Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition Updated June 16, 2005 Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov 97-905 Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition Summary The complexities of federal farm and food programs have generated a unique vocabulary. Common understanding of these terms (new and old) is important to those involved in policymaking in this area. For this reason, the House Agriculture Committee requested that CRS prepare a glossary of agriculture and related terms (e.g., food programs, conservation, forestry, environmental protection, etc.). Besides defining terms and phrases with specialized meanings for agriculture, the glossary also identifies acronyms, abbreviations, agencies, programs, and laws related to agriculture that are of particular interest to the staff and Members of Congress. CRS is releasing it for general congressional use with the permission of the Committee. The approximately 2,500 entries in this glossary were selected in large part on the basis of Committee instructions and the informed judgment of numerous CRS experts. Time and resource constraints influenced how much and what was included. Many of the glossary explanations have been drawn from other published sources, including previous CRS glossaries, those published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies, and glossaries contained in the publications of various organizations, universities, and authors. In collecting these definitions, the compilers discovered that many terms have diverse specialized meanings in different professional settings. In this glossary, the definitions or explanations have been written to reflect their relevance to agriculture and recent changes in farm and food policies. This glossary is in alphabetical order and contains an explanation for each term. Acronyms and abbreviations are not followed by an explanation. However, except for private organizations and associations, the abbreviations likely are defined under their full name. The definitions and explanations are not legal in nature, but are explanatory. Hence, this document should not be used as a legal or administrative reference. For those purposes, the Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, and the Code of Federal Regulations are the more appropriate resources. Congressional Research Service Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition Navigation Links A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z AAEA—American Agricultural Economics Association. http://www.aaea.org. AAFCO—American Association of Feed Control Officials. http://www.aafco.org. AAM—American Agriculture Movement. http://www.aaminc.org. AAMP—American Association of Meat Processors. http://www.aamp.com. AAR—Association of American Railroads. http://www.aar.org. AARCC—Alternative Agriculture Research and Commercialization Corporation. Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants—This 1998 protocol on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is an addition to the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). The Aarhus POPs Protocol seeks “to control, reduce or eliminate discharge, emissions and losses of persistent organic pollutants” in Europe, some former Soviet Union countries, and the United States. The protocol is an executive agreement that does not require Senate approval. However, legislation is needed to resolve inconsistencies between provisions of the protocol and existing U.S. laws (specifically the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act). ABA—American Bakers Association. http://www.americanbakers.org. American Bankers Association. http://www.aba.com/default.htm. American Bar Association. http://www.abanet.org. Abandoned wells—Abandoned drainage wells and abandoned water wells on vacant farmsteads are of particular concern for agriculture. Abandoned wells can present both safety risks and a direct conduit by which groundwater can be contaminated by surface runoff. A number of states have incentive and/or regulatory programs to cap or seal abandoned wells. Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs)—This term refers to low income working adults who do not have dependents. The 1996 welfare law (P.L. 104-193) set categorical requirements for food stamp participation. Among these were restrictions on legal alien participation and participation by low income persons without dependents. The latter (formerly eligible based solely on low income) were made ineligible for food stamps if they received food stamps for three months during the preceding three years without working or participating in a work program for at least 20 hours a week, or without participating in a workfare program. ACA—Agricultural Credit Association. ACE—Agriculture in Concert with the Environment. Acid deposition / acid rain—Abnormally acidic (low pH) precipitation (or dry deposition) resulting from emissions of sulfur and nitrogen compounds that transform during chemical processes in the atmosphere. Acid deposition can affect the chemistry of soils and acidify lakes, adversely affecting forests and fish. It may adversely affect cropland. The Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) includes a program focused on controlling precursor emissions of acid deposition, primarily sulfur oxides from coal-fired electric utilities. ACP Countries—African, Caribbean and Pacific countries are former European colonies associated with the European Union under the Cotonou Agreement negotiated in 2000. EU-ACP relations were formerly covered by the Lome Convention. ACP countries benefit from development assistance and trade preferences provided under the Cotonou Agreement. Congressional Research Service 1 Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws, 2005 Edition ACPA—American Crop Protection Association changed its name to CropLife America. http://www.croplifeamerica.org. Acquired lands—Lands in federal ownership that were obtained by the federal government through purchase, condemnation, gift, or exchange. One category of public lands. ACR—Acreage conservation reserve. Acre—1 acre = 43,560 sq. ft. = 208.71 ft.2 = 0.405 hectares. Note that 640 acres = 1 sq. mile (called a “section”). Acre-foot—The volume of water that would cover one acre of land (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot, equivalent to 325,851 gallons of water. An acre-foot is the basic measure of agricultural water use. On average, irrigators apply almost 2 feet of water on each acre through the crop growing season; the amount ranges from 4 feet in the Southwest to a half foot in some eastern states, and varies, depending on the crop grown. Water withdrawn for irrigation from ground and surface sources totals about 150 maf (million acre-feet) of water annually. Acreage allotment—Under provisions of permanent commodity price support law, a farm’s acreage allotment is its share, based on its previous production, of the national acreage needed to produce sufficient supplies of a particular crop. Under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Title I), acreage allotments are not applicable to the covered commodities, peanuts, or sugar. Subsequently, allotments and quotas and price support for tobacco were eliminated beginning in 2005 (P.L. 108-357, Title VI). Acreage conservation reserve—The cropland acreage diverted from production under the acreage reduction program authorized prior to 1996. Acreage diversion programs—Historically, commodity programs included provisions to reduce commodity supplies by diverting acreage to non-crop uses. Examples include paid diversion, unpaid diversion, set-aside, and acreage reduction programs. The 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) eliminated authority for the USDA to implement annual acreage reduction programs. The Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers for the long-term conversion of fragile cropland land to conserving uses and is not considered to be an acreage diversion program. Acreage limitation—With respect to commodity policy, acreage limitation might refer to planting constraints under an acreage reduction program, set-aside, or paid land diversion. These programs are no longer authorized. In relation to water policy, it is the maximum number of acres that may be irrigated with less than full-cost water from Bureau of Reclamation projects. Generally, the acreage limitation for individuals or legal entities representing 25 people or fewer is 960 acres; however, amounts vary depending on a landowner’s legal status. Also referred to as ownership limitation, ownership entitlement, or non-full-cost entitlement. Acreage Reduction Program (ARP)—A no-longer authorized annual cropland retirement program for wheat, feed grains, cotton, or rice in which farmers participating in the commodity programs (in order to be eligible for nonrecourse loans and deficiency payments) were mandated to idle a crop-specific, nationally set portion of their base acreage during years of surplus. The idled acreage (called the acreage conservation reserve) was devoted to a conserving use. The goal was to reduce supplies, thereby raising market prices. Additionally, idled acres did not earn deficiency payments, thus reducing commodity program costs. ARP was criticized for diminishing the U.S. competitive position in export markets. The 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) did not reauthorize ARPs. ARP differed from a set-aside program in that under a set-aside program reductions were based upon current year plantings, and did not require farmers to reduce their plantings