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

  Q

QA / QC — Quality assistance / quality control.
QR — Quantitative restriction.
QTV — Qualified Through Verification.
Qualified Through Verification (QTV) — One of the USDA process verification programs, QTV enables those in the processed fruit and vegetable industry to gain official certification of the wholesomeness of their products to improve marketing opportunities. Under this voluntary, fee-for-service program, AMS, using HACCP-based principles, first inspects the company's facilities to ensure they are properly designed, are consistent with the Food and Drug Administration's good manufacturing practices, have on-site microbiological testing, follow accepted sanitary operating procedures, and so forth. Ongoing monitoring, including periodic unannounced site visits, sampling, and audits by AMS are intended to ensure that the firm maintains its QTV status, which then authorizes it to use an official AMS mark, the QTV shield, on product labels and in advertisements.
Quality enhanced crops — Crop varieties that have been developed by the use of conventional plant breeding or genetic engineering techniques to satisfy specific needs by producers, industry or consumers. Examples include: vitamin-A enriched rice, high oleic-acid corn, and long fiber cotton.
Quality Samples Program (QSP) — A pilot program, started in 2000 and administered by the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), that utilizes Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds to reimburse U.S. agricultural trade organizations for the cost of providing small samples of U.S. products to potential importers located in overseas emerging markets.
Quantitative restrictions, trade — Limitations on the quantity or value of a product that may be permitted to enter a country. They probably are the most familiar of the nontariff barriers and include quotas, embargoes, restrictive licensing, and other means of limiting imports. The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture requires the conversion of quantitative restrictions to bound tariffs and tariff-rate quotas.
Quarantine — A restraint on importation of certain animals or plants from areas where pests or contagious diseases are endemic, or isolation of imported animals or plants suspected of carrying pests or diseases. States as well as the federal government may impose quarantines or may operate quarantine facilities. See Plant Quarantine Act.
Quotas, import — A quantitative limit placed on the importation of specific commodities. The protection afforded by quotas is more certain than can be obtained by imposing import duties as the effect of the latter will depend on the price elasticities of the imported commodities. Quotas, like tariffs, also can be used to favor preferred sources of foreign supply. Quotas may be specified as an absolute limit or changed from year to year in response to changes in domestic supply and demand.