SUBCHAPTER I—SHORT TITLE, PURPOSE, AND DEFINITIONS

§7201. Short title and purpose

(a) Short title

This chapter may be cited as the "Agricultural Market Transition Act".

(b) Purpose

It is the purpose of this chapter—

(1) to authorize the use of binding production flexibility contracts between the United States and agricultural producers to support farming certainty and flexibility while ensuring continued compliance with farm conservation and wetland protection requirements;

(2) to make nonrecourse marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments available for certain crops;

(3) to improve the operation of farm programs for milk, peanuts, and sugar; and

(4) to establish a commission to undertake a comprehensive review of past and future production agriculture in the United States.

(Pub. L. 104–127, title I, §101, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 896.)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original "this title", meaning title I of Pub. L. 104–127, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 896, which enacted this chapter and section 6933 of this title, amended sections 1308, 1308–1, 1308–3, 1358–1, 1358b, 1358c, 1359a, 1373, 1441, 1445j, 1508, 1516, 4504, 6401, 6402, 6413, 6414, and 6932 of this title and sections 713a–14, 714b, 714i, and 714k of Title 15, Commerce and Trade, repealed sections 1426, 1433f, 1441–2, 1444–2, 1444f, 1445b–3a, 1445c–3, 1445h, 1446e to 1446h, and 1519 of this title, enacted provisions set out as notes under sections 1373, 1446e, 1446e–1, and 1508 of this title, and repealed provisions set out as a note under section 1421 of this title. For complete classification of title I to the Code, see Tables.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Short Title of 1998 Amendment

Pub. L. 105–228, §1, Aug. 12, 1998, 112 Stat. 1516, provided that: "This Act [amending section 7212 of this title] may be cited as the 'Emergency Farm Financial Relief Act'."

Short Title

Pub. L. 104–127, §1(a), Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 888, provided that: "This Act [see Tables for classification] may be cited as the 'Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996'."

Severability

Pub. L. 104–127, title IX, §928, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1197, provided that: "If any provision of this Act [see Short Title note above] or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be given effect without regard to the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are severable."

§7202. Definitions

In this chapter:

(1) Agricultural Act of 1949

Except in section 7301 of this title, the term "Agricultural Act of 1949" means the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.), as in effect prior to the suspensions under section 7301(b)(1) of this title.

(2) Considered planted

The term "considered planted" means acreage that is considered planted under title V of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1461 et seq.) and such other acreage as the Secretary considers fair and equitable.

(3) Contract

The terms "contract" and "production flexibility contract" mean a production flexibility contract entered into under section 7211 of this title.

(4) Contract acreage

The term "contract acreage" means 1 or more crop acreage bases established for contract commodities under title V of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1461 et seq.) that would have been in effect for the 1996 crop (but for suspension under section 7301(b)(1) of this title).

(5) Contract commodity

The term "contract commodity" means wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, and rice.

(6) Contract payment

The term "contract payment" means a payment made under this subchapter ¹ pursuant to a contract.

(7) Department

The term "Department" means the Department of Agriculture.

(8) Extra long staple cotton

The term "extra long staple cotton" means cotton that—

(A) is produced from pure strain varieties of the Barbadense species or any hybrid thereof, or other similar types of extra long staple cotton, designated by the Secretary, having characteristics needed for various end uses for which United States upland cotton is not suitable and grown in irrigated cotton-growing regions of the United States designated by the Secretary or other areas designated by the Secretary as suitable for the production of the varieties or types; and

(B) is ginned on a roller-type gin or, if authorized by the Secretary, ginned on another type gin for experimental purposes.

(9) Farm program payment yield

The term "farm program payment yield" means the farm program payment yield established for the 1995 crop of a contract commodity under section 505 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1465). The Secretary shall adjust the farm program payment yield for the 1995 crop of a contract commodity to account for any additional yield payments made with respect to that crop under subsection (b)(2) of the section.

(10) Loan commodity

The term "loan commodity" means each contract commodity, extra long staple cotton, and oilseed.

(11) Oilseed

The term "oilseed" means a crop of soybeans, sunflower seed, rapeseed, canola, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, or, if designated by the Secretary, other oilseeds.

(12) Producer

The term "producer" means an owner, operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper who shares in the risk of producing a crop and who is entitled to share in the crop available for marketing from the farm, or would have shared had the crop been produced. In determining whether a grower of hybrid seed is a producer, the Secretary shall not take into consideration the existence of a hybrid seed contract.

(13) Secretary

The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Agriculture.

(14) State

The term "State" means each of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory or possession of the United States.

(15) United States

The term "United States", when used in a geographical sense, means all of the States.

(Pub. L. 104–127, title I, §102, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 897.)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

For definition of "this chapter", referred to in text, see note set out under section 7201 of this title.

The Agricultural Act of 1949, referred to in pars. (1), (2), and (4), is act Oct. 31, 1949, ch. 792, 63 Stat. 1051, which is classified principally to chapter 35A (§1421 et seq.) of this title. Title V of the Act, which was classified generally to subchapter IV (§1461 et seq.) of chapter 35A of this title, was omitted from the Code. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 1421 of this title and Tables.

Section 505 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1465), referred to in par. (9), was omitted from the Code.

¹ So in original. Probably should be "chapter".