The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production, works to assure food safety, protects natural resources, fosters rural communities and works to end hunger in the United States and internationally. It is headed by the secretary of agriculture, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who has served since February 24, 2021.
The Angora or Ankara is a Turkish breed of domesticated goat. It produces the lustrous fibre known as mohair. It is widespread in many countries of the world. Many breeds derive from it, among them the Indian Mohair, the Soviet Mohair, the Angora-Don of the Russian Federation and the Pygora in the United States.
Mohair is a fabric or yarn made from the hair of the Angora goat. Both durable and resilient, mohair is lustrous with high sheen, and is often blended to add these qualities to a textile. Mohair takes dye exceptionally well. It feels warm in winter due to excellent insulating properties, while moisture-wicking keeps it cool in summer. It is durable, naturally elastic, flame-resistant and crease-resistant. It is considered a luxury fiber, like cashmere, alpaca, angora, and silk, but is more expensive than most sheep's wool.
Pashmina refers to, depending on the source, the cashmere wool of the Changthangi cashmere goat, fine Kashmiri cashmere wool, or any cashmere wool.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 was legislation in the United States that was enacted as an alternative and replacement for the farm subsidy policies, in previous New Deal farm legislation, that had been found unconstitutional. The act revived the provisions in the previous Agriculture Adjustment Act, with the exception that the financing of the law's programs would be provided by the Federal Government and not a processor's tax, and was also enforced as a response to the success of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936.
The Agricultural Act of 1954 is a United States federal law that, among other provisions, authorized a Commodity Credit Corporation reserve for foreign and domestic relief.
The House Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit is a subcommittee within the House Agriculture Committee.
In different administrative and organizational forms, the Food for Peace program of the United States has provided food assistance around the world for more than 60 years. Approximately 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly from U.S. food assistance. The Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance within the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the U.S. Government's largest provider of overseas food assistance. The food assistance programming is funded primarily through the Food for Peace Act. The Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance also receives International Disaster Assistance Funds through the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) that can be used in emergency settings.
Animal fibers are natural fibers that consist largely of certain proteins. Examples include silk, hair/fur and feathers. The animal fibers used most commonly both in the manufacturing world as well as by the hand spinners are wool from domestic sheep and silk. Also very popular are alpaca fiber and mohair from Angora goats. Unusual fibers such as Angora wool from rabbits and Chiengora from dogs also exist, but are rarely used for mass production.
In United States federal agricultural policy, the term commodity programs is usually meant to include the commodity price and income support programs administered by the Farm Service Agency and financed by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The commodities now receiving support are:
- those receiving Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) payments, specifically wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans and other oilseeds, and peanuts;
- those eligible for nonrecourse marketing assistance loans, which includes the previous mentioned commodities plus wool, mohair, honey, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas; and
- those having other unique support, including sugar, and milk.
The Amendments to the National Wool Act Pub. L. 103-130, 107 Stat. 1368-1369 (1993), signed into law November 1, 1993, phased out wool and mohair price supports at the end of 1995.
The Sheep Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 1994 enabled domestic sheep producers and feeders and importers of sheep and sheep products to develop, finance, and carry out a nationally coordinated program for sheep and sheep product promotion, research, and information. The program is funded as a commodity checkoff program.
In United States agriculture policy, loan deficiency payments (LDP) are a farm income support program first authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198) that makes direct payments, equivalent to marketing loan gains, to producers who agree not to obtain nonrecourse loans, even though they are eligible. Loan deficiency payments are available under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1205) for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, wool, mohair, honey, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas.
In United States agricultural policy, the payment limitation refers to the maximum annual amount of farm program benefits a person can receive by law.
The Mohair Recourse Loan Program is a program authorized by the emergency provisions of the FY1999 USDA appropriations act that made interest-free recourse loans of $2.00 per pound on mohair produced prior to October 1, 1998. Final date to obtain a loan was September 30, 1999. The producer-owned mohair used as loan security had to be stored in approved bonded warehouses. Loans matured not later than 1 year following disbursement. Under the 2002 farm bill, mohair was designated a “loan commodity” and made eligible for marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments (LDPs).
In United States agricultural policy, a marketing loan repayment provision is a loan settlement provision, first authorized by the Food Security Act of 1985, that allowed producers to repay nonrecourse loans at less than the announced loan rates whenever the world price or loan repayment rate for the commodity were less than the loan rate. Marketing loan provisions became mandatory for soybeans and other oilseeds, upland cotton, and rice and were permitted for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, and honey under amendments made by the 1990 farm bill. The 1996 farm bill retained the marketing loan provisions for wheat, feed grains, rice, upland cotton, and oilseeds. The 2002 farm bill continued marketing assistance loans and expanded their application to wool, mohair, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas.
Marketing assistance loans are nonrecourse loans made available to producers of loan commodities under the 2002 farm bill. The new law largely continued the commodity loan programs as they were under previous law. Loan rate caps are specified in the law. Marketing loan repayment provisions apply when market prices drop below the loan rates. For farmers who forgo the use of marketing assistance loans, loan deficiency payment (LDP) rules apply.
Under the 2002 farm bill, the following commodities are eligible for marketing assistance loans and are called loan commodities: wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley oats, upland cotton, extra long staple (ELS) cotton, rice, soybeans, other oilseeds, wool, mohair, honey, dry peas, lentils, and small chickpeas. With the exception of extra long staple cotton, farmers agreeing to forgo the loans are eligible for loan deficiency payments (LDPs) on actual production of loan commodities.
The incentive payments are direct payments made under the National Wool Act to producers of wool and mohair, which were similar to deficiency payments made to producers of grains and cotton. The incentive payment rate was the percentage needed to bring the national average return to producers up to the annually set national support price. Each producer's direct payment was the payment rate times the market receipts. Producers with higher market receipts got larger support payments. This created an incentive to increase output and to improve quality.
The South African Wool Board was constituted in 1946 as an independent and non-profit making statutory board under the Wool Act in response to the rapid rise synthetic replacements for natural wool fibre. It was wound up in 1997.
