| AMS Administers Several Programs:
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- Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) of 1930---This program promotes fair trading in the fresh and frozen fruit and vegetable industry. Through PACA, buyers and sellers are required to live up to the term of their contracts and procedures are available for resolving disputes outside the civil court system.
- Federal Seed Act-- This act protects everyone who buys seed by prohibiting false labeling and advertising of seed in interstate commerce.
- Plant Variety Protection -- This program provides intellectual property rights protection to developers of new and distinct seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants ranging from farm crops to flowers.
- Shell Egg Surveillance Program -- AMS is responsible for shell egg surveillance inspections mandated by the Egg Products Inspection Act. The inspections enhance fair competition and facilitate marketing of consumer-grade eggs by assuring the proper disposition of “restricted eggs,” (i.e. checked and dirty eggs, leaking eggs, incubator rejects, loss and inedible eggs). The inspections performed by USDA and cooperating State agencies, are conducted at least once each calendar quarter.
- Federal Milk Marketing Orders – Federal Milk Marketing Orders define the terms of trade between the sellers (dairy farmers) and the first buyers of milk (dairy Processors). Orders promote stable marketing conditions by establishing minimum prices the buyers must pay based on how the milk is used.
- Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Orders -- Federal marketing orders for fruits, vegetables and specialty crops maintain the high quality that in on the market, standardize packages, and containers, regulate the flow of product to market, establish reserve pools for storable commodities, and/or are designed to help stabilize market conditions for these commodities.
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