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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IBA — Independent Bakers Association. www.independentbaker.org.
ICAC — International Cotton Advisory Committee. www.icac.org.
ICBA — Independent Community Bankers Association. www.ibaa.org.
ICM — Integrated crop management.
ICO — International Coffee Organization. www.ico.org.
Identity Preservation (IP) — A general term used to describe the technical and managerial techniques used to track and document the paths that agricultural products move in the production process. A fully integrated IP system might track and document a commodity's seed characteristics, initial planting, growing conditions, harvesting, shipping, storage, processing, packaging, and ultimate sale to the consumer. Separating organic products from conventionally raised ones is a one type of IP system. IP systems are a central component of value-chains.
Identity preserved (IP) — This is the designation given to bulk commodities marketed in a manner that isolates and preserves the identity of a shipment, presumably because of unique characteristics that have value otherwise lost through commingling during normal storage, handling and shipping procedures. The concept of IP has been accorded greater importance with the introduction of genetically modified (GM) organisms into agriculture. Although the U.S. scientific community maintains that GM crops are safe, critics want them segregated from non-GM commodities out of concerns about their potential environmental and food safety implications.
IDFA — International Dairy Foods Association. www.idfa.org.
IFAD — International Fund for Agricultural Development. www.ifad.org.
IFDA — International Foodservice Distributors Association Food Distributors International. www.ifdaonline.org.
IFIC — International Food Information Council. ific.org.
IFIS — International Food Information Service. www.ifis.org.
IFSA — International Farming Systems Association.
IFT — Institute of Food Technologists. www.ift.org.
IGC — International Grains Council. www.igc.org.uk.
IJO — International Jute Organization.
Immunohistochemistry (IHC) test — A laboratory method that detects antibodies of prions (mis-shapen proteins thought to transmit bovine spongiform encephalopathy, BSE or mad cow disease) by exposing a brain sample to a stain that appears as a specific color under a microscope. The IHC test is used by USDA researchers in their BSE surveillance program because they consider it the gold standard, providing a high level of confidence about the results. However, IHC tests are expensive and time-consuming. More rapid and less expensive testing alternatives ("rapid tests") have been used in some other countries, but until recently USDA has viewed them as less reliable because they can deliver more false positive and/or false negative results than the IHC. However, in June 2004 USDA embarked on a greatly expanded BSE testing program to test more than 200,000 cattle over a 12-18 month period (compared with 20,000 in each of 2002 and 2003). It is now using rapid test kits at regional laboratories to conduct initial screening; any samples that test "positive" for BSE (which USDA terms "inconclusive") must be subjected to an IHC test for confirmation.
Import Administration — The branch of the International Trade Administration that administers U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws.
Import fee — Generally, a charge assessed for a service rendered. For example, when an import stamp or import license is issued, the government assesses a fee for this service. Within the context of Section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, fees were imposed on imports of agricultural products when deemed necessary to protect domestic farm programs. Then, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (starting in 1994) and the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (starting in 1995), Section 22 import fees and quotas were converted into tariff-rate quotas.
Import license — A document required and issued by some national governments authorizing the importation of specified goods into their respective countries. When used in a discriminatory manner, these licenses can become nontariff trade barriers.
Import quota — A trade barrier that sets the maximum quantity (quantitative restriction) or value of a commodity allowed to enter a country during a specified time period. The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture requires the conversion of import quotas and other quantitative restrictions to tariff-rate quotas and/or bound tariff rates.
Import relief — See Safeguards, and Trade relief.
Import sensitive product — A product that is particularly susceptible to competition from imports from other country suppliers. Import sensitive products generally receive longer phase-in periods for tariff reduction or elimination in trade agreements. There is no definitive list of import sensitive agricultural products in the United States, but such products as sugar, dairy, beef, citrus, winter fruits and vegetables, among others have been identified as import sensitive. In some cases, import sensitive products have been excluded altogether from negotiated trade agreements as was sugar in the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Incentive payments — Direct payments made under the National Wool Act (P.L. 83-690, Title VII) 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 (the market price plus the incentive payment) 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 wool and mohair commodity programs ended after the 1995 marketing year as required by P.L. 103-130. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1201) made wool and mohair eligible for marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments. For conservation programs, incentive payments refer to cost-sharing payments that producers may receive to attract participation. In some programs, the federal portion of these payments can vary; for these programs, the higher share is provided for the more desirable conservation practices that will provide greater benefits.
Income insurance — A concept, similar to revenue insurance, that envisions an insurance program that would insure farm families a specified minimum annual income.
Income Protection (IP) — A form of revenue insurance that protects a grower of an insurable crop whenever low prices, low yields, or a combination of both causes revenue to fall below a guaranteed level selected by the producer.
Income support — Generally, programs providing direct, income-supplementing payments to farmers. Intended to protect farm income without affecting market prices. The Direct and Counter-cyclical Program (DCP) payments under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Sec. 1101-1108) provide income support, not price support. The phrase also is used to characterize the nature of support provided to low-income families by various food assistance programs.
Indemnity — The payment that eligible producers receive if they realize a qualifying loss under crop insurance, revenue insurance, or other insurance programs. Also refers to the compensation farmers may receive when the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) exercises its authority to destroy animals or crops to control a contagious disease, such as avian influenza and citrus canker.
Industrial crops — Crops that primarily have industrial applications in contrast to food or livestock feed uses. Industrial uses account for a relatively small share of the current market for farm commodities. Some of the industrial and experimental crops include: cuphea (soap, surfactants); guar (food stiffeners, drilling muds, paper manufacturing); guayule (natural rubber and hypoallergenic latex products); hesperaloe (specialty pulp paper); kenaf (twine, fiberboard, carpet padding, newsprint); lesquerella (lubricants, cosmetics); meadowfoam (cosmetics, lubricants, water repellents); milkweed (insulated clothing, filler for comforters, nonwoven textiles) and plantago ovato (high fiber additive to laxatives). While corn is the primary feedstock for ethanol, it is not considered an industrial crop because about 80% of utilization is livestock feed and export. Authority for a government-sponsored corporation that Congress created in 1990 to identify and develop new industrial uses for crops, the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation (AARC), was repealed in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 6201).
Industrial hemp — A variety of marijuana containing trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical found in abundance in the varieties used as drugs. Industrial hemp fiber can be used to manufacture clothing, paper, carpeting, construction materials, auto parts, animal bedding, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and food products (using hemp seed oil). Approximately 40 countries allow legal cultivation of industrial hemp. In the United States it is considered a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (P.L. 91-513; 21 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). It is illegal to grow for any purposes, and any imported hemp products must meet a zero tolerance level. Several states have passed or attempted to pass laws to permit growing research plots of hemp for investigation as a high-value alternative crop, particularly in tobacco-growing regions, but at the federal level no legislation to legalize the production of industrial hemp has ever been introduced.
Industrialization — When used in agriculture, this term generally refers to the consolidation of farms into very large production units that are more vertically coordinated with suppliers or markets or both.
Inert ingredient — A pesticide component such as a solvent, carrier, dispersant, or surfactant that is not active against target pests. Inert ingredients may be toxic and may be subject to testing under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.).
Infant formula cost-containment — Refers to statutory provisions in the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (P.L. 89-642, as amended) that require state WIC agencies to solicit bids from infant formula companies for the sale of infant formula used in WIC food packages.
Infiltration — The downward entry of water into soil. Also called percolation. A high rate of infiltration means that soil moisture for crops will be higher. Many conservation practices, such as conservation tillage, reduce rates of runoff and increase infiltration rates.
Infoshare — USDA established this program in 1993 to merge and coordinate the business management and information technology (computer) activities of its agencies, particularly in the field, in order to support consolidation of field offices into one-stop field service centers for farmers and other USDA clients. However, the program, which initially had been budgeted at nearly $3 billion, was terminated by early 1996 in the wake of critical reviews by USDA's Office of Inspector General, the General Accounting Office, and others, which found, among other things, that despite Infoshare, individual USDA agencies were continuing to buy their own computers, were not sharing information technology with each other, and were still not operating in a common computing environment. Infoshare was replaced by another computer modernization initiative designed and coordinated by the Farm Service Agency.
Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems — A competitive research grants program authorized in the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-185) and reauthorized in the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 7205). The law allows mandatory funds available from savings in food stamp program administration to be used to support the program. Grants were awarded in FY2000 and FY2001; in all other years congressional appropriators have prohibited USDA from spending funds on personnel to operate the program except for oversight of existing grants.
INRO — International Natural Rubber Organization. www3.jaring.my/inro.
Insecticide — A pesticide used to kill, deter, or control insects.
Instream use — Water use taking place within the stream channel. Examples are hydroelectric power generation, navigation, fish propagation and use, and recreational activities. Some instream uses, usually associated with fish populations and navigation, require a minimum amount of water to be viable. Often used in discussions concerning water allocation and/or water rights.
Insular area — Insular area is defined by the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-113), as amended, to include the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, the Virgin Islands of the United States.
Integrated Farm Management Program (IFMP) — A program authorized by the 1990 farm bill (P.L. 101-624) to assist producers in adopting resource-conserving crop rotations by protecting participants' base acreage, payment yields, and program payments. The program's goal was to enroll 3 to 5 million acres over 5 years. The 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) replaced the IFMP with production flexibility contracts and a pilot conservation farm option program.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) — A pest control strategy based on the determination of an economic threshold that indicates when a pest population is approaching the level at which control measures are necessary to prevent a decline in net returns. In principle, IPM is an ecologically based strategy that relies on natural mortality factors, such as natural enemies, weather, and crop management, and seeks control tactics that disrupt these factors as little as possible. Also, a USDA/EPA program that aims to decrease pesticide applications by teaching farmers to use a variety of alternative control techniques to minimize pesticide use. These techniques include biological controls, genetic resistance, tillage, pruning, and others.
Integration — The combination (under the management of one firm) of two or more identical (horizontal) or successive (vertical) stages in the production or marketing process of a particular product. Generally the stages are capable of being operated as separate businesses. The firm that has management responsibility is called the integrator. The poultry industry, for example, is vertically integrated, from production through processing and distribution. Diversification, on the other hand, is the production of two or more products by one firm or farmer.
Integrator — See Integration.
Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) — A permanent coordinating committee established by Congress in 2000 with representation from 15 federal agencies. It replaced a standing committee at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. ICCVAM's purpose is to evaluate the scientific validity of new and alternative testing methods that may reduce the use of animals in testing chemicals for toxicity. The committee develops test recommendations based on its technical evaluations, which are forwarded to the federal agencies for final acceptance decisions.
Intermediate agricultural products — Generally refers to agricultural products that have a higher per-unit value than bulk commodities. They are often partly processed but not necessarily ready for the consumers. Examples might include soybean meal, wheat flour, vegetable oils, feeds and fodders, animal fats, hides and skins, live animals, and sweeteners such as sugars. Applied to trade policy, intermediate products are one of three categories of agricultural products used by the Foreign Agricultural Service to report export and import data under its BICO system (the others are bulk and consumer-oriented agricultural products).
Intermediate Export Credit Guarantee Program (GSM-103) — One of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC)'s export credit guarantee programs. See GSM-103.
Intermodal service — Freight moving via at least two different modes of transport. Intermodal service generally involves the shipment of containers and trailers by rail, truck, barge, or ship.
International commodity agreement — An undertaking by a group of countries to stabilize trade, supplies, and prices of a commodity for the benefit of participating countries. An agreement usually involves a consensus on quantities traded, prices, and stock management. A number of international commodity agreements serve solely as forums for information exchange, analysis, and policy discussion.
International Dairy Agreement (IDA) — The IDA replaced the International Dairy Arrangement, which had been established in 1980. Its primary function was to expand and liberalize world trade in dairy products through international cooperation. On January 1, 1995, the IDA was placed under the aegis of the World Trade Organization. Its members included Argentina, Bulgaria, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Switzerland, and Uruguay. The United States, which had been one of the original members, withdrew from the organization in 1985 to protest sales by the European Union of butter and other basic dairy products at prices below the minimum export prices established by the Committee on Certain Milk Products that, along with the International Dairy Council, administered the Arrangement. The International Dairy Council suspended minimum prices for dairy products in 1995. The IDA was terminated, by decision of the International Dairy Council, as of January 1, 1998.
International Epizootics Organization — See Office International des Epizooties. www.oie.int.
International Grains Agreement (IGA) — Replaced the International Wheat Agreement in 1995. The IGA comprises a Grains Trade Convention (GTC) and a Food Aid Convention (FAC). The IGA is administered by the International Grains Council (IGC), an intergovernmental forum for cooperation on wheat and coarse grain matters. The Grains Trade Convention provides for information-sharing, analysis and consultations on grain market and policy developments. Under the Food Aid Convention, donor countries pledge to provide annually specified amounts of food aid to developing countries in the form of grain suitable for human consumption, or cash to buy suitable grains in recipient countries. The International Grains Agreement does not contain any mechanisms for stabilizing supplies, prices, or trade.
International Grains Council (IGC) — An intergovernmental forum responsible for administering the International Grains Agreement (IGA). The United States is a member of the IGC. www.igc.org.uk/index.htm.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) — A multilateral financial institution established in 1945 to help member countries with international payments problems and to maintain orderly exchange rate policies. U.S. agricultural exports benefit indirectly from activities of the IMF that maintain the global trade in commodities and food. www.imf.org.
International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) — An international treaty for cooperation in plant protection, operated under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Launched in the early 1950s, the IPPC provides for international cooperation to protect plant resources from harmful pests. Currently, more than 100 countries are active. With the coming into force in 1994 of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade agreements, and particularly the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures, the IPPC was seen as an important arena for encouraging international harmonization in phytosanitary matters affecting trade, and for helping to ensure that phytosanitary measures were not used as unjustified barriers to trade. www.fao.org/legal/treaties/004t-e.htm.
International Sugar Organization (ISO) — The body established by the International Sugar Agreement, 1992 whose objectives are: "(a) To ensure enhanced international cooperation in connection with world sugar matters and related issues; (b) To provide a forum for intergovernmental consultations on sugar and on ways to improve the world sugar economy; (c) To facilitate trade by collecting and providing information on the world sugar market and other sweeteners; (d) To encourage increased demand for sugar, particularly for non-traditional uses." www.sugaronline.com/iso.
International Trade Administration (ITA) — An agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Among its responsibilities are the promotion of U.S. exports (excluding agricultural exports for which promotion is a function of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of USDA) and U.S. companies, and the implementation of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties laws. www.ita.doc.gov.
International Trade Commission (ITC or USITC) — An independent, quasi-judicial U.S. federal agency that provides objective trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of government and determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries. It makes recommendations concerning countervailing duty and antidumping petitions submitted by U.S. industries seeking relief from imports that benefit from unfair trade practices. The agency also updates and publishes the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. Established by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tariff Commission, the Trade Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-618) changed its name to the U.S. International Trade Commission. www.usitc.gov.
International Wheat Agreement (IWA) — Replaced in 1995 by the International Grains Agreement. www.igc.org.uk.
Interregional Project 4 — See IR-4. pmep.cce.cornell.edu/ir4/index.html.
Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISOC) — The federal-state-industry cooperative body which manages the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. www.issc.org.
Intervention price — The price at which national intervention agencies in the EU are obliged to purchase any amount of a commodity offered to them regardless of the level of market prices (assuming that these commodities meet designated specifications and quality standards). Thus, the intervention price serves as a floor for market prices. Intervention purchases have constituted one of the principal policy mechanisms regulating EU markets in sugar, cereal grains, butter and skimmed milk powder, and (until 2002) beef.
Intervention stocks — Stocks held by national intervention agencies in the EU as a result of intervention buying of commodities subject to market price support. Intervention stocks may be released onto internal markets if internal prices exceed intervention prices. Otherwise, they may be sold on the world market with the aid of export restitutions under the regulation of commodity-specific Management Committees.
Invasive species — Alien (non-native or exotic) species of plants, animals, and pests whose introduction causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health. Executive Order 13112, issued February 8, 1999, seeks to prevent the introduction and minimize the impacts of invasive species through better federal agency coordination under a National Invasive Species Management Plan. Examples of invasive species receiving recent attention include the Asian long-horned beetle, Africanized honeybees, zebra mussels, and the Formosan termite. Inspection and quarantine programs at U.S. ports of entry (jointly carried out by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) inspectors) are intended to prevent entry of invasive species. A number of laws are aimed at prevention and control, including among others the Plant Protection Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-224, Title IV; 7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.), the Federal Seed Act (7 U.S.C. 1551 et seq.), the Animal Damage Control Act (7 U.S.C. 426-426c), the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-646, Title I; 16 U.S.C. 4701 et seq.), and the Alien Species Prevention and Enforcement Act (P.L. 102-393, Title VI, Sec. 631).
IOOC — International Olive Oil Council. www.internationaloliveoil.org.
IP — Income protection program (see Revenue insurance).
IPM — Integrated pest management.
IPPC — International Plant Protection Convention
IR-4 — Inter-regional Project 4, also known as the Minor Crop Pest Management Program, is funded by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) to generate data to register pesticides and biological pest control agents for minor crops where there is no economic incentive to do so on the part of the pesticide manufacturing industry. IR-4 provides coordination, funding, and scientific guidance for both field and laboratory research at land-grant universities to develop data for the registration by the EPA of pest control products on a wide variety of commodities. The program has been responsible for data to support over 500 food use clearances, 7,000 clearances on ornamental crops, and over 100 biopesticide clearances to date. About 40% of all EPA newly registered pesticides are the result of IR-4 activities. pmep.cce.cornell.edu/ir4/index.html.
IRIS — Instructional resources information system; integrated risk information system.
IRM — Integrated resource management.
Irradiation — The process of exposing food or other items to ionizing radiation (e.g., from cobalt-60, cesium-137, x-ray machines, or electron accelerators) in order to destroy insect pests or microorganisms. In December 1999, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published the final rule to guide the red meat industry in the use of the technology and in labeling irradiated products (irradiation of packaged poultry has been permitted since 1992). (The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which considers irradiation a food additive and thus under its jurisdiction, approved irradiation of red meat in 1997.) The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 10808) contains a provision that, among other things, requires the FDA to begin rulemaking to permit irradiated meat and poultry to be labeled as pasteurized.
Irrigation return flow — Part of artificially applied water that is not consumed by plants or evaporation, and that eventually returns to an aquifer or surface water body, such as a lake or stream. Commonly used when discussing water conservation techniques and measurement.
Irrigation water management — Managing irrigation applications based on the water-holding capacity of the soil and the need of the crop. The water is applied at a rate and in such a manner that the crop can use it efficiently and resource losses are minimized. Irrigation efficiency is the ratio of the amount of water stored in the crop root zone compared to the amount of water applied. Water conservation has become more important as costs have risen and demands have grown for wildlife and urban uses.
Irrigation — Applying water (or wastewater) to land areas to supply the water (and sometimes nutrient) needs of plants. Producers who irrigate in arid areas are more likely to use it throughout the growing process (full irrigation), while producers in more humid areas may use irrigation to supplement rainfall and soil moisture under drought conditions. Techniques for irrigating include furrow irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, trickle (or drip) irrigation, and flooding. More than 55 million acres of land are irrigated in the United States, according to the 1997 Census of Agriculture's irrigation survey. More acres of corn are irrigated than any other crop, but that amounts to only about 15% of the harvested corn acres. In contrast, irrigation is used for 100% of rice, 81% of orchards, 64% of vegetables, and 36% of cotton. About 40% of freshwater withdrawals, and about 80% of the water consumed, are for irrigation, making agriculture the single largest user of water. The West had about 78% of the irrigated land in 1997; this percentage has been declining as irrigated acreage in the East has been increasing by approximately the same number of acres as in the West since 1969.
ISAAA — International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. www.isaaa.org.
ISO — International Sugar Organization. www.sugaronline.com/iso. International Standards Organization. www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage.
ISOC — Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference. www.issc.org.
Isolated Wetlands (Geographically) — Wetlands that have no apparent surface water connection or outlet to some form of drainage, including perennial streams and rivers, and estuaries. A Supreme Court decision in January 2001 exempted some isolated wetlands from the federal dredge and fill permit program (section 404) under the Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500; 33 U.S.C. 1344). The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 2101) made some isolated wetlands eligible for protection under the Farmable Wetlands Program.
ITA — International Trade Administration. www.ita.doc.gov.
ITC — International Trade Commission. www.usitc.gov.
ITTO — International Tropical Timber Organization. www.itto.or.jp.
IWA — International Wheat Agreement. See IGC, International Grains Council.