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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U.S. Trade Internet System — A comprehensive, interactive, on-line source of agricultural import and export data maintained by USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. Users can find, organize, and customize this data (including that provided through BICO and FATUS) by commodity grouping, country, year, and related categories.
U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) — See United States Trade Representative. www.ustr.gov.
U.S.-Canada Consultative Committee on Agriculture (CCA) — Binational panel of government officials, formed in April 1999, to improve cooperation and discuss differences on issues related to agricultural trade between the two countries. The CCA meets twice yearly.
U.S.C. — United States Code. www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html.
UEP — United Egg Producers. www.unitedegg.org.
UF milk — Ultra filtered milk.
UFFVA — United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association. www.uffva.org.
UFW — United Farmworkers. www.ufw.org.
UIC — Underground injection control.
Ultra filtered milk (UF milk) — A subclassification of milk protein concentrate that is produced by passing milk under pressure through a thin, porous membrane to separate the components of milk according to their size, permitting greater efficiency in cheese making. Specifically, ultra filtration allows the smaller lactose, water, mineral, and vitamin molecules to pass through the membrane, while the larger protein and fat molecule (key components for making cheese) are retained and concentrated. (Depending on the intended use of the UF milk product, the fat in whole milk may be removed before filtration.) The removal of water and lactose reduces the volume of milk, and thereby lowers its transportation and storage costs. Ultra-filtration makes cheese manufacturing more efficient and can benefit consumers if cost savings are passed on. However, U.S. milk producers are concerned that imported UF milk may displace domestically produced milk used to make cheese.
UMR — Usual market requirements.
UNCTAD — United Nations Commission on Trade and Development. www.unctad.org.
Underground storage tank — For purposes of Subtitle I of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (P.L. 94-580, as amended) this is any tank used to store petroleum or hazardous substances regulated under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (P.L. 99-499) the volume of which is 10% or more beneath the surface of the ground. This does not include, among other things, any farm or residential tank of 1,100 gallons or less capacity used for storing motor fuel for noncommercial purposes, tanks used for storing heating oil for consumptive use on the premises, or septic tanks.
Underwriting Gain — Within the federal crop insurance program, a private insurance company can transfer a portion of the risk to the federal government as part of the standard reinsurance agreement. The portion of business that is not transferred to the government is said to be retained by the private company. A private company has an underwriting gain when its share of retained net premium exceeds its retained net losses.
Underwriting Loss — The amount by which a private crop insurance company's share of retained net premium exceeds its retained net losses.
Unfair trade practice — Usually, government support to firms that takes the form of subsidies or dumping, and that gives competitive advantages to those firms in international trade.
Unified Export Strategy (UES) — A single, consolidated application process that U.S. agricultural trade promotion groups use to apply for funding for a variety of USDA export promotion programs, including the market access program and the foreign market development cooperator program. USDA introduced UES in 1998 in large part to ensure that applicants for the programs have a long-term overall strategy and to make it easier for them to integrate various sources of federal funding into that strategy.
Uniform Grain and Rice Storage Agreement (USGRSA) — The contractual arrangement governing transactions between the Farm Service Agency and private grain storage companies. Commercial warehouses storing grain under a nonrecourse loan or owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) must have a signed USGRSA.
Uniform methods and rules (UM&R) — Documents by the Veterinary Services office of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that specify the minimum standards for preventing, detecting, controlling, and/or eradicating a particular animal disease. APHIS in late 2004 had UM&Rs posted on bovine tuberculosis eradication, brucellosis, brucellosis in cervidae, equine infectious anemia, pseudorabies eradication, swine brucellosis control/eradication, and voluntary scrapie flock certification program standards. UM&Rs usually are developed with input from state animal health authorities, industry, and the U.S. Animal Health Association. Although not legally binding, as are laws and regulations, UM&Rs are widely recognized within the industry and profession as the "gold standard" for addressing an animal disease of national concern; they may be incorporated by states into their own animal health codes.
Unique farmland — Land, other than prime farmland, that has combined conditions to produce sustained high quality and high yields of specialty crops, such as citrus, nuts, fruits, and vegetables when properly managed.
Unit train — Generally refers to a string of freight cars that all carry the same commodity, frequently over long distances. Unit trains are widely used to haul such raw commodities as coal and grains, because they are less costly for railroads than mixed freight shipments. Unit trains have been a point of contention between agricultural shippers and the railroads, mainly because the shippers have increasingly been asked to fill longer unit trains (for example, 104 hoppers) that many local elevators have not been equipped to handle.
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) — A UN agency that focuses attention on international economic relations and on measures that might be taken by developed countries to accelerate economic development in developing countries. www.unctad.org/Templates/StartPage.aspintItemID=2068.
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity — One of the international agreements that emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Convention commits signatory parties to three major objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources. The United States, along with 187 other countries, signed the agreement However, Congress never ratified U.S. participation. Thus, the United States is not among the 168 countries that currently are parties.
United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — An independent agency of the executive branch, established in 1961, that administers U.S. international development and humanitarian assistance programs. USAID administers commodity donations for humanitarian or development purposes under Titles II and III of P.L. 480, or Food for Peace, and commodity import programs. www.usaid.gov.
United States Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) — Officials from approximately 70 animal industry organizations and government agencies have been working since early 2002 on a plan for a national system to identify that might follow food animals from birth to slaughter. The primary purpose is to trace animals back from slaughter through all premises within 48 hours of an animal disease outbreak, in order to determine the disease's origin and to contain it quickly. The plan calls for recording the movement of individual animals or groups of animals in a central database or in a seamlessly linked database infrastructure. USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is to coordinate animal ID activities in cooperation with state animal health authorities and producers for disease tracking purposes. Congressional interest in animal ID intensified after a cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was discovered in the United States in December 2003. USDA in 2004 accelerated work on animal ID, and is incorporating major elements of the USAIP into what it has termed the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Among the issues in establishing a national program are privacy of producer records, implementation cost and who should pay, and whether animal ID should be mandatory or voluntary. animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml.
United States Code (U.S.C.) — The consolidation and codification of all the general and permanent laws of the United States. The U.S. Code is divided into 50 titles that represent broad subject areas. Title 7 is Agriculture. Each title is divided into chapters followed by subdivisions into parts covering specific areas. For example, 7 U.S.C. Chapter 45 Subchapter III deals with the Conservation Reserve Program. Regulations issued to administer the laws are first published in the Federal Register and then in the Code of Federal Regulations. www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html.
United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) of 1916 — P.L. 64-190, as amended (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.), authorizes the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration to establish official marketing standards (not health and safety standards) for grains and oilseeds, and requires that exported grains and oilseeds be officially weighed and inspected. Domestically marketed grain and oilseeds may be, but are not required to be, officially inspected. Export inspections are carried out by federal inspectors or by federally supervised state inspection agencies, called delegated official inspection agencies. Official inspections of domestically traded grain is done by federally supervised state agencies and private companies, called designated official inspection agencies. Typically, marketing standards describe the physical characteristics (such as weight, damaged kernels, foreign material, shrunken and broken kernels, and defects) of the commodity and serve as contract language to facilitate marketing. Official weighing and inspection is paid for on a fee-for-service basis, not with federal funds. Major changes to the law were adopted in the USGSA Amendments of 1968, the USGSA of 1976 (P.L. 94-582), and the Grain Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (P.L. 99-641).
United States Trade Representative (USTR) — The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, originally Office of the Special Trade Representative, is responsible for developing and coordinating international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, and leading or directing negotiations with other countries. It is headed by the United States Trade Representative (also USTR), a Cabinet-level official with the rank of Ambassador. The agency provides trade policy leadership and negotiating expertise on all matters within the World Trade Organization (WTO); trade, commodity, and direct investment matters dealt with by international institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); export expansion policy; industrial and services trade policy; international commodity agreements and policy; bilateral and multilateral trade and investment issues; trade-related intellectual property protection issues; and import policy. The agency has administrative responsibility for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP); Section 301 complaints against foreign unfair trade practices; unlawful and unfair import competition under Section 337; and import relief cases under Section 201. www.ustr.gov.
United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 1988 — P.L. 100-449 implemented the bilateral trade agreement between the United States and Canada, including agricultural trade. The agreement phased out tariffs between the two countries over 10 years and revised other trade rules.
Universal soil loss equation — A formula used to estimate erosion rates by considering climate, soils, and topographic conditions at a site, as well as any degree to which the use and management of the soil reduce erosion. It has been replaced by the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE).
Unreasonable risk — Under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA; 7 U.S.C. 136 et seq.), "unreasonable adverse effects on the environment means (1) any unreasonable risk to man or the environment, taking into account the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of any pesticide, or (2) a human dietary risk from residues that result from a use of a pesticide in or on any food..." in excess of that allowed by a tolerance.
Upland cotton — The predominant variety of cotton grown in the United States; upland cotton has long been eligible for government price support and is eligible for support under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Title I) as a loan commodity and a covered commodity.
Uplands — Land at higher elevations than the alluvial plain or low stream terrace; all lands outside the riparian-wetland and aquatic zones. Used often in discussion of federal land management practices.
UR — Uruguay Round.
Urban and built-up areas — A classification in the natural resources inventory, now called developed areas, that includes cities, villages, other build-up areas of more than 10 acres, industrial sites, railroad yards, cemeteries, airports, golf courses, shooting ranges, institutional and public administration sites, and similar areas. The 1997 national resources inventory placed over 98 million acres in this category, an increase of 25 million acres since 1982.
Urban growth boundary — An agreed-upon line that allows development and urban-type services on one side and retains open space, agriculture, and other less intense uses on the other. These lines typically are set by local government at a place that can encompass many years of development at anticipated rates on the urban side of the boundry. Oregon is well-known for its use of these boundaries.
Urea — Urea is a nitrogen fertilizer used for direct application, in mixed fertilizers, and in liquid nitrogen. Plants can use nitrogen (N) in one of two forms: ammonium nitrogen (NH4+) or nitrate nitrogen (NO3-). Urea-N rapidly hydrolyzes to NH4+.
Uruguay Round — The 8th round of multilateral trade negotiations (MTN) conducted within the framework of the GATT. Launched in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1986 and concluded in December 1993, the final Uruguay Round agreement signed in Marrakech in April 1994, embraces 110 participating countries ("contracting parties") and came into effect in 1995. It has been implemented over the period to 2000 (2004 in the case of developing country contracting parties) under the administrative direction of the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO). The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, administered by the WTO, brings agricultural trade more fully under the GATT. It provides for converting quantitative restrictions to tariffs and for a phased reduction of tariffs. The agreement also imposes rules and disciplines on agricultural export subsidies, domestic subsidies, and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures.
Uruguay Round Agreements (URA) Act of 1994 — P.L. 103-465 approved and implemented the trade agreements concluded in the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations conducted under the auspices of the GATT, including the Agreement on Agriculture, the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures, and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). The law allowed for the reduction of tariffs and government subsidies on agricultural products and prohibits the use of Section 22 fees and quotas with respect to products imported from WTO members. The law also extended the authorization of funding for the Export Enhancement Program (EEP) and Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) through 2001 and eliminated the requirement that the EEP be targeted to respond to unfair trade practices. The law eliminated the requirement that the Market Promotion Program be used to counter the adverse effects of unfair trade practices. The law also included a Sense-of-Congress resolution that the President should consult with other nations to discuss appropriate levels of food aid commitments to developing countries.
USAA — U.S. Apple Association. www.usapple.org.
USAHA — U.S. Animal Health Association. www.usaha.org.
USAID — U.S. Agency for International Development. www.info.usaid.gov.
USAIP — United States Animal Identification Plan. usaip.info.
USB — United Soybean Board. www.unitedsoybean.org.
USDA — U.S. Department of Agriculture. www.usda.gov.
USDEC — U.S. Dairy Export Council. www.usdec.org.
User fees — Any of various charges and assessments levied on a specifically delineated group that is directly subject to a particular government service, program, or activity (sometimes but not always voluntary); such fees are not levied on the general public. User fees are intended for use solely to support that service, program, or activity. For example, about two-thirds of the nearly $300 million budget (FY2002 estimate, program level) of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which provides a variety of inspection and grading, market news reporting, and other services to the agricultural community, comes from user fees; the other third is appropriated funds. Similarly, grain inspection by the Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) is paid for through user fees.
User marketing certificates — See step 2 payments.
USITC — U.S. International Trade Commission. www.usitc.gov.
USMEF — U.S. Meat Export Federation. www.usmef.org.
USTR — United States Trade Representative. www.ustr.gov.
Usual market requirements (UMR) — A measure of the import requirement of a country met through commercial purchases; usually defined as a five-year average. The UMR is used to determine whether concessional sales (e.g., under Title I of P.L. 480) will adversely affect normal commercial agricultural trade.
Utilization rates — The percentage of milk in federal milk marketing orders that is used in each of the classes: Class IV (butter and nonfat dry milk), Class III (cheese), Class II (all other manufactured products), Class I (milk used for fluid consumption). Utilization rates serve as weights for determining the weighted average price, or blend price, received by dairy farmers within a region each month.
UV — Ultraviolet.