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Marketing orders and marketing agreements are designed to help stabilize market conditions for fruit and vegetable products. Marketing orders and agreements may:
- Maintain the high quality of produce that is on the market;
- Standardize packages and containers;
- Regulate the flow of product to market;
- Establish reserve pools for storable commodities; and
- Authorize production research, marketing research and development, and advertising.
Presently, there are 36 active marketing agreement and order programs and an additional program for peanuts that collect assessment fees from handlers to cover operation and administrative costs of the programs. USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) maintains a summary of active marketing agreement and order programs for fruits, vegetables, and nuts. AMS also maintains an overview of fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop marketing orders.
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