Agriculture Marketing Act of 1946

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING ACT OF 1946

Act of August 14, 1946, ch. 966, 60 Stat. 1087, 7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.

AN ACT To provide for further research into basic laws and principles relating to agriculture and to improve and facilitate the marketing and distribution of agricultural products

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

TITLE I

Amendment to section 1, of Title I of the Bankhead-Jones Act, approved June 29, 1935

TITLE II

This title may be cited as the "Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946".

SEC. 202. The Congress hereby declares that a sound, efficient, and privately operated system for distributing and marketing agricultural products is essential to a prosperous agriculture and is indispensable to the maintenance of full employment and to the welfare, prosperity, and health of the Nation. It is further declared to be the policy of Congress to promote through research, study, experimentation, and through cooperation among Federal and State agencies, farm organizations, and private industry a scientific approach to the problems of marketing, transportation, and distribution of agricultural products similar to the scientific methods which have been utilized so successfully during the past eighty-four years in connection with the production of agricultural products so that such products capable of being produced in abundance may be marketed in an orderly manner and efficiently distributed. In order to attain these objectives, it is the intent of Congress to provide for (1) continuous research to improve the marketing, handling, storage, processing, transportation, and distribution of agricultural products; (2) cooperation among Federal and State agencies, producers, industry organizations, and others in the development and effectuation of research and marketing programs to improve the distribution processes; (3) an integrated administration of all laws enacted by Congress to aid the distribution of agricultural products through research, market aids and services, and regulatory activities to the end that marketing methods and facilities may be improved, that distribution costs may be reduced and the price spread between the producer and consumer may be narrowed, that dietary and nutritional standards may be improved, that new and wider markets for American agricultural products may be developed both in the United States and in other countries, with a view to making it possible for the full production of American farms to be disposed of usefully, economically, profitably, and in an orderly manner. In effectuating the purposes of this title, maximum use shall be made of existing research facilities owned or controlled by the Federal Government or by State agricultural experiment stations and of the facilities of the Federal and State extension services. To the maximum extent practicable marketing research work done hereunder in cooperation with the States shall be done in cooperation with the State agricultural experiment stations; marketing educational and demonstrational work done hereunder in cooperation with the States shall be done in cooperation with the State agricultural extension service; market information, inspection, regulatory work and other marketing service done hereunder in cooperation with the State agencies shall be done in cooperation with the State departments of agriculture, and State bureaus and departments of markets.

SEC. 203.⁽¹⁾ The Secretary of Agriculture is directed and authorized:

(a) To conduct, assist, and foster research, investigation, and experimentation to determine the best methods of processing, preparation for market, packaging, handling, transporting, storing, distributing, and marketing agricultural products: Provided, That the results of such research shall be made available to the public for the purpose of expanding the use of American agricultural products in such manner as the Secretary of Agriculture may determine.

(b) To determine costs of marketing agricultural products in their various forms and through the various channels and to foster and assist in the development and establishment of more efficient marketing methods (including analyses of methods and proposed methods), practices, and facilities, for the purpose of bringing about more efficient and orderly marketing, and reducing the price spread between the producer and the consumer.

(c) To develop and improve standards of quality, condition, quantity, grade, and packaging, and recommend and demonstrate such standards in order to encourage uniformity and consistency in commercial practices. Within thirty days after the enactment of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, the Secretary shall by regulation adopt a standard of quality for ice cream which shall provide that ice cream shall contain at least 1.6 pounds of total solids to the gallon, weigh not less than 4.5 pounds to the gallon and contain not less than 20 percent total milk solids, constituted of not less than 10 percent milkfat. In no case shall the content of milk solids not fat be less than 6 percent. They shall not, by weight, be more than 25 percent of the milk solids not fat. Only those products which meet the standard issued by the Secretary may bear a symbol thereon indicating that they meet the Department of Agriculture standard for "ice cream".⁽²⁾

(d) To conduct, assist, foster, and direct studies and informational programs designed to eliminate artificial barriers to the free movement of agricultural products.

(e) To foster and assist in the development of new or expanded markets (domestic and foreign) and new and expanded uses and in the moving of larger quantities of agricultural products through the private marketing system to consumers in the United States and abroad.

(f) To conduct and cooperate in consumer education for the more effective utilization and greater consumption of agricultural products: Provided, That no money appropriated under the authority of this Act shall be used to pay for newspaper or periodical advertising space or radio time in carrying out the purposes of this section and section 203(e).

(g) To collect and disseminate marketing information, including adequate outlook information on a market-area basis, for the purpose of anticipating and meeting consumer requirements, aiding in the maintenance of farm income, and bringing about a balance between production and utilization of agricultural products.

(h) To inspect, certify, and identify the class, quality, quantity, and condition of agricultural products when shipped or received in interstate commerce, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Agriculture may prescribe, including assessment and collection of such fees as will be reasonable and as nearly as may be to cover the cost of the service rendered, to the end that agricultural products may be marketed to the best advantage, that trading may be facilitated, and that consumers may be able to obtain the quality product which they desire, except that no person shall be required to use the service authorized by this subsection. Any official certificate issued under the authority of this subsection shall be received by all officers and all courts of the United States as prima facie evidence of the truth of the statements therein contained. Whoever knowingly shall falsely make, issue, alter, forge, or counterfeit any official certificate, memorandum, mark, or other identification, or device for making such mark or identification, with respect to inspection, class, grade, quality, size, quantity, or condition, issued or authorized under this section or knowingly cause or procure, or aid, assist in, or be a party to, such false making, issuing, altering, forging, or counterfeiting, or whoever knowingly shall possess, without promptly notifying the Secretary of Agriculture or his representative, utter, publish, or use as true, or cause to be uttered, published, or used as true, any such falsely made, altered, forged, counterfeited official certificate, memorandum, mark, identification, or device, or whoever knowingly represents that an agricultural product has been officially inspected or graded (by an authorized inspector or grader) under the authority of this section when such commodity has in fact not been so graded or inspected shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.⁽³⁾

(i) To determine the needs and develop or assist in the development of plans for efficient facilities and methods of operating such facilities for the proper assembly, processing, transportation, storage, distribution, and handling of agricultural products.

(j) To assist in improving transportation services and facilities and in obtaining equitable and reasonable transportation rates and services and adequate transportation facilities for agricultural products and farm supplies by making complaint or petition to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Maritime Commission, the Civil Aeronautics Board, or other Federal or State transportation regulatory body with respect to rates, charges, tariffs, practices, and services, or by working directly with individual carriers or groups of carriers.

(k) To collect, tabulate, and disseminate statistics on marketing agricultural products, including, but not restricted to statistics on market supplies, storage stocks, quantity, quality, and condition of such products in various positions in the marketing channel, utilization of such products, and shipments and unloads thereof.

(l) To develop and promulgate, for the use and at the request of any Federal agency or State, procurement standards and specifications for agricultural products, and submit such standards and specifications to such agency or State for use or adoption for procurement purposes.

(m) To conduct, assist, encourage, and promote research, investigation, and experimentation to determine the most efficient and practical means, methods, and processes for the handling, storing, preserving, protecting, processing, and distributing of agricultural commodities to the end that such commodities may be marketed in an orderly manner and to the best interest of the producers thereof.

(n) To conduct such other research and services and to perform such other activities as will facilitate the marketing, distribution, processing, and utilization of agricultural products through commercial channels.

SEC. 204.⁽⁴⁾(a) In order to conduct research and service work in connection with the preparation for market, processing, packaging, handling, storing, transporting, distributing, and marketing of agricultural products as authorized by this title, there is hereby authorized to be appropriated the following sums:

(1) $2,500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1947, and each subsequent fiscal year.

(2) An additional $2,500,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1948, and each subsequent fiscal year.

(3) An additional $5,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1949, and each subsequent fiscal year.

(4) An additional $5,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1950, and each subsequent fiscal year.

(5) An additional $5,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1951, and each subsequent fiscal year.

(6) In addition to the foregoing, such additional funds beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1952, and thereafter, as the Congress may deem necessary.

Such sums appropriated in pursuance of this title shall be in addition to, and not in substitution for, sums appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Agriculture.

(b)The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make available from such funds such sums as he may deem appropriate for allotment to State departments of agriculture, State bureaus and departments of markets, State agricultural experiment stations, and other appropriate State agencies for cooperative projects in marketing service and in marketing research to effectuate the purposes of title II of this Act: Provided, That no such allotment and no payment under any such allotment shall be made for any fiscal year to any State agency in excess of the amount which such State agency makes available out of its own funds for such research. The funds which State agencies are required to make available in order to qualify for such an allotment shall be in addition to any funds now available to such agencies for marketing services and for marketing research. The allotments authorized under this section shall be made to the agency or agencies best equipped and qualified to conduct the specific project to be undertaken. Such allotments shall be covered by cooperative agreements between the Secretary of Agriculture and the cooperating agency and shall include appropriate provisions for preventing duplication or overlapping of work within the State or States cooperating. Should duplication or overlapping occur subsequent to approval of a cooperative project or allotment of funds, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to withhold unexpended balances on such projects notwithstanding the prior approval thereof.

SEC. 205.⁽⁵⁾ (a) In carrying out the provisions of title II of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture may cooperate with other branches of the Government, State agencies, private research organizations, purchasing and consuming organizations, boards of trade, chambers of commerce, other associations of business or trade organizations, transportation and storage agencies and organizations, or other persons or corporations engaged in the production, transportation, storing, processing, marketing, and distribution of agricultural products whether operating in one or more jurisdictions. The Secretary of Agriculture shall have authority to enter into contracts and agreements under the terms of regulations promulgated by him with States and agencies of States, private firms, institutions, and individuals for the purpose of conducting research and service work, making and compiling reports and surveys, and carrying out other functions relating thereto when in his judgment the services or functions to be performed will be carried out more effectively, more rapidly, or at less cost than if performed by the Department of Agriculture. Contracts hereunder may be made for work to be performed within a period not more than four years from the date of any such contract, and advance, progress, or other payments may be made. The provisions of section 3648 (31 U.S.C., sec. 529) and section 3709 (41 U.S.C., sec. 5) of the Revised Statutes shall not be applicable to contracts or agreements made under the authority of this section. Any unexpended balances of appropriations obligated by contracts as authorized by this section may, notwithstanding the provisions of section 5 of the Act of June 20, 1874, as amended (31 U.S.C., sec. 713), remain upon the books of the Treasury for not more than five fiscal years, before being carried to the surplus fund and covered into the Treasury. Any contract made pursuant to this section shall contain requirements making the result of such research and investigations available to the public by such means as the Secretary of Agriculture shall determine.

(b) The Secretary of Agriculture shall promulgate such orders, rules, and regulations as he deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this title.

SEC. 206.⁽⁶⁾ In order to facilitate administration and to increase the effectiveness of the marketing research, service, and regulatory work of the Department of Agriculture to the fullest extent practicable, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, to transfer, group, coordinate, and consolidate the functions, powers, duties, and authorities of each and every agency, division, bureau, service, section, or other administrative unit in the Department of Agriculture primarily concerned with research, service, or regulatory activities in connection with the marketing, transportation, storage, processing, distribution of, or service or regulatory activities in connection with, the utilization of, agricultural products, into a single administrative agency. In making such changes as may be necessary to carry out effectively the purposes of this title, the records, property, personnel, and funds of such agencies, divisions, bureaus, services, sections, or other administrative units in the Department of Agriculture affected thereby are authorized to be transferred to and used by such administrative agency to which the transfer may be made, but such unexpended balances of appropriations so transferred shall be used only for the purposes for which such appropriations were made.

SEC. 207.⁽⁷⁾ When used in this title, the term "agricultural products" includes agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, livestock and poultry, bees, forest products, fish and shellfish, and any products thereof, including processed and manufactured products, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and any processed or manufactured product thereof, and the term "State" when used in this chapter shall include the Virgin Islands and Guam.

SEC. 208.⁽⁸⁾ The Secretary of Agriculture shall have the power to appoint, remove, and fix, in accordance with existing law, the compensation of such officers and employees, and to make such expenditures as he deems necessary, including expenditures for rent outside the District of Columbia, travel, supplies, books, equipment, and such other expenditures as may be necessary to the administration of this title: Provided, That the Secretary of Agriculture may appoint and fix the compensation of any technically qualified person, firm, or organization by contract or otherwise on a temporary basis and for a term not to exceed six months in any fiscal year to perform research, inspection, classification, technical, or other special services, without regard to the civil-service laws or the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.

TITLE III

SEC. 301.⁽⁹⁾ (Repealed)

SEC. 302.⁽¹⁰⁾ In the furtherance of the research and service work authorized by this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture may, in addition to the national advisory committee,⁽¹¹⁾ establish appropriate committees, including representatives of producers, industry, government, and science, to assist in effectuating specific research and service programs.

(1) 7 U.S.C. 1622.

(2) The provisions of this paragraph after the first sentence were added by the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977, Public Law 95-113, section 206, 91 Stat. 920.

(3) The Act of August 9, 1955, 69 Stat. 553, added sentences to provide penalties for forgery or alteration of inspection certificates, unauthorized use of official grade marks or designations and false and deceptive reference to United States grade standards or services.

(4) 7 U.S.C. 1623. The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1981, Public Law 97-370, section 120, 96 Stat. 1810, provided an authorization of appropriations as follows: "For payments to departments of agriculture, bureaus and departments of markets, and similar agencies for marketing activities under section 204(b) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1623(b)); $1,571,000 for fiscal year 1982, $1,651,000 for fiscal year 1983, and $1,723,000 for fiscal year 1984."

(5) 7 U.S.C. 1624. Act of August 30, 1954, 68 Stat. 966 amended subsection (b) by deleting the requirement for annual reports on research activities.

(6) 7 U.S.C. 1625.

(7) 7 U.S.C. 1626. Act of June 23, 1972, Public Law 92-318, sec. 506(n), 86 Stat. 351, amended sec. 207 by adding the reference to the Virgin Islands and Guam.

(8) 7 U.S.C. 1627.

(9) This section, which provided for the establishment and staffing of a national advisory committee to aid in implementing the research and service work authorized under this Act, was repealed by the Act of August 10, 1973, Public Law 93-86, sec. 2, 87 Stat. 246.

(10) 7 U.S.C. 1629.

(11) This section, which provided for the establishment and staffing of a national advisory committee to aid in implementing the research and service work authorized under this Act, was repealed by the Act of August 10, 1973, Public Law 93-86, sec. 2, 87 Stat. 246.