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United States Department of Agriculture
Industry: Government
Number of terms: 41534
Number of blossaries: 0
Company Profile:
Generally, an import fee is a charge assessed for a service rendered. For example, when an import stamp or import license is issued, the government assesses a fee for this service. Within the context of Section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, "fees" were imposed on imports of agricultural products when deemed necessary to protect domestic farm programs. Then, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (starting in 1994) and the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (starting in 1995), Section 22 import fees and quotas were converted into tariff-rate quotas.
Industry:Agriculture
This is the designation given to bulk commodities marketed in a manner that isolates and preserves the identity of a shipment, presumably because of unique characteristics that have value otherwise lost through commingling during normal storage, handling and shipping procedures.
Industry:Agriculture
Refers to the provision in federal immigration law under which aliens can be granted temporary visas to enter the country for work in agriculture. Farm lobbyists have sought revisions in the H-2A program, which they contend is too restrictive, to make it easier for them to employ temporary foreign workers.
Industry:Agriculture
An area in the Gulf of Mexico off the mouth of the Mississippi River covering about 6,000 square miles where there is not enough oxygen to support fish and shellfish populations. The oxygen depletion is caused by an excessive amount of nutrients that are brought together from throughout the Mississippi River watershed. Many of these nutrients are believed to originate from agricultural activities, and the largest portion, over 30%, has been traced to the upper Mississippi drainage, according to research prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Industry:Agriculture
A low oxygen condition in the water that may occur where a nutrient-laden free-flowing body of water (like a river) enters a lake or ocean. The high nutrient content promotes rapid growth of plankton/phytoplankton that subsequently die and, in the process, consume large amounts of oxygen (see biochemical oxygen demand). While fish and shrimp can migrate away from a hypoxic area, less mobile bottom-dwelling organisms are unable to escape. A Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Talk Force under the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency (comprised of representatives from the scientific, economic, ecological and agricultural communities) is investigating the recurring and increasingly large hypoxia problem at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Currently, scientists believe nitrogen making its way into tributaries that flow into the Mississippi River, and eventually the Gulf of Mexico, causes the hypoxia condition.
Industry:Agriculture
The growing of plants without soil by using an inert medium such as sand, peat, or vermiculite and adding a nutrient solution containing all the essential elements needed by the plant for its normal growth and development. Water culture, when plant roots are suspended in a liquid medium containing the nutrient solution while their crowns are supported in a thin layer of inert medium, is true hydroponics. Often called soilless culture, it also includes aeroponics where plant roots are suspended in a dark chamber and sprayed with the nutrient solution.
Industry:Agriculture
Soil that, in its undrained state, is flooded long enough during a growing season to develop anaerobic conditions that support the growth and regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation (plants specialized to grow in water or in soil too waterlogged for most plants to survive). This term is part of the legal definition of a wetland included in the Food Security Act of 1985. The Natural Resources Conservation Service maintains a national list of hydric soils.
Industry:Agriculture
P.L. 100-435 (September 19, 1988) amended the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to require the USDA to make additional types of commodities available for the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), to improve the child nutrition and food stamp programs, and to provide other hunger relief.
Industry:Agriculture
An economic definition is the lack of food due to the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways. The USDA, in 1997, estimated that about 12% of US households suffer from food insecurity.
Industry:Agriculture
One hundred pounds (abbreviated as cwt.). A standard unit of measure for milk, rice, and some meat livestock.
Industry:Agriculture