Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator for Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator for Indiana
Richard G. Lugar, United States Senator for Indiana
Home > Senator Lugar's Farm Bill > Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws

Agriculture: A Glossary of Terms, Programs, and Laws

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P.L. 480 (or Public Law 480) — P.L. 83-480 (July 10, 1954), also called Food for Peace, is the common name for food aid programs established by the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, that seeks to expand foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products, combat hunger, and encourage economic development in developing countries. Title I makes export credit available on concessional terms, for example, at low interest rates for up to 30 years. Donations for emergency food relief and non-emergency humanitarian assistance are provided under Title II. Title III authorizes a Food for Development program that provides government-to-government grant food assistance to least developed countries. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) extends the authority to enter into new P.L. 480 agreements through 2007.
P.L. 566 — Public Law 83-566 (August 4, 1954), Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954. See Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations. (16 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).
P&S — A shorthand reference either to the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921,(7 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) or to the branch of Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) that administers the Act.
PACA — Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (P.L. 71-325; 7 U.S.C. 499a et seq.).
Pacific Rim — An informal but imprecise term generally referring to countries and economies bordering the Pacific Ocean. Broadly, it may include as many as the following countries: Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Hong Kong/Macau, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Mexico, New Zealand, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, the Philippines, People's Republic of China, Russia (or the Commonwealth of Independent States), Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, and Vietnam, as well as the countries of Central and South America that border the Pacific Ocean.
Packer concentration — The degree to which a few large firms dominate total sales within segments of the meat packing industry, which, some farmers and other critics contend, can cause or at least contribute to lower prices for their animals. Market control by five large packers in the early 1900s led to passage of the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 (P.L. 67-51; 7 U.S.C. 181 et seq.). Concentration declined after that, but has increased sharply in more recent years. According to USDA, for example, the four largest firms accounted for 82% of the steer and heifer slaughter in 2000, compared with 36% in 1980. Four-firm concentration in hog slaughter was 56% in 2000, compared with 34% in 1980. Numerous government-sponsored studies and investigations have been inconclusive on the relationship in recent years between concentration and prices.
Packer ownership — see captive supply, packer concentration, and WORC petition.
Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 — P.L. 67-51 remains, in amended form, the basic authority for USDA to regulate marketing practices in the livestock, poultry, and meat industries. The law was enacted to prevent unfair, deceptive, and monopolistic trade practices, focusing on livestock terminal and auction markets, livestock marketing agencies, dealers, meat packers, and live poultry dealers. The law also includes provisions to ensure that livestock and poultry producers are promptly paid when they sell their animals. (7 U.S.C. 181 et seq.).
Paid diversion — A program, repealed by the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127), under which farmers were paid to voluntarily take acreage out of production. The diverted land was devoted to approved conservation practices. Unlike acreage reduction and set-aside programs, participation in a paid diversion program was not normally a condition of eligibility for other support program benefits. While the Conservation Reserve Program pays farmers to take land out of production, the objective is to achieve certain environmental objectives.
Paid lunch, breakfast, supper, or snack — This term refers to a federally subsidized meal bought by children from households with income above 185% of the federal poverty guidelines. See Free lunch, and Reduced price lunch.
Palmer Index — The Palmer Index was developed by Wayne Palmer in the 1960s and uses temperature and rainfall information in a formula to determine dryness and has long been used by the agriculture community to anticipate the potential effects of weather on crop development and yield. It has become the semi-official drought index. The Palmer Index is most effective in determining long term drought (a matter of several months) and is not as good with short-term forecasts (a matter of weeks). It uses a 0 as normal, and drought is shown in terms of minus numbers; for example, minus 2 is moderate drought, minus 3 is severe drought, and minus 4 is extreme drought. The Crop Moisture Index (CMI) is also a formula that was also developed by Wayne Palmer subsequent to his development of the Palmer Drought Index. The CMI responds more rapidly than the Palmer Index and can change considerably from week to week, so it is more effective in calculating short-term abnormal dryness or wetness affecting agriculture.
Parity price — A measurement of the purchasing power of a unit of a particular commodity. Originally, parity was the price per bushel, bale, pound, or hundredweight that would be necessary for a unit of a commodity today to buy the same quantity of other goods (from a standard list) that the commodity could have purchased in the 1910-14 base period. Under permanent law, prices of some commodities would be supported at 50 to 90% of parity through direct government purchases or nonrecourse loans. In 1948, the parity price formula was revised to make parity prices dependent on the relationship of farm and nonfarm prices during the most recent 10-year period for nonbasic commodities. Basic commodities, including wheat, corn, rice, peanuts, and cotton use the higher of the historical or the new formula.
Parity ratio — The ratio of the prices received index, 1910-14 = 100, to the prices paid index on a 1910-14 = 100 base (called the parity index). The parity ratio is a measure of relative price relationships. It is not a measure of farm income, of farmers' total purchasing power, or of farmers' economic welfare. The well-being of the farm community depends upon a number of factors other than price relationships, such as changes in production efficiency and technology, quantities of farm products sold, and supplementary income (including income from off-farm jobs and federal farm programs). Over time the parity ratio has declined due to greater efficiency gains in agriculture. Compared to a parity ratio of 100 in the 1910-14 time period, the January 2003 parity ratio was 38.
Partial payments — If it is anticipated that counter-cyclical payments will be made, producers have the option to receive partial payment in advance of the final payment determination at the end of the marketing year. If the total payment is eventually calculated to be less than the advance payment, the producer is required to refund the difference. This term is analogous to the term advance deficiency payments used prior to 1996, when counter-cyclical payments were called target price deficiency payments.
Particulates — The EPA has set National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulates. One, in effect since 1987, regulates particles smaller than 10 microns in diameter (PM10). The other, promulgated in 1997, would regulate particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5), but court challenges delayed its implementation. EPA has completed putting its monitoring network in place, and anticipates that it will be able to start designating non-attainment areas by late 2004. These are of interest to agriculture because dust from tillage and smoke from burning field residues may contribute to pollutant levels. Whether controls might be imposed on agricultural activities depends largely on how each state chooses to meet the standards.
Partners for Fish and Wildlife — A voluntary partnership program administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service to provide financial and technical assistance to private landowners who wish to protect or restore wetlands, uplands, and riparian and instream habitats. Through 2002, the program entered into nearly 29,000 land owner agreements to protect or restore about 640,000 acres of wetlands and almost 1.1million acres of uplands. This program has been widely used by rural landowners, including farmers. www.fws.gov/partners.
Partners in Quality — One of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) process verification programs, partners in quality enables fresh produce packing houses that incorporate specified, rigorous quality standards and requirements (monitored by periodic unannounced AMS audits) into their ongoing daily operations, to forgo the traditional, more costly, and less flexible end-of-the-line inspections that AMS conducts before awarding a quality grade to the company's products. www.ams.usda.gov/fv/fpbpiq.html.
Partnerships and Cooperation Program — This program, enacted in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 2003), funds special projects recommended by a state conservationist to meet the requirements of three specified federal environmental laws or address conservation needs in watersheds or other areas with significant environmental problems. Participants agree to increase environmental benefits through implementation of conservation programs in return for incentives payments. The statute specifies participation criteria, which include: conservation practices that affect multiple producers; sharing information and resources among producers; cumulative conservation benefits in geographic areas; and, demonstrating innovative conservation methods. The total made available for this program annually may be up to 5% of the mandatory funding for conservation programs. www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/cpi.
Pasture Recovery Program — A program, authorized in the 2001 agriculture appropriations act (P.L. 106-387, Sec. 806 in H.R. 5426), to assist producers in reestablishing permanent vegetative forage crops on pastureland affected by natural disasters during calender year 2000. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) was authorized to spend up to $40 million from commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds in counties with emergency designations by the USDA.
Pastureland — Land used primarily for the production of domesticated forage plants for livestock (in contrast to rangeland, where vegetation is naturally-occurring and is dominated by grasses and perhaps shrubs). Rotation pasture or cropland under winter cover is not included in this definition. The 1997 National Resources Inventory recorded 120 million acres of pastureland, nearly 9% of all nonfederal rural land.
Pathogen; pathogenic — Pathogens are infectious or toxin-forming microorganisms causing disease. A foodborne pathogen is a microorganism that causes illness through the ingestion of food.
Payment acres — Under 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1101(f)) each farm's payment acres for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) are 85% of the farm base acres. The law specifies how producers establish each farm's base acres.
Payment amount — The size of each farm's payments under 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) are the payment rates times payment acres times payment yield. The direct payment rate for each covered commodity is specified in Section 1103. The counter-cyclical payment rate is specified in Section 1104.
Payment-in-kind (PIK) — In general, a payment made in the form of Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)-owned commodities (or title to them) in lieu of cash. This form of payment was widely used during the 1980s for paid diversion, deficiency payments, and export subsidy payments as a means of disposing of or avoiding the acquisition of commodity inventories. PIK certificates entitled the holder to a specific quantity of commodities.
Payment limitation — The maximum annual amount of farm program benefits a person can receive by law. Persons are defined under payment limitation regulations, established by USDA, to be individuals, members of joint operations, or entities such as limited partnerships, corporations, associations, trusts, and estates that are actively engaged in farming. The three entity rule allows payments for up to three farms (two of which are subsidized at half the normal level). Also, provisions exist to treat spouses separately as persons. For covered commodities, the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1603) sets limits at $40,000 per person per fiscal year on fixed, decoupled direct payments, and $65,000 per person per year on counter-cyclical payments. Separately, peanuts have the same limits. The limit on marketing assistance loan gains and loan deficiency payments for loan commodities is $75,000 per person per year (this limit applies separately to wool, mohair, honey and peanuts). Farmers are not subject to any limits on the use of commodity certificates to repay marketing assistance loans. The Conservation Reserve Program has a limit of $50,000 per person per year, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) limits total payments to $450,000 to any participating producer, and the Conservation Security Program has annual payment limits for each of the three alternative levels of participation. Section 1604 of the Act imposes a prohibition on making commodity payments or conservation payments to individuals or entities that have 3-year average adjusted gross incomes exceeding $2.5 million (unless 75% or more of the income is from farming, ranching, or forestry).
Payment quantity — The quantity of production eligible for direct payments or separately for counter-cyclical payments under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171). Payment quantity is calculated as the farm's payment yield (per acre) multiplied by the farm's payment acres (where payment acres equal 85% of the base acres).
Payment rate — Generally, the amount paid per unit of production (i.e., $/bu., $/lb., $/cwt.) to each participating farmer for eligible production under commodity income and price support programs. Under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171), separate payment rates for each commodity are specified for direct payments, and are determined by formulas for counter-cyclical payments and loan deficiency payments.
Payment yield — The farm commodity yield of record determined by averaging the yield of a particular commodity for a specified time period for purposes of making certain commodity support payments. Under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1102) the payment yield is used in calculating direct payments and counter-cyclical payments. For six years of direct payments, the payment yield is the yield applied to 1995-crop payments, which is the same as the yield calculated for 1985-crop target price payments. For counter-cyclical payments, producers have the opportunity to use an updated calculation.
Payments in lieu of taxes (PILT) — A program administered by the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior to compensate counties for the tax-exempt status of federal lands; the fixed payments per entitlement acre (on most but not all federal lands) are adjusted for low county populations and for other revenue-sharing payments (e.g., Forest Service county payments) in a complicated formula.
Payments to States — See Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program.
PBIS — Performance Based Inspection System.
PC — Prior converted wetland.
PCA — Production Credit Association.
PCC — Prior converted cropland.
PDP — Pesticide data program.
Peace clause — Term used to refer to Article 13 of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, which protects countries using subsidies which comply with the Agreement from challenges under other WTO agreements. The peace clause was to have expired at the end of 2003. Extension of the peace clause is an issue in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. Some countries propose extending the peace clause so as to facilitate adherence to any new agreements limiting domestic subsidies. Other countries want to see it lapse in order to strengthen the WTO Member countries' ability to take legal action against subsidies. Some developing countries propose eliminating the peace clause for industrialized countries like the United States or the European Union, but keeping it for developing countries.
Peanut poundage quota — Poundage quotas, authorized by the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, were the supply control mechanism for the peanut price support program until its revision in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1301-1310). The 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) required that (for the 1996-2002 crops) the poundage quota be set equal to projected food demand and related uses. The national quota was allocated among states based on historical shares, and then divided among farms based on production history. Owners (via inheritance or purchase) of quota were allowed to sell peanuts produced against their quota, or sell, lease and transfer their quota to other producers. Peanuts marketed above the quota limits (called additional peanuts) had to be crushed for non-edible uses or exported. The 2002 farm bill eliminated peanut quotas and the two-tiered pricing structure and replaced this with a support program comparable to that for wheat, feedgrains, cotton, and rice, as well as buy-out funding.
Peanut program — The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1301-1310) replaced the long-time (65-year) support program for peanuts with a framework identical in structure to the program for the so-called covered commodities.(wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, and other oilseeds). The three components of peanut program are fixed direct payments (at $36/ton), counter-cyclical payments (based on a target price of $495/ton), and marketing assistance loans or loan deficiency payments (LDPs) (based on a loan rate of $355/ton). The peanut poundage quota and the two-tiered pricing features of the old program were repealed. Only historic peanut producers are eligible for the direct and counter-cyclical program (DCP). All current production is eligible for marketing assistance loans and LDPs. Previous owners of peanut quota were compensated through a buy-out program at a rate of 55¢/lb. ($1,100/ton) over a 5-year period.
Percolation — The movement of water downward and radially through subsurface soil layers, usually continuing downward to groundwater. The rate at which soils permit percolation is a measure of the vulnerability of groundwaters to contamination, as well as a determinant in the siting of septic fields.
Performance-based inspection system (PBIS) — A computer-based system used by USDA's meat and poultry inspection agency, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The system organizes inspection requirements, schedules inspection activities, and maintains records of findings for meat and poultry processing operations under federal inspection. PBIS has been at issue because consumer advocates and some inspectors have contended that it is not flexible and second-guesses inspectors' more reliable experience and judgment. USDA views it as an objective tool for inspection that enhances rather than undermines inspectors' roles.
Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) of 1930 — P.L. 71-325 (June 10, 1930), as amended, regulates the buying and selling of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables to prevent unfair trading practices and to assure that sellers will be paid promptly. Both produce sellers and buyers must pay fees for a license in order to do business, and these license fees are the source of funding for a trust program that resolves disputes and protects sellers from non-payment when buyers become bankrupt. Amendments to the Act in 1995 (P.L. 104-48, Sec. 3) include a 3-year phase out of the annual license fees for retailers and grocery wholesaler-dealers to be replaced by one-time fee. (7 U.S.C. 499a et seq.).
Perishable commodities — Farm goods that prior to processing cannot be stored for a substantial period of time without excessive loss through deterioration or spoilage. Examples of perishable commodities are fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry. Most of the commodities purchased by the Agricultural Marketing Service under Section 32 authority are perishable items. Perishable commodities have a more precise statutory definition under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) of 1930 (7 U.S.C. 499a et seq.).
Permanent law — Legislation that would be in force in the absence of all temporary or short-term laws (e.g., farm bills). The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, the Agricultural Act of 1949, and the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act of 1948 serve as the basic laws authorizing the major commodity programs. Technically, each new farm bill (including the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171)) amends the permanent law for a specified period. Many programs and activities of USDA are authorized by permanent laws that are periodically amended.
Permanent vegetative cover — Trees, or perennial grasses, legumes, or shrubs with an expected life span of at least 5 years. Permanent cover is required on cropland entered into the Conservation Reserve Program.
Permitted acreage — The acreage on which a farm program participant was permitted to grow a program crop after satisfying acreage reduction requirements. For example, when a 10% acreage reduction program was in effect for wheat, a farmer with a 100-acre wheat base could grow wheat on 90 acres, the permitted acres. Limits on production were eliminated under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171) through crop year 2007, as also was done under the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127).
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) — Generally, these pollutants are complex, synthetic chemicals, and many are chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides. They can harm human health and wildlife, do not break down easily in the environment, and tend to accumulate as they move up the food chain. POPs may be transported in the air and water across international boundaries.
Persistent pesticides — Pesticides that do not readily break down in the environment. Becoming long-lived components of the ecosystem, these chemicals may have enduring effects at low concentrations or may bioaccumulate, posing hazards to higher predators.
Persistent Poverty Counties — The Economic Research Service (ERS) of USDA categorizes non-metropolitan counties by their dominant economic foundation and by characteristic policy type. Persistent poverty counties are those where 20% or more of the county population in each of four Census years (1960, 1970,1980, 1990) had poverty level household incomes. In 1989, there were 535 such counties concentrated largely in the Delta South, Central Appalachia, Rio Grande Valley, the Northern Great Plains, and western Alaska. The average poverty rate in these counties was approximately 29% in 1989.
Person — An entity defined by USDA as being eligible to receive federal farm program benefits, subject to annual payment limitation constraints. A person may be an individual farmer, an individual member of a joint operation, a corporation, a joint stock company, an association, a limited partnership, a trust, an estate, or a charitable organization. A husband and wife generally are considered one person for payment limitation purposes. A joint operation is not a person; neither is a cooperative association of producers that markets commodities for producers.
Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 — P.L. 104-193 was labeled as a major welfare reform initiative. In addition to provisions making major changes to federal cash welfare, medicaid, work, and child care development programs, this law revised the Food Stamp Program and several commodity distribution programs (notably the Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Soup Kitchen Food Bank Program).
Pest Management in Schools — A proposal that was approved by the Senate but not adopted in the finally enacted 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171). The proposal would have created a new School Environment Protection Act of 2002" under section 33 of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. It would have required states to develop pest management plans for schools, established guidelines for these plans and required that they be part of state cooperative agreements with the EPA.
Pest resistance management (PRM) plans — To protect the continued use of biopesticides, the EPA is requiring companies developing transgenic crops (see Genetic engineering) to submit and implement pest resistance management (PRM) plans as a requirement of product registration. If they are exposed to a toxin excessively, most insect populations can develop resistance, making pest control products less effective. With new biopesticide technologies comes the concern that pests will rapidly develop resistance to natural insecticides, because plant pesticides tend to produce the pesticidal active ingredient throughout a growing season, increasing the selection pressure upon both the target pests and any other susceptible insects feeding on the transformed crop. A resistance management plan is intended to sustain the useful life of transgenic technology and well as the utility of the toxin for organic farmers.
Pest scouting — Inspecting a field for pests, including insects, weeds, and pathogens. Pest scouting is a basic component of integrated pest management programs. It is used to determine whether pest populations are at levels that warrant control intervention and also may help to determine the most appropriate method of control.
Pest — An animal or plant that is directly or indirectly detrimental to human interests, causing harm or reducing the quality and value of a harvestable crop or other resource. Weeds, termites, rats, and mildew are examples of pests.
Pesticide Data Program (PDP) — A program initiated in 1991 by the Agricultural Marketing Service to collect pesticide residue data on selected food commodities, primarily fruits and vegetables. PDP data are used by the EPA to support its dietary risk assessment process and pesticide registration process, by the Food and Drug Administration to refine sampling for enforcement of tolerances; by the Foreign Agricultural Service, to support export of U.S. commodities in a competitive global market; by the Economic Research Service to evaluate pesticide alternatives; and by the public sector to address food safety issues. www.ams.usda.gov/science/pdp.
Pesticide Recordkeeping Program (PRP) — Authorized by the 1990 farm bill (P.L. 101-624, Sec. 1491), the program requires that private pesticide applicators keep records of the pesticides they use in agricultural production and that the records be surveyed to provide a database on restricted-use pesticides. www.ams.usda.gov/science/sdpr.htm.
Pesticide — A substance used to kill, control, repel, or mitigate any pest. Insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides, herbicides, and germicides are all pesticides. EPA regulates pesticides under authority of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA; 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.). In addition, a substance used as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant is defined as a pesticide and regulated accordingly under FIFRA. All pesticides must be registered and carry a label approved by EPA.
PETA — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. www.peta-online.org.
PFC — Production flexibility contract.
pH — An expression of the intensity of the basic or acidic condition of a liquid or of soil; the logarithmic scale ranges from 0 to 14, where 0 is the most acid, 7 is neutral, and above 7 is alkaline. Natural waters usually have a pH between 6.5 and 8.5. Plants have differing tolerances for acidity and alkalinity.
Phase II Tobacco Settlement — As a followup, but separate from the MSA, the tobacco companies agreed in 1999 to pay 14 tobacco producing states $5.15 billion over 12 years to offset the adverse economic on farmers and rural communities of the MSA. This is called Phase II of the tobacco settlement. Adoption of the tobacco quota buyout, financed by fees on tobacco manufacturers, ended the Phase II payments after 2004.
Phosphorus — An essential nutrient for plants and animals that is commonly applied to crops as a phosphate fertilizer. Phosphorus can contribute to the eutrophication of lakes and other water bodies. Sources of excess phosphorus in streams and lakes include sewage and agricultural runoff.
Phytoremediation — The systematic use of plants to treat environmental contamination. It is being investigated as a potential low-cost technology to help meet environmental regulations. For example, it has been discovered that young seedlings of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) grown in aerated water are very effective at removing toxic metals from water.
Phytosanitary — See Sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS).
Pigford Case — This refers to two discrimination suits brought by African-American farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Pigford v. Veneman, No. 97-1978; and Brewington v. Veneman, No. 98-1693) and their subsequent settlement agreement. The suits, filed in 1997 and 1998, claimed that the USDA since 1981 had discriminated against African-American farmers on the basis of race and had failed to investigate or properly respond to complaints of discrimination in USDA farm credit and non-credit benefit programs. In January of 1999, the parties reached a settlement agreement for the class action lawsuit and a consent decree was approved by the court in April of 1999. The decree established the category of eligible class recipients: (1)African American farmers who farmed or attempted to farm between January 1, 1981 and September 31, 1996; (2) applied to USDA for farm credit or farm program benefits and believe they were discriminated against on the basis of race; and (3) made a complaint against the USDA on or before July 1, 1997, regarding USDA's treatment of their farm credit or benefit application. The agreement established a two-track dispute resolution mechanism for those seeking relief and a system for notice, claims submission, consideration, and review that involved a facilitator, arbitrator, adjudicator, and monitor. There has been some controversy with the actual amount of claims paid by the USDA pursuant to the consent decree.
PIK — Payment-in-kind.
PILT — Payments in lieu of taxes.
PIN — Pesticide information network.
Plant breeding — The traditional practice of cross-breeding to produce varieties with particular characteristics (traits) that are carried in future generations. Traditional plant breeding works more slowly than genetic engineering and so far has not been effective at producing transgenic crops.
Plant hardiness zones — The USDA has divided North America into 11 hardiness zones based on average annual minimum temperatures. Horticulturalists and nurseries rate plants by their hardiness; the hardiness zone maps can then be used to determine the likely survivability of particular plant species and varieties according to one's local growing area.
Plant quarantine — A technique for insuring disease- and pest-free plants by isolating them during a period while performing tests for the presence of these problems. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) retains this function although the agency's closely allied border inspection function was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by P.L. 107-296.
Plant Quarantine Act — Originally enacted in 1912 (7 U.S.C. 151 et seq.), this Act gave the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) authority to regulate the importation and interstate movement of nursery stock and other plants that may carry pests and diseases that are harmful to agriculture. This Act has been superseded by the consolidated APHIS statute, the Plant Protection Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.). This authority is particularly important to the agency's ability to prevent or limit the spread of harmful invasive species within or to a state or region of the United States.
Plant regulator — A chemical that affects the physiological behavior of plants, for example through accelerating or retarding the rate of growth or maturation of produce. Typically the definition of plant regulator excludes nutrients. Plant regulators must be registered as pesticides.
Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 — P.L. 91-577 was enacted to create an incentive for public and private research on new commercial plant varieties by making it possible for scientists to benefit financially from developing them. The Act provides patent-like protection for new non-hybrid seed varieties. The PVPA Amendments of 1994 ( P.L. 103-349 made the law consistent with the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) of March 19, 1991, to which the United States is a signatory. In February 1999, UPOV formally accepted the 1994 PVPA amendments as being in conformance with the International Convention. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service administers the law rather than the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).
Plant-pesticide — As proposed by the EPA (November 23, 1994), plant-pesticides are all substances responsible for pest resistance in plants, as well as the genes needed for production of these substances. This term was rejected in favor of plant-incorporated protectant when EPA promulgated its final rule (66 Federal Register 37772, July 19, 2001). EPA regulates plant-incorporated protectants introduced into plants using recombinant DNA techniques under legal requirements of FIFRA (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.) and FFDCA (21 U.S.C. 321 et seq.). Exempt from tolerance requirements are those defense substances and genes evolved naturally or transferred to the plant by traditional plant breeding methods. Regulations for plant-incorporated protectants are found at 40 CFR 174.
Plasticulture — According to the American Society for Plasticulture, the term plasticulture is defined as the use of plastics in agriculture. This broad term would include plastic film mulches, drip irrigation tape, row covers, low tunnels, high tunnels, silage bags, hay bale wraps, and plastic trays and pots used in transplant and bedding plant production. The use of plasticulture in the production of horticultural crops (vegetables, small fruits, flowers, tree fruits, and ornamentals) helps to mitigate the sometime extreme fluctuations in weather, especially temperature, rainfall and wind. Production costs for vegetable plasticulture generally are much higher than for conventional row-cropped vegetables.
Plate Waste — See Offer versus serve.
Playa Lake — A temporary lake created in the lowest elevation of a basin in an arid area that has no surface drain into another water body, such as a perennial stream or river. Lake water is removed either by evaporation into the air or seepage into the ground. Playa lakes may be considered isolated wetlands, and may be eligible to enroll in the new wetlands component of the Conservation Reserve Program, enacted in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 2101).
PLD — Paid land diversion. See Paid diversion.
Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) — Located off the northeastern tip of New York's Long Island, Plum Island is the only place in the U.S. to study certain highly infectious foreign animal diseases (FAD), such as foot-and-mouth disease, that could be accidentally or deliberately introduced into the U.S. The site has a biosafety level-3 (BL-3) facility. The land and buildings of Plum Island were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296). USDA retains is research and diagnostic mission at Plum Island, employing scientists and veterinarians from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Plum Island also contributes to DHS's biological countermeasures program in the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. www.ars.usda.gov/plum.
PMA — Produce Marketing Association. www.pma.com.
PMO — Pasturized Milk Ordinance.
PNTR — Permanent normal trade relations. See Normal trade relations (NTR).
Point farm — The official definition of a farm for census purposes is "any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold or normally would have been sold during the census year." If a place does not have $1,000 in sales, a point system assigns values for acres of various crops and head of various livestock species to estimate a normal level of sales. Point farms are farms with fewer than $1,000 in sales but have points worth at least $1,000. Point farms tend to be very small. Some, however, may normally have large sales, but experience low sales in a particular year due to bad weather, disease, or other factors. Both the Economic Research Service (ERS) Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and the census of agriculture use the point system to help identify farms meeting the current definition.
Point source pollution — Pollutants that are discharged or emitted from discrete point sources, such as pipes and smokestacks. Both the Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500; 33, U.S.C. 1251-1387) and the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) focus control requirements on point sources and both require permits for major sources of discharges from point sources. While much agricultural pollution is nonpoint source, some agricultural activities are affected: for example, feedlots of over 1000 animal units (CAFOs) are considered point sources requiring permits under the Clean Water Act. However, irrigation return flows, although considered point sources, are expressly exempted from the permit requirement.
Point — A measure of price change equal to 1/100 of one cent in most futures contracts traded in decimal units. In grains, it is one cent; in T-bonds, it is one percent of par.
Pollution — Alteration of the environment, as through the introduction of hazardous or detrimental substances, heat, or noise whose nature, location, or quantity produces adverse health or environmental effects. Under Section 502 of the Clean Water Act, (P.L. 92-500; 33 U.S.C. 1362) for example, pollution means the man-made or man-induced alteration of the physical, biological, chemical, and radiological integrity of water.
POP — Producer option payment; persistent organic pollutant.
POPs — Persistent organic pollutants.
Pork bellies — One of the major cuts of the hog carcass that, when cured, becomes bacon. Futures contracts for pork bellies are traded in the futures market.
Posted county price (PCP) — This price is calculated for the so-called loan commodities (except for rice and cotton) for each county by the Farm Service Agency. The PCP reflects changes in prices in major terminal grain markets (of which there are 18 in the country), corrected for the cost of transporting grain from the county to the terminal. It is utilized under the marketing loan repayment provisions and loan deficiency payment (LDP) provisions of the commodity programs. Rice and cotton use an adjusted world price as the proxy for local market prices.
Postharvest — Refers to activities in the food and fiber sector that occur after agricultural products are sold from, or leave, the farm or ranch. In total, about 75% of the retail cost of the market basket of foods is added in postharvest activities.
Postmortem inspection — As used in the meat and poultry inspection program, the phrase refers to the inspection that Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspectors are required to conduct of all animal carcasses immediately after slaughter.
Potato Diversion Program (PDP) — A USDA program under which farmers are paid to divert potatoes to charitable institutions, livestock feed, ethanol production, and/or render them nonmarketable and destroyed. The most recent program was for 2000 crop fresh russet potatoes with expenditures limited to $10.25 million. There also was a 1997 program to divert fresh Irish round white and russet potatoes to charitable institutions or for use as livestock feed. The program is administered by the Agricultural Marketing Service and implemented in the field by the Farm Service Agency. The objective of PDP is to reduce supplies and raise farm prices.
Poultry Products Inspection Act of 1957 — P.L. 85-172, as amended, requires USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to inspect all domesticated birds when slaughtered and processed into products for human consumption. By regulation, FSIS has defined domesticated birds as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and guinea fowl. Ratites were added in 2001. The primary goals of the law are to prevent adulterated or misbranded poultry and products from being sold as food, and to ensure that poultry and poultry products are slaughtered and processed under sanitary conditions. These requirements also apply to products produced and sold within states as well as to imports, which must be inspected under equivalent foreign standards (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.).
Poundage quota — A quantitative limit on the amount of a commodity that can be marketed (also called a marketing quota) under the provisions of a permanent law. Once a common feature of price support programs, this supply control mechanism ended with the quota buyouts for peanuts in 2002 and tobacco in 2004.
Poverty guidelines / Poverty thresholds — The federal poverty income guidelines are income amounts (monthly or annual) on which eligibility for food assistance programs is based; the poverty income thresholds (which differ slightly from the guidelines) are used by the Census Bureau to measure the poor population. They were developed in the 1960s, using food expenditure data, and are indexed annually for inflation. For program eligibility purposes, variations of the actual guidelines are used--e.g., 130% of the guidelines for food stamps and free school meals, 185% of the guidelines for reduced price school meals and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program).
Powder — A synonymous term for nonfat dry milk, which is one of three storable dairy products purchased by USDA (butter, cheese, and powder) in order to support the farm price of milk, when wholesale prices for these products are below specified levels.
PPB — Parts per billion.
PPI — Prices Paid Index.
PPI — Producer Price Index.
PPIA — Poultry Products Inspection Act (P.L. 85-172; 21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.).
PPM — Parts per million.
PPT — Parts per trillion.
Prairie potholes — A type of wetland that is at the center of a shallow depression characteristic of glaciated areas in the Upper Midwest (North Dakota especially). Potholes are a type of isolated wetland (geographically) because they do not have surface outlets to drain into rivers. Some isolated wetlands were ruled exempt from Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500) permitting requirements by a January 2001 Supreme Court decision (Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (121S.Ct.675 )(2001). Swampbuster remains the only law the federal government can apply to limit altering potholes to produce crops. Many potholes are wet during only a portion of the year, usually early spring. They provide important nesting habitat for migratory waterfowl, and were designated as a national priority area by the Secretary of Agriculture under the Conservation Reserve Program.
Precautionary Principle — An EU concept that, even if scientific evidence is insufficient or inconclusive regarding a practice's or product's potential dangers to human, environmental, animal, or plant health, it should be prohibited if there are reasonable grounds for concern. The precautionary principle has been raised by the EU in trade disagreements hindering U.S. exports there of several agricultural products that the United States deems safe.
Precision farming — Farmers use global positioning (GPS) technology involving satellites and sensors on the ground and intensive information management tools to understand variations in resource conditions within fields. They use this information to more precisely apply fertilizers and other inputs and to more accurately predict crop yields.
Preferential tariff — A tariff that benefits one or more, but not all, countries within the scope of bilateral, regional, or preferential trade agreements (e.g., the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Generalized System of Preferences, the Europe Agreements, the European Economic Area, the Cotonou Agreement). These tariff preferences have created numerous departures from the normal trade relations principal, namely that World Trade Organization (WTO) members should apply the same tariff to imports from other WTO members.
Preferential trade agreements — Agreements among a group of countries to extend special trading advantages, usually tariff rates that are lower than normal trade relations rates. The U.S.'s North American Free Trade Agreement and the EU's Cotonou Agreement that provide preferential access for exports of former EU member country colonies in Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean (APC countries) are examples of preferential trade agreements.
Preharvest — Refers to activities on the farm or ranch that occur before crop or livestock products are sold. Preharvest food safety activities, for example, is a phrase often used to describe USDA's efforts, through research and cooperative work, to foster changes in on-farm production that can reduce public health risks in live animals before they are sent to slaughter.
Premium, crop insurance — The annual amount that is paid or agreed to be paid in return for insurance coverage. The total premium consists of two components: the producer-paid premium, or the amount required to be paid by the participating producer; and, the premium subsidy, or the portion of the premium paid by the federal government on behalf of the producer. Total premiums for each crop are set to balance premiums with expected losses considering risks associated with the historical loss experiences of producers in each region.
Preproduction expenses — Expenses incurred prior to the period when a farm activity begins producing, primarily raising orchard trees or breeding animals.
Prescribed burning — The practice of intentionally setting fires within identified areas under specified conditions to reduce fuels and produce other ecological benefits with less risk than from wildfires. Often called controlled burning, but this term implies less risk and greater control than commonly exist (as demonstrated by the Cerro Grande fire, an escaped prescribed fire that burned 235 houses in Los Alamos, NM, in May 2000).
Presidential trade negotiating authority — See Trade promotion authority.
Prevented planting acreage — Land on which a farmer intended to plant a program crop or insurable crop, but was unable to because of drought, flood, or other natural disaster. Used in the calculation of disaster payments and crop insurance indemnity payments.
Prevented planting — Under crop insurance, acreage that cannot be planted because of flood, drought, or other natural disaster is eligible for indemnification. Also, prevented planting acreage may be excluded from the time frame used for calculating support program base acres.
PRIA — Public Rangelands Improvement Act (P.L. 95-514; 43 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.).
Price band — A policy instrument that serves to insulate domestic producers and processors when the world price for a commodity falls below a calculated reference price (e.g., a price target comparable to a commodity support level). Protection is provided by imposing a variable import levy on the imported commodity that raises the importer's cost to the reference price. Chile, some Andean Group countries, and some Central American countries use price bands to protect specific commodity and processed food sectors.
Price elasticity of demand — The relationship between the change in the price of a commodity and the corresponding change in the quantity that is sold. If a small change in the price is accompanied by a relatively large change in the quantity sold, demand is said to be elastic (responsive to price changes). But if a large change in the price is accompanied by a small change in the quantity sold, demand is said to be inelastic. The demand for many farm products is relatively price inelastic. As a result of low price elasticity of demand, shifts in supply can have large impacts on prices. For example, the presence of surpluses results in disproportionately large price declines, and conversely shortages result in large price increases. For these reasons, agriculture often is described as an inherently unstable industry.
Price index — Current price expressed as a proportion to the same price in an earlier time period, commonly called the base period. Monthly price indexes computed by the National Agricultural Statistics Service are the index of prices received by farmers and the index of prices paid by farmers for commodities and services, interest, taxes, and farm wage rates. The ratio of these two indexes is referred to as the parity ratio.
Price support — Programs operated by USDA that are intended to raise farm prices when supply exceeds demand and prices are unacceptably low. Support usually is achieved through nonrecourse loans, payments, and purchases. Some commodities are designated in the law to receive mandatory support; others may be supported at the discretion of USDA. Over time, policy changes have shifted toward farm income support and away from commodity price support. However, the term price support frequently is used to describe commodity programs that support farm income though they may not impact market prices.
Prices paid index — An index that measures changes in the prices paid for goods and services used in crop and livestock production and family living. The production component of the index accounts for over 65% of the total, and family living expenses represented by the CPI-U account for less than 20% of the index. The remaining components are interest charges on farm real estate and non-real estate debt, taxes payable on farm real estate, and wage rates paid to hired farm labor. NASS currently publishes the index on a 1990-92 = 100 base. Used in calculating the federal grazing fee, among other purposes. The index of prices paid on a 1910-14 = 100 base is called the parity index and is used in calculating the parity ratio.
Prices received index — An index that measures changes in the prices received for crops and livestock. NASS currently publishes the index on a 1990-92 = 100 base. A ratio of the prices received index to the prices paid index on the 1990-92 base that is greater than 100% indicates that farm commodity prices have increased at a faster rate than farm input prices. When the ratio is less than 100%, farm input prices are increasing a more rapid pace than farm commodity prices. The prices received index and the prices paid index are used to calculate the parity ratio.
Prime farmland — Land that is best suited to and available for the production of food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops. It can be cropland, pastureland, rangeland, forestland, or other land. It has the soil quality, growing season, and moisture needed to produce high yields of crops each year economically, if managed according to acceptable farm practices. Prime farmland produces the highest yields with minimal expenditure of energy and economic resources and does so with the least damage to the environment. Of the 332 million acres of prime farmland, 212 million are in cropland use, according to the 1997 national resources inventory. See Unique farmland.
Prions — Abnormal proteins generally believed to cause a number of degenerative brain diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) in livestock, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.
Prior appropriations — The system of water allocation under state law used primarily in the arid western United States, where water is scarce. Under this system, earlier claims have priority over later claims, and claims are associated with specific volumes of water that are diverted and put to beneficial uses. Rights to water can be lost if they are not used. The riparian rights system is primarily used in the East.
Prior converted wetland — Under the swampbuster program, these are wetlands that were converted to cropland before swampbuster was enacted on December 23, 1985, and meet wetland criteria for saturated soils or water-loving plants. Under swampbuster, there are no restrictions on either drainage maintenance or additional drainage on prior converted wetlands, which are estimated to total more than 50 million acres.
Priority areas — Starting with the Conservation Reserve Program in the Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198), either agencies in USDA or statutory language could identify regions or portions of states where enhanced assistance would be provided through specified conservation programs because either problems were concentrated in those areas or because conservation programs could provide more benefits for the level of effort expended in those areas. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 2006) repeals geographic priority areas, but national priority areas are retained for the Conservation Reserve Program.
Private grazing land lease rate index — See Forage value index.
Private nonindustrial forest lands — Forest land owned by a private individual or organization that does not also own a wood processing facility.
Private voluntary organization (PVO) — A nongovernmental, nonprofit organization that provides economic and social assistance to people in need, often in foreign countries. PVOs play an important role, along with cooperatives, in distributing U.S. food aid and implementing development projects under P.L. 480 Title II.
PRN — Pesticide registration notice.
Process verification programs — The emergence of value-enhanced commodities and a niche market for non-biotechnologically derived commodities has created an increased need to differentiate products in the handling system. In response to these needs, USDA's Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) and Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) have begun to provide and are planning to develop a variety of programs and services to facilitate the marketing of agriculture, such as the Qualified Through Verification, Partners in Quality, and Animal Protein Free Certification.
Producer agreement — To be eligible for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) payments under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1105), farmers annually must agree to comply: with conservation and wetland protection requirements specified in other laws; with planting flexibility requirements; with effective weed control and other sound agricultural practices on cropland devoted to conserving uses; and, to maintain the cropland in agricultural uses in contrast to commercial or industrial uses. The agreement signed by farmers is Form CCC-509, Direct and Counter-cyclical Program Contract. This new annual producer agreement replaces the previous Production Flexibility Contract required by the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127).
Producer Option Payment (POP) — The original name for the loan deficiency payment (LDP), a component of the marketing assistance loan program. This phrase continues to be used by some farmers.
Producer price — The average price or unit value received by farmers for a specific agricultural commodity produced within a specified 12-month period. This price is measured at the farm gate (the point that the commodity leaves the farm) and therefore does not incorporate cost of transportation, processing, or marketing.
Producer subsidy equivalent — Former OECD term for the measurement of the annual monetary value of support to a country's agricultural producers. The current term is producer support estimate (PSE).
Producer support estimate (PSE) — An indicator of the annual monetary value of gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to agricultural producers, measured at the farm gate level, arising from policy measures that support agriculture, regardless of their nature, objectives or impacts on farm production or income. Examples include market price support, and payments based on output, area planted, animal numbers, inputs, or farm income. PSEs, which are updated and published annually by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, can be expressed in monetary terms: as a ratio to the value of gross farm receipts valued at farm gate prices, including budgetary support (percentage PSE); or, as a ratio to the value of gross farm receipts valued at world market prices, without budgetary support. See Consumer support estimate (CSE), General services support estimate (GSSE), and Total support estimate (TSE).
Producer — Generally, a producer is thought of as a farm operator. However, given the sometimes complex ownership and rental arrangements of today's farms, the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1001) defines a producer for purposes of farm program benefits as an owner-operator, landlord, tenant, or sharecropper that shares in the risk of producing a crop and is entitled to a share of the crop produced on the farm. Under this definition, a landlord receiving cash rent is not considered a producer and is not eligible to receive subsidy program payments. However, a landlord receiving crop share as rent is a producer.
Production contract — These contracts specify who supplies the production inputs, the quality and quantity of the commodity to be produced, and the compensation for the producer. Under some livestock production contracts, the farmer is paid to provide housing and care for the animals until they are ready for market, but the contractor actually owns the animals. In 1997, according to the USDA, about 70% of the value of poultry production was under production contracts, 33% of hogs, and 14% of cattle. See Marketing contract.
Production Credit Association (PCA) — Farm Credit System institutions that have direct lending authority to make short and intermediate term loans to eligible retail customers.
Production expenses — Measures the aggregate business cost of farming. The two main components are current farm operating expenses and overhead costs. Farm production expenses are accounted for differently in calculating farm income measures. Only production expenses paid in cash are deducted from gross farm income to derive net cash farm income. Gross farm income and net farm income include both cash and noncash production expenses. Non-cash expenses include such overhead costs as charges for depreciation and other capital consumption associated with farm buildings and other structures, motor vehicles, farm machinery and equipment, and expenses associated with farm operator dwellings.
Production flexibility contract — A 7-year contract covering crop years 1996-2002, authorized by the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) between the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) and farmers, which makes fixed income support payments. Farmers were given production flexibility and diversification options on their contract acres not previously allowed on base acres. Each farm's total payment was the payment rate times the payment quantity for participating base acres. In exchange for annual fixed payments, the owner or operator agreed to comply with the applicable conservation plan for the farm, the wetland protection requirements currently in law, and the constraints on growing fruits and vegetables on contract acres. Land enrolled in a contract had to be maintained in an agricultural or related activity. The law stated that not more than $35.6 billion would be paid over the 7-year period, in declining annual amounts from $5.3 billion in FY1996 to $4.0 billion in FY in 2002. The annual payments were allocated among commodities similar to historical deficiency payments, with 53.6% going to feed grains, 26.3% for wheat, 11.6% for upland cotton, and 8.5% for rice. Target prices and deficiency payments, authorized in the 1973 farm bill, were eliminated. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1105) replaced this 7-year contract with an annual producer agreement (contract) required for participation in the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP).
Productivity — A measure of technical efficiency, typically expressed as the added output for an additional unit of input or the average output per unit of input, i.e., labor, land, capital productivity.
Program crops — Not a legally defined phrase, but generally it refers to what are now legally defined as covered commodities. Covered commodities are crops eligible for the Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) under commodity program provisions under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1101-1108). These are wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, and other oilseeds. Peanuts are under the same payments scheme but are not included in the phrase "covered commodities." Other commodities mandated to receive price support in the 2002 farm bill include extra long staple cotton, wool, mohair, dry peas, lentils, small chickpeas, peanuts, sugar, and milk.
Projected yield — The number of bushels (or pounds or hundredweight) per acre that, based on current weather estimates and other factors, USDA analysts estimate farmers will harvest.
Proposition 65, California — The ballot label given California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, which was passed by voters in a statewide referendum in 1986. The law requires businesses to post warnings when knowingly exposing the public to a substance posing a significant risk of cancer or adverse reproductive or developmental effects. The state is directed to list such chemicals, and businesses have 12 months thereafter before a label, sign, or other warning is required for consumer products and discharges to air or drinking water that pose a significant risk to the public or workers. Twenty months after listing, a company can no longer discharge the chemical into a potential source of drinking water at a level that would pose a significant risk. The state defines significant risk as one excess cancer per 100,000 people with a reasonable lifetime exposure. It is up to businesses to determine whether their use of a listed toxic chemical poses a significant risk, and to defend their determinations in court in the event of a lawsuit.
Prorate — A quantity provision in a fruit or vegetable marketing order that is intended to even out weekly shipments (or shipments for some other specified periods of time); it aims to prevent too much of the regulated commodity from entering the commercial market at the same time and thereby depressing prices.
Protectionism — The use of import or domestic policies that enable countries to protect domestic producers from competition with foreign producers.
Protein crops — Generally, crops that provide any of a large class of naturally occurring complex combinations of amino acids. Such crops, including various oilseeds and grains, are important in meeting the nutrient requirements of farm animals. EU Common Agricultural Policy designates certain protein crops as eligible for support: peas, field beans, and sweet lupins.
Protein premium (wheat) — The price differential (expressed as cents or dollars per bushel) that a high-protein wheat normally commands over wheat of the same grade specification with lower protein content. Typically, northern dark spring wheat has higher protein and brings a premium price over hard red winter wheat.
PRV — The pseudorabies virus.
PSA — Packers and Stockyards Act (P.L. 67-51; 7 U.S.C. 181 et seq.).
PSE — Producer support estimate.
Pseudorabies — A disease of swine that can cause severe economic losses due to reproductive problems and fatal infection of other domestic livestock. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) began a voluntary, cooperative federal-state-industry pseudorabies eradication program in 1989 with a target completion date at the end of 2000. APHIS accelerated the program in January 1999 as part of a USDA-wide effort to combat historically low market prices for hogs by reducing the size of the U.S. herd. January 2002 marked the first time the United States had no known pseudorabies infected domestic swine herds. However, subsequent outbreaks have required APHIS to set annual performance targets for achieving disease-free status instead of setting a final eradication date. The program includes herd testing and surveillance, and it pays producers a fair market value for their hogs if they decide to destroy an infected herd.
Public elevators — Grain elevators in which bulk storage of grain is provided for the public for a fee. Grain of the same grade but owned by different persons is usually mixed or commingled as opposed to storing it identity preserved. Some elevators are approved by exchanges as "regular" for delivery on futures contracts.
Public lands — As defined in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (P.L. 94-579), public lands are any land and interest in land outside of Alaska owned by the United States and administered by the Bureau of Land Management. In common usage, public lands may refer to all federal land no matter what agency has responsibility for its management or may refer even to state and local municipality-owned lands.
Public Rangelands Improvement Act (PRIA) of 1978 — P.L. 95-514 defines the current grazing fee formula and establishes rangeland monitoring and inventory procedures for Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service rangelands. The National Grasslands are exempt from PRIA.
Puerto Rico's Nutrition Assistance Block Grant — Food stamp law provides an annual (indexed) block grant to Puerto Rico to operate a nutrition assistance program in lieu of the regular Food Stamp program. The majority of benefits must be used for direct food purchases.
Pulse crops — Peas, beans and lentils are known as pulses. They are the seeds of plants belonging to the family Leguminosae, which gets its name from the characteristic pod or legume that protects the seeds while they are forming and ripening. Pulses are valuable because they contain a higher percentage of protein than most other plant foods and low in fat. In spite of its common name, the peanut or groundnut is a legume rather than a nut. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in its world production and trade data on pulses includes: dry beans, dry peas, dry broad beans, chickpeas, lentils, cowpeas, pigeon peas, bambara beans, lupins, vetches and pulses. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1201) includes dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas as loan commodities eligible for marketing assistance loan program benefits.
Purchase of development rights (PDR) — The acquisition of property development rights through voluntary sale by the landowner to a government agency or land trust. The government agency or land trust acquiring development rights typically restricts future uses of the land to farming or open space.
Purchase requirement — Refers to the pre-1977 requirement that food stamp recipients use a portion of their own funds to buy food stamps in order to qualify for food stamp benefits.
Put option — An option contract to sell a futures contract at an agreed price and time at any time until the expiration of the option. A put option is purchased to protect against a fall in price. The buyer pays a premium to the seller of this option. The buyer has the right to sell the futures contract or enter into a short position in the futures market if the option is exercised. See Call option.
PVO — Private voluntary organization.