards Review Board through FY 1995. Subtitle D: Honey - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the honey price support program through 1995. Sets minimum levels at 56.86 cents per pound. Subtitle E: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes technical and conforming amendments to the Agricultural Act of 1949. Subtitle F: Effective Date - Sets forth effective dates.
Bill· SS. 2392 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 2 April 1990
Farm Stewardship Act of 1990 - Title I: Soil Conservation - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the conservation reserve program through 1995. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish national sustainable soil loss goals. Title II: Water Conservation - Makes a person (after January 1, 1985) ineligible for specified agricultural program benefits if such person: (1) has violated Federal or State ground or surface water quality standards for two or more successive years; and (2) has not applied a required conservation plan. Title III: Wetlands Conservation - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to make a violation of the wetland conservation program effective upon conversion of wetland. (Currently a violation is effective upon crop production.) Establishes a graduated penalty for first-time violations if such wetland is restored or mitigated within one year as provided for by this Act. Prohibits the use of Federal funds or credit for wetland conversion. Provides for wetland inclusion in the farm stewardship program established by this Act. Amends the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to provide cost sharing assistance to landowners for permanent easements for watershed protection, flood prevention, and wildlife habitat activities. Title IV: Wildlife Conservation - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend through crop year 1995 multiyear set aside authority. Requires a producer to designate the same cropland each year for all set-aside programs, except as necessary for crop rotation or farm operation changes. Title V: Farm Stewardship Program - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary to establish a farm stewardship program to assist producers in protecting fragile natural resources of high public value as well as farm natural resources through permanent conservation easements. Provides for cost sharing assistance. Sets forth categories of eligible lands as follows: (1) highly erodible land as of 1996; (2) croplands that may affect surface or groundwater quality; (3) certain wetlands; (4) wildlife habitats; and (5) fragile natural resources. Directs the Secretary to designate easement managers. Authorizes limited economic use of such land where appropriate. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Water Bank Act to include permanent conservation easements among water bank agreement provisions. Title VI: Whole-Farm Conservation Plans - Directs the Secretary to provide a requesting producer with technical assistance in preparing a whole-farm conservation plan, which shall identify and assess: (1) cost-effective conservation practices; (2) best management practices; (3) wildlife habitats; (4) wetlands, flood plains, and riparian areas; and (5) farm objectives and related practices. Title VII: Debt for Nature - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to provide that: (1) conservation easements on land securing a loan under such Act shall be acquired prior to any loan restructuring; and (2) such land shall be enrolled in the farm stewardship program. Requires: (1) the Secretary to acquire permanent conservation easements on Federal inventory land before disposing of it; and (2) such land to be enrolled in the farm stewardship program. Requires that before receiving an agricultural loan, any land owned by a borrower that contains fragile natural resources shall be: (1) permanently protected by a conservation easement; or (2) held by the Government as collateral for such loan. Requires such land to be enrolled in the farm stewardship program. Title VIII: State Technical Committees - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary to establish in each State a State Technical Committee relating to conservation measure implementation.
Bill· SS. 2386 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1990
National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1990 - Title I: Amendments to the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to declare that the primary purpose of Federal involvement in both basic and applied agricultural research and extension activities shall be to: (1) enhance the sustainability and competitiveness of the food production and agricultural system of the United States; and (2) best ensure that it maximizes competitiveness and the social, environmental, human health, and food security interests of the United States. Sets forth specific emphases for agricultural research programs. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to issue regulations interpreting and applying the purposes of this Act. Requires any proposal for a project that would be federally funded at $10,000 or more to identify both purposes and specified effects. Extends through FY 1995 and revises the membership and responsibilities of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Users Advisory Board and the Joint Council on Food and Agricultural Sciences. Directs the Secretary, acting through the Joint Council, to establish an Agricultural Science Technology Review Board which shall: (1) provide technical interpretation of current agricultural and environmental issues for the Joint Council and the Advisory Board; and (2) provide technology assessment of current public and private agricultural research and technology transfer initiatives. Extends authorizations of appropriations for: (1) agricultural research; (2) agricultural research at State agricultural experiment stations; and (3) extension education. Revises the program of grants and fellowships for food and agricultural sciences higher education, including: (1) authorizing minority set-asides; (2) establishing a National Food and Agricultural Sciences Teaching Awards program; and (3) extending authorization of appropriations. Establishes in the Department of Agriculture (Department) the National Agricultural Library to serve as the primary agricultural information resource in the United States. Authorizes appropriations. Extends: (1) the Rangeland Research Advisory Board and its authorization of appropriations; (2) the Animal Health Science Research Advisory Board and the authorization of appropriations for animal health and disease research programs; and (3) aquaculture authorization of appropriations. Revises the Secretary's international agricultural research and extension authorized activities. Title II: Ground Water Policy Research and Education - Agriculture and Ground Water Policy Research and Education Coordination Act - Subtitle A: Ground Water Policy - Establishes the Office of Ground Water Policy Coordination (the Office) in the Department. Establishes an interagency committee on groundwater policy in the Department. Requires the Director of the Office to establish technical advisory committees, as necessary. Requires the Director to formalize the existence of certain technical integration groups. Authorizes the Director to establish interagency technical support committees. Provides for the development and implementation of agricultural groundwater policy within the Department, including an agency-specific groundwater policy statement and implementation plan, a national agricultural groundwater plan, and an annual groundwater activities report. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Coordination with State Programs - Directs the Secretary to establish State groundwater coordination committees (the committees) within the food and agricultural councils. Directs the Secretary to establish, through the Extension Service, a groundwater supply quality coordinator (the coordinator) in each State extension service. Directs each State committee and coordinator to work with Federal, State, and other appropriate entities to: (1) evaluate the State's groundwater plan's adequacy in addressing agricultural sources of nonpoint source pollutants; (2) review the relevance of certain water quality protection projects to groundwater protection programs; (3) assess the identification and mapping of hydrologic units; and (4) assess the adequacy of the State's programs for addressing agricultural sources of groundwater contamination. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Extension and Education - Chapter 1: Pesticide Education - Directs the Secretary to establish within the Extension Service a National Pesticide Education Program. Chapter 2: National Nutrient Management Education Program - Directs the Secretary to establish within the Extension Service a National Nutrient Management Education Program. Chapter 3: Household Chemicals, Pesticides, and Fertilizers - Directs the Secretary to establish within the Extension Service: (1) a National Education Program for the Management of Household Chemicals, Pesticides, and Fertilizers; and (2) a Household Chemicals, Pesticides, and Fertilizer Advisory Council. Chapter 4: National Water Quality Management Education Programs - Directs the Secretary to establish within the Extension Service a National Education Program for the Management of Water Resources which shall include: (1) well water testing; (2) water utilization; and (3) staff training. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle D: Soil Conservation Service - Requires the Soil Conservation Service to protect and improve groundwater quality through specified activities. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle E: Research of the Department of Agriculture - Directs the Secretary to conduct or assist research on specified topics relating to agriculture and groundwater. Requires each State coordinator to request appropriate representative Federal, State, and university scientists to work with the State committee and coordinator to establish a prioritized agriculture and groundwater research agenda for the State. Provides for coordination of such State agendas in establishing a prioritized research agenda for regional projects. Requires the Director to use regional reports in establishing a national agricultural groundwater plan, developing funding priorities in Department water quality research programs, and requesting certain research proposals. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: National Agricultural and Groundwater Clearinghouse - Directs the Secretary to establish at the National Agricultural Library a repository of agricultural and groundwater reports. Provides for the establishment in the Library of: (1) an interactive data base on State programs and laws relating to groundwater quality and agriculture; and (2) a standardized format for the entry and description of State programs, activities, and results. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization - Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Act of 1990 - Subtitle A: Establishment of Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation - Establishes within the Department of Agriculture the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation (Corporation). Subtitle B: Research and Development - Directs the Secretary to select research projects for the development of new industrial products. Subtitle C: Establishment of Regional Centers - Directs the Corporation to establish between four and nine Regional Centers which shall assist and coordinate new industrial product development programs. Subtitle D: Financial Assistance for Commercialization - Authorizes the Corporation to provide financial assistance for such programs in the form of: (1) loans or loan guarantees; (2) interest subsidy payments; (3) convertible debentures; (4) matching grants; and (5) umbrella bonding. Subtitle E: Revolving Fund - Establishes a revolving fund for specified programs under this Act. Subtitle F: Authorization of Appropriations - Authorizes appropriations for activities under this title. Title IV: National Competitive Research Initiative - Amends Federal law to extend and revise the high priority agricultural research competitive grant program. Authorizes a related competitive grant program to improve research capabilities in the agricultural, food, and environmental sciences. Title V: Global Climate Change Prevention - Global Climate Change Prevention Act of 1990 - Subtitle A: Agriculture and Global Climate Change - Chapter 1: Office of Climate Change - Establishes within the Department of Agriculture the Office of Climate Change. Directs the Secretary to study and report to the appropriate congressional committees on the implications of global climate change for agriculture and forestry. Chapter 2: Research on Global Warming, Forests, and Agriculture - Domestic Research on Global Warming, Forests, and Agriculture Act of 1990 - Requires the Secretary to conduct studies and report to the appropriate congressional committees regarding: (1) the effects of global warming on rice production; (2) the effects of global warming on major U.S. crops; (3) methane emissions from U.S. and Asian irrigated rice production; (4) emissions from nitrogen intensive crops; and (5) emissions of methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrocarbons from tropical and temperate forests. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a Methane Emissions Evaluation, Use, and Control Program. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish a technical advisory committee. Subtitle B: Forestry and Global Climate Change - Chapter 1: International Forestry Cooperation - International Forestry Cooperation Act of 1990 - Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) provide assistance for international forestry activities (focusing upon industrializing middle- and low-income developing countries); (2) provide tropical deforestation assistance in support of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization; and (3) provide training for tropical forest management and conservation, including management of the Caribbean National Forest/Luquillo Experimental Forest. Directs the Secretary to: (1) expand the Caribbean National Forest and Institute of Tropical Forestry in Puerto Rico; and (2) prepare and submit to the Congress a tropical forestry plan for such expansion. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 2: Forestry Planning and Global Warming - Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 to include an analysis of climate change and related matters in the Secretary's Renewable Resource Assessment. Chapter 3: Urban Forestry - Directs the Secretary to establish an urban forestry education and accelerated planting program to improve urban environmental quality, including reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and conservation of energy. Authorizes appropriations. Chapter 4: Biomass Energy Demonstration Projects - Authorizes the Secretary to carry out projects that demonstrate the potential of short-rotation silvicultural methods to produce wood for electricity production and industrial energy needs. Chapter 5: Forestry Research and Global Warming - Amends the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 to include among the major areas of renewable resource research the effects of weather, climate, and air pollution on forests and rangelands. Chapter 6: Interagency Cooperation on Forestry and Climate Change - Authorizes the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of Defense to manage Department of Defense forest lands and military installations on such lands. Authorizes appropriations. Title VI: Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture Research - Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Act of 1990 - Subtitle A: Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program - Directs the Secretary to establish a Federal-State matching grant program to create or enhance State sustainable agricultural research, extension, and education programs. Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a National Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Council; and (2) four regional administrative councils. Directs the Secretary to develop technical guides for low-input sustainable agricultural production systems. Authorizes a technical guide revision grant program. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: National Training Program in Sustainable Agriculture - Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a national training program in sustainable agriculture for extension agents and other educational and technical information professionals; (2) designate at least two national training centers; and (3) establish a competitive grant program to carry out such training. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle C: Extension Service Pesticide Application Advice - Authorizes Federal, State, and county extension services to provide farmers with information about reduced pesticide application rates. Subtitle D: Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research - Directs the Secretary to establish grants for environmental assessment research regarding the introduction of genetically engineered organisms into the environment. Authorizes appropriations. Title VII: Miscellaneous Provisions - Pet Theft Act of 1990 - Amends the Animal Welfare Act to make it unlawful, except in instances where State or local law supersedes, for specified dealers to obtain live random source dogs and cats from other than certain sources. Requires a minimum five-day animal holding period for pounds, shelters, and other organizations. Requires dealers to provide recipients with a certification as set forth in this Act. Sets forth enforcement provisions, including dealer license revocation, for repeat violations. Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary to transport live hoof and mouth virus to Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. Amends Federal law to revise agricultural research special grant provisions. Amends Federal law to include tribally controlled community colleges within the term "college" for purposes of agriculture and mechanic arts education appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish reservation extension agents. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to establish the National Community Development Award for land grant complexes with regard to certain research and extension programs. Expresses the sense of the Congress that a funding increase for certain agricultural research and extension grants should not be derived from a funding reduction for specified formula funding programs. Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to repeal specified provisions relating to: (1) biomass programs; (2) solar energy programs; (3) international trade development centers; and (4) agricultural technology development programs, including supplemental and alternative crop projects. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to repeal specified provisions relating to agricultural productivity research. Title VIII: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective date of this Act.
Bill· SS. 2382 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1990
Agricultural Development and Trade Act of 1990 - Title I: The Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 - Revises title I of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 with regard to food and development assistance. Provides agricultural commodity grants to least developed countries and concessional credit sales to developing countries. Prohibits assistance to countries that violate human rights. Provides for: (1) direct uses or sales of donated commodities within recipient countries; (2) creation of local currency accounts; (3) multiyear development agreements; (4) use of payments for trade development, agribusiness and facilities loans, and research; and (5) value-added food assistance, including the partial waiver of repayment for such assistance. Revises title II of such Act with regard to emergency and private assistance programs. Authorizes the President, through the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, to provide commodities to foreign countries for reasons of famine, malnutrition, and economic and environmental development. Authorizes multiyear agreements for nonemergency assistance. Authorizes participating private voluntary organizations to barter or sell the commodities in the recipient country. Sets forth specified minimum assistance levels and requires specified assistance amounts to be in the form of value-added commodities. Establishes a Food Aid Consultative Group. Sets forth maximum expenditure levels. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a farmer-to-farmer assistance program. Obligates specified minimum funding for developing countries. Revises title III of such Act to establish the Food for Freedom Program in order to support governmental democratization and individual and economic freedoms. Makes commodity assistance available on grant or credit basis. Authorizes multiyear agreements. Authorizes a private market enhancement program. Revises title IV of such Act to authorize debt forgiveness of an eligible developing country. Prohibits agreements to finance sales or to provide other assistance under such Act after December 31, 1995. Provides for General Accounting Office audits of grant, concessional credit sale, and title II programs. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 with respect to the disposition of commodities to prevent waste, limiting the authority involved to carrying out programs under titles II and III of the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. Title II: The Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 - Revises title I of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to set forth U.S. agricultural trade policy and long-term trade strategies and goals. Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a list of foreign country priority growth markets and individualized market plans; and (2) review U.S. trade performance against such long-term agricultural goals. Revises title II of such Act to authorize a direct credit short-term (less than three years) export assistance program. Prohibits the resale or transshipment of intermediate-term program commodities. Authorizes short-term and intermediate-term credit guarantees. Prohibits commodity resale or transshipment. Requires at least 90 percent domestic content for commodity eligibility. Sets forth financial institution requirements. Authorizes: (1) deferred payment sales; (2) marketing assistance; and (3) barter of agricultural commodities or exchanges for strategic or critical materials (including a specified amount of commodities to acquire petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve). Terminates the Agricultural Credit Revolving Fund effective October 1, 1995. Sets forth funding levels for: (1) direct credit programs; (2) export credit guarantee programs; and (3) marketing assistance programs. Authorizes appropriations for activities under this title. Revises title III of such Act to authorize an export enhancement program to combat unfair trade practices. Sets forth program funding levels. Authorizes appropriations. Revises title IV of such Act to provide for agricultural embargo protection, including the development of contingency plans to alleviate an embargo's adverse effects. Authorizes contracting authority for services abroad to expand export markets. Requires specified agency consultations before removing or relaxing any agricultural import restrictions. Revises title V of such Act to establish in the Department of Agriculture the position of Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service. Establishes a specified minimum number of Foreign Agricultural Service (Service) personnel. Grants the diplomatic title of Minister-Counselor to the senior Service officer in a foreign mission. Authorizes appropriations to permit the Service to carry out this Act. Revises title VI of such Act to require the Secretary to prepare (every three years) a Long-Term Agricultural Trade Strategy Report. Sets forth other reporting requirements under such Act and under the Agricultural Act of 1954. Establishes a Service attache educational program. Title III: General Provisions - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1980 to extend the food security wheat reserve. Amends the Disaster Assistance Act of 1988 to extend certain cottonseed and sunflower seed oil export assistance. Directs the Secretary to establish an agricultural fellowship program for middle income countries and emerging democracies (Cochran Fellowship Program). Authorizes appropriations. Title IV: Conforming Provisions and Technical Changes - Makes specified conforming and technical amendments.
Bill· SS. 2372 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1990
Agricultural Recovery Act of 1990 - Title I: Wool and Mohair - Amends the National Wool Act of 1954 to extend the wool and mohair price support program through 1995. Title II: Sugar Beets - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the sugar beet price support program through 1995. Title III: Honey - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to: (1) extend the honey price support program through 1995; and (2) set support levels at $.55 per pound. Title IV: Wheat - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the wheat price support program through 1995. Sets minimum target prices at: (1) $4.08 per bushel for 1991; (2) $4.16 per bushel for 1992; (3) $4.24 per bushel for 1993; (4) $4.32 per bushel for 1994; and (5) $4.40 per bushel for 1995. Title V: Barley - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the barley price support program through 1995. Sets minimum target prices at: (1) $2.41 per bushel for 1991; (2) $2.45 per bushel for 1992; (3) $2.50 per bushel for 1993; (4) $2.55 per bushel for 1994; and (5) $2.60 per bushel for 1995. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to recalculate advance deficiency payment refunds owed by feed barley producers. Requires that such recalculation reflect the original inclusion of malting barley. Title VI: Oats - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend the oat price support program through 1995. Sets minimum target prices at: (1) $1.48 per bushel for 1991; (2) $1.51 per bushel for 1992; (3) $1.54 per bushel for 1993; (4) 1.57 per bushel for 1994; and (5) $1.60 per bushel for 1995. Title VII: Oilseeds - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to authorize price supports through 1995 for oilseeds (flax, safflower, rapeseed, and canola). Bases loan rates on average soybean prices. Title VIII: General Commodity Provisions - Subtitle A: General Commodity Provisions - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to revise farm acreage base and nonprogram crop provisions. Subtitle B: Land Diversion Payments - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949, with regard to the 1991 through 1995 crops of wheat, barley, and oats, to authorize land diversion payments if such payments will not affect U.S. agricultural competitiveness. Requires participants to establish conservation uses for such land. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to: (1) extend agricultural payment limitation and foreign ineligibility provisions through 1995; and (2) include oilseeds within such limitations. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to: (1) direct the Secretary to make advance deficiency payments available for the 1991 through 1995 wheat and feed grain crops if the Secretary determines that deficiency payments will likely be made for such crops; and (2) extend advance diversion payments through 1995. Makes the producer reserve program applicable to wheat, barley, and oats. (Current law refers to wheat and feed grains.) Amends the Food Security Wheat Reserve Act of 1980 to extend the wheat reserve through 1995. Subtitle C: Technical and Conforming Amendments - Makes conforming amendments to the Agricultural Act of 1949. Title IX: Trade - Subtitle A: Eastern Europe and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Special Assistant for Agricultural Trade and Food Assistance to advise the President and the Congress with respect to how U.S. agricultural exports could foster democracy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Gives such assistance special emphasis. Subtitle B: Imports From Canada - Directs the Secretary to conduct studies and report to the Congress with respect to the effect of Canadian wheat and alfalfa on U.S. durum wheat and alfalfa producers. Title X: Conservation - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the conservation reserve program (CRP) through 1995. Provides for the inclusion of wetlands and shelterbelts and windbreaks in the CRP. Title XI: Agricultural Research - Encourages the Secretary to conduct studies and report to the Congress with respect to: (1) rangeland carrying capacity during drought; (2) alternative uses for agricultural products; and (3) environmental impact of agricultural chemicals. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study and report to the Congress with regard to foreign market complexities and U.S. agricultural exports. Title XII: Marketing - Removes Montana from a specified marketing order regulating the handling and sale of spearmint in the Far West. Title XIII: Related and Miscellaneous Matters - Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to control noxious weeds, including leafy spurge and knapweed, on all Federal lands. Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to provide for the eradication of brucellosis. Title XIV: General Effective Date - Makes this Act and its amendments effective upon enactment, unless otherwise provided for.
Resolution· SCONRESS.Con.Res. 114 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 30 March 1990
States that the Secretary of Agriculture and the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation should continue to expend available funds for the crop insurance program and keep the program operating at current levels.
Bill· SS. 2367 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1990
Title I: Cotton - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 crops of upland cotton. Establishes the target price at $.729 per pound, with adjustment authority based on production cost increases. Provides for ten-month market-based loans, with an eight-month extension if average prices do not exceed specified levels. Provides for: (1) a marketing loan program based on adjusted world market prices, including a market certificate program; and (2) the imposition of a special limited global import quota when the U.S. upland cotton price exceeds the "Northern Europe" price. Provides for deficiency payments calculated on a calendar year basis. Provides for an acreage limitation program that will provide for specified carryover cotton stocks. Authorizes a uniform acreage reduction of up to 25 percent. Sets forth conservation use provisions. Authorizes disaster payments and reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Requires 50 percent planted cotton acreage in order to quality for programs benefits. States that cross-compliance shall not apply to such crops. Extends specified provisions of the extra long staple cotton program. Title II: Rice - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 rice crops. Establishes the target price at $10.71 per hundredweight, with adjustment authority based on production cost increases. Provides for nine-month market based loans. Provides for a marketing loan program based on adjusted world market prices, including a market certificate program. Requires 50 percent planted rice acreage in order to qualify for programs benefits. Authorizes disaster payments and reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Provides for an acreage limitation program that will provide for specified carryover rice stocks. Authorizes a uniform acreage reduction of up to 35 percent. Sets forth conservation use provisions. States that cross-compliance shall not apply to such crops. Title III: Oilseeds - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 crops of soybeans and other oilseeds. Establishes soybean price supports at $6.25 per bushel. Authorizes annual loan level reductions of up to ten percent in order to: (1) maintain support levels; (2) discourage excessive plantings; or (3) minimize Federal program costs. Bases oilseed loans and purchases upon soybean levels. Title IV: Base Acreage and Yield Provisions for Upland Cotton and Rice - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to revise upland cotton and rice farm and crop acreage base and program yield provisions. Title V: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend advance program announcement provisions. Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to: (1) extend the National Agricultural Cost of Production Standards Review Board; and (2) revise membership provisions. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to make conservation acreage use provisions inapplicable to 1991 through 1995 producers who double crop a nonprogram crop after harvesting a program crop.
Bill· SS. 2361 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1990
Southern Agricultural Act of 1990 - Title I: Peanuts - Peanut Stabilization Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to establish national and farm poundage quotas for each of the 1991 through 1995 peanut crops. Provides for: (1) sale, lease, or transfer of farm poundage quotas; (2) marketing penalties and the disposition of additional peanuts; and (3) experimental and research programs. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth the price support program for the 1991 through 1995 peanut crops. Authorizes price increases based on production cost increases. Title II: Cotton - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth the price support program for the 1991 through 1995 upland cotton crops. Sets minimum loan rates at $.55 per pound, and minimum target prices for upland cotton at $.75 per pound. Authorizes loan extensions if prices do not exceed specified levels. Bases loan rates on the adjusted world price with negotiable marketing certificates to be issued to U.S. producers if such price is below the loan repayment rate. Requires the imposition of a special limited global import quota when specified U.S. cotton prices exceed European prices. Provides for: (1) disaster and prevented planting disaster payments; (2) acreage limitations and related conservation use plantings; and (3) diversion payments. States that there shall be no cross compliance requirements for the 1991 through 1995 cotton crops. Sets forth acreage base and program yield provisions for the 1991 through 1995 crops of upland cotton and rice. Title III: Oilseeds - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set soybean price support levels for the 1991 through 1995 crops at $6.25 per bushel. Establishes price supports for the 1991 through 1995 crops of oilseeds (based upon soybean levels). Title IV: Miscellaneous Commodity Provisions - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to extend advance program announcement provisions. Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to extend the National Agricultural Cost of Production Standards Review Board through 1995. Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to make certain conservation use acreage requirements inapplicable for the 1991 through 1995 crop years to producers who double crop a non-program crop after harvesting a program crop. Title V: Agricultural Research - Subtitle A: Establishment of Southern Institute for Agricultural Resource Policy - Directs the Secretary to establish a Southern Institute for Agricultural and Resource Policy. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle B: Plant Science Research - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to direct the Secretary to establish a plant science research program. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· HRH.R. 4432 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1990
Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Expansion Act of 1990 - Amends the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to purchase and distribute $10,000,000 worth of milk to soup kitchens in each of FY 1991 through 1995.
Resolution· HCONRESH.Con.Res. 295 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 29 March 1990
Expresses the sense of the Congress with regard to restoring confidence in the Federal crop insurance program pending consideration of program legislation.
Bill· SS. 2341 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1990
Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize FY 1991 through 1995 appropriations for the targeted export assistance program. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) monitor recipient expenditures; and (2) report to the appropriate congressional committees.
Bill· HRH.R. 4397 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1990
Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize FY 1991 through 1995 appropriations for the targeted export assistance program. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) monitor recipient expenditures; and (2) report to the appropriate congressional committees.
Bill· HRH.R. 4388 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1990
Title I: Cotton - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 crops of upland cotton. Establishes the target price at $.729 per pound, with adjustment authority based on production cost increases. Provides for ten-month market-based loans, with an eight-month extension if average prices do not exceed specified levels. Provides for: (1) a marketing loan program based on adjusted world market prices, including a market certificate program; and (2) the imposition of a special limited global import quota when the U.S. upland cotton price exceeds the "Northern Europe" price. Provides for deficiency payments calculated on a calendar year basis. Provides for an acreage limitation program that will provide for specified carryover cotton stocks. Authorizes a uniform acreage reduction of up to 25 percent. Sets forth conservation use provisions. Authorizes disaster payments and reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Provides for a paid land diversion program if projected carryovers exceed specified limits. States that cross-compliance shall not apply to such crops. Extends specified provisions of the extra long staple cotton program. Title II: Rice - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 rice crops. Establishes the target price at $10.71 per hundredweight, with adjustment authority based on production cost increases. Provides for nine-month market-based loans. Provides for a marketing loan program based on adjusted world market prices, including a market certificate program. Authorizes disaster payments and reduced yield disaster payments under specified conditions. Provides for an acreage limitation program that will provide for specified carryover rice stocks. Authorizes a uniform acreage reduction of up to 35 percent. Sets forth conservation use provisions. States that cross-compliance shall not apply to such crops. Title III: Sugar - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth price support provisions for the 1991 through 1995 sugar crops. Establishes loan rates at $.18 per pound for sugarcane. Bases sugar beet prices on sugarcane levels. Authorizes price support increases based upon production cost increases and other circumstances that may adversely affect domestic sugar production.
Bill· HRH.R. 4394 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 27 March 1990
Value-Added Agricultural Trade Act of 1990 - Declares that U.S. agricultural export policy shall provide for increased emphasis on sales abroad of U.S. processed, value-added agricultural products due to benefits from such sales to U.S. producers, processors, agricultural-industrial exporters, and the national workforce. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to take specified action aimed at increasing exports of U.S. processed, value-added agricultural products. Requires the President, in determining the budgets of the Department of Agriculture, to give special consideration to the Secretary's export enhancement funding. Urges U.S. representatives at General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations to press for elimination or reduction of agricultural export subsidies, tariff and nontariff barriers, unfair practices, and other impediments to sales abroad of U.S. processed, value-added agricultural products. Requires the implementation of available agricultural export assistance programs to offset the adverse effects of such practices on U.S. agricultural products. Amends the Agricultural Trade and Development Assistance Act of 1954 to require the President to ensure that at least 75 percent of the agricultural commodities distributed for famine relief be in the form of processed or fortified products or bagged commodities. Authorizes appropriations.
Bill· SS. 2336 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1990
Target Price Adjustment Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to provide for annual target price adjustments for each of the 1991 through 1995 crops of wheat, feed grains, upland cotton, extra long staple cotton, and rice to reflect changed production costs.
Bill· SS. 2334 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 26 March 1990
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Act of 1990 - Title I: Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a Federal-State matching grant program to create or enhance State sustainable agricultural research, extension, and education programs. Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a National Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Council; and (2) regional administrative councils. Directs the Secretary to develop technical guides for low-input sustainable agricultural production systems. Authorizes a technical guide revision grant program. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: National Training Program in Sustainable Agriculture - Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a national training program in sustainable agriculture for extension agents and other educational and technical information professionals; (2) designate at least two national training centers; and (3) require that at least 20 percent of all Federal Extension Service staff participate in such training. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Extension Service Pesticide Application Advice - Authorizes Federal, State, and county extension services to provide farmers with information about reduced pesticide application rates. Title IV: Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research - Directs the Secretary to establish grants for environmental assessment research regarding the introduction of genetically engineered organisms into the environment. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Herbicide Resistance Research - Reallocates research funding from programs for the development of herbicide resistant plants to the development of plants adapted to reduced herbicide weed control systems.
Bill· SS. 2330 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1990
Inventory Grain Protection Act of 1990 - Requires the Commodity Credit Corporation to reimburse producers for losses suffered as a result of the closing of Corporation licensed or approved grain warehouses or elevators.
Bill· HRH.R. 4363 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1990
Agricultural Export Enhancement Act of 1990 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish the Export Market Research Loan Program to make loans to eligible entities to perform research directed at expanding agricultural export markets. Requires the Secretary to establish the New Market Task Force to develop foreign market development strategy, coordinate and disseminate information, and advise and educate such entities concerning agricultural export markets and domestic trade programs. Authorizes appropriations. Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to require the Secretary for FY 1991 through 1995 to use a specified amount of funds, or commodities owned by, the Commodity Credit Corporation for targeted export activities designed to develop new foreign markets for agricultural products. Requires the Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service to report to specified congressional committees: (1) any recommendations about proposed locations of New Agricultural Trade Offices and proposed fund uses; (2) estimated personnel and appropriations needs of such offices; and (3) an analysis of the Service's hiring ceiling. Requires the Secretary of State to permit the Agricultural Trade Offices to employ necessary personnel even if their employment exceeds embassy personnel limits. Requires the Secretary to establish a Processed Products Export Enhancement Program providing agricultural commodities acquired by the Corporation to U.S. exporters, users, and processors and foreign purchasers at no cost. Amends the Food for Peace Act of 1966 to extend the authority of the Agricultural Export Credit Revolving Fund through October 1, 1995.
Bill· HRH.R. 4357 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1990
Surface Irrigation Encouragement Act of 1990 - Authorizes the construction of reservoirs on crop acreage base land or land adjacent to such land. Counts such reservoir land towards meeting any acreage reduction or set-aside requirements (two-for-one for base land; one-for-one for adjacent land).
Bill· HRH.R. 4360 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 22 March 1990
Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1990 - Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to make the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's contracting authority mandatory. Authorizes the Corporation to provide disaster protection and crop insurance. (Currently the Corporation is authorized to provide only insurance.) Sets forth specified disaster protection and crop insurance plans.
Bill· SS. 2315 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Soybean Graduated Equity Loan Program Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to make recourse loans available to soybean producers for each of the 1991 through 1995 crops of soybeans. Prescribes a general formula for the calculation of loan levels, dependent on applicable soybean-corn equity rates and soybean-cotton equity rates. Sets forth ceilings on the amount of soybeans of any crop that may be placed under loan, graduated from 75 percent down to 45 percent according to the size of the carryover of soybeans stocks at the end of each marketing year. Provides for loan terms and soybean program announcements. Sets the soybean marketing year to run from September 1 through August 31. Directs the Secretary, for each of the 1991 through 1995 crops, to permit producers on a farm to plant soybeans on up to 25 percent of the combined wheat, feed grain, cotton, and rice acreage bases of the farm. Limits to program benefits under this Act alone any producers who make such plantings.
Bill· SS. 2316 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Sugar Equity and Reform Act of 1990 - Title I: Sugar Price Support Program - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to support the price of each of the 1991 through 1995 crops of domestically grown sugarcane through six-month nonrecourse loans, with the loan rate for raw cane sugar at 95 percent of the rate announced for the preceding crop year. Requires the loan rate for sugar beets to be fair and reasonable in relation to the rate for sugarcane. Title II: Regulation of Sugar Imports - Authorizes the President to establish a tariff-rate import quota on sugar structured to maintain the market price for raw sugar at or near the market stabilization price. Sets the total quantity of sugar subject to the lowest rate of duty under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule for each fiscal year beginning with FY 1992. Provides a formula for calculating the highest rate of duty. Provides for the allocation of lowest-duty sugar import quotas among foreign countries and for the determination of market stabilization and threshold prices.
Bill· SS. 2314 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Dairy Stabilization Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth 1991 through 1995 milk price support and adjustment levels.
Bill· SS. 2310 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Hunger Prevention Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to authorize the food stamp program through FY 1995. Increases the basic benefit level by specified increments through FY 1994 and after, according to formulae involving the rising cost of the thrifty food plan. Permits the use of food stamps to purchase meals at homeless shelters and soup kitchens as well as private establishments (like restaurants) which contract with a State to offer meals for qualifying persons at concessional prices. Permits the use of appropriations to make grants for projects designed to improve the effectiveness of the program in delivering food assistance to the homeless. Allows families in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program to receive the first $50 of child support payments each month without lowering their food stamp benefits. Repeals the cap on the excess shelter deduction, permitting all eligible households to deduct the full amount of excess shelter costs in the determination of food stamp benefits. Raises from $4,500 to $5,500 after January 1, 1991, the limit on the value of a motor vehicle an eligible family may own. Requires annual cost-of-living adjustments to such limit beginning October 1, 1991. Provides for the issuance of food stamp coupons by mail to households in rural areas where low-income persons face substantial difficulties in obtaining transportation. Reauthorizes Nutrition Assistance to Puerto Rico through FY 1995. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct pilot projects that test changes in, and new, food stamp program administrative and eligibility determination procedures designed to increase participation in rural areas. Authorizes State agencies to implement on-line electronic benefit transfer systems in which household benefits are issued from and stored in central data banks and electronically accessed by household members at the point-of-sale. Directs the Secretary to establish standards for approving such systems. Amends the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to: (1) rename it the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983; and (2) reauthorize it through FY 1995. Amends the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 to extend through FY 1995 commodity support for soup kitchens and food banks which primarily serve the homeless. Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to increase authorized appropriations for FY 1991 and the three subsequent fiscal years. Amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to reauthorize the Commodity Supplemental Food Program through FY 1995. Amends the National School Lunch Act to earmark funds through FY 1994 for assistance to homeless preschool children.
Bill· HRH.R. 4353 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Wetlands Conservation Reserve Program Act of 1990 - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to make wetlands and surrounding uplands eligible for inclusion in the conservation reserve program. Extends the program through crop year 1995. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) conduct a study of the advisability and effect of extending and expanding the program; and (2) report to the appropriate congressional committees.
Bill· HRH.R. 4339 (101st)open
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Oilseed Equity Loan Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to establish a price support program for the 1991 through 1995 crops of sunflower seed, canola, rapeseed, safflower seed, and flaxseed (oilseeds).
Bill· HRH.R. 4347 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Permanent Wetlands Agricultural Reserve Act - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a wetland reservation program of at least 2,500,000 acres to be carried out through permanent easement agreements providing for compensation to wetlands owners for restoration, the fair market value, lost income, and the establishment of vegetation on the wetlands.
Bill· HRH.R. 4348 (101st)referred
United States · United States Congress · 21 March 1990
Milk Price Stabilization Act of 1990 - Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949 to set forth 1991 through 1995 milk price support and adjustment levels.