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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WAOB — World Agricultural Outlook Board. www.usda.gov/agency/oce/waob/waob.htm.
Warehouse receipt — A document certifying possession of a commodity in a licensed warehouse. Some warehouse receipts are recognized for delivery purposes by a commodity exchange.
WASDE — The acronym for World Supply and Demand Estimates, the official USDA monthly report on supply, demand, prices and other data for major agricultural commodities published by the World Agricultural Outlook Board. www.usda.gov/agency/oce/waob/index.htm.
Wash versus trim — USDA requires that any time fecal contamination is detected during meat and poultry processing, it must be removed from the carcass. At issue is how this rule has been applied and enforced by USDA in meat and poultry plants. For a number of years, poultry processors have been permitted to either rinse (wash) off or cut (trim) away such contamination, but beef processors have only been permitted to (trim) it with a knife. This, they argue, costs them money in lost product weight and imposes a requirement that poultry producers do not have to meet. The policy jargon for this debate is "wash versus trim." USDA, early in 1997, clarified its zero tolerance rule for poultry; a year earlier it gave beef plants permission to use a new high-temperature vacuuming method to remove fecal contamination in lieu of cutting it off.
Waste treatment pond — A shallow lagoon or similar storage facility, often man-made, used to treat liquid agricultural wastes, particularly liquid manure from livestock production farms, through the interaction of sunlight, wind, algae, and oxygen. Through natural biological processes, microscopic organisms consume wastes present in the water.
Water 2000 Initiative — The program administered by the Rural Utilities Service whose goal is to improve the quality of drinking water in distressed rural areas with the most serious safe drinking water problems.
Water Bank Program (WBP) — A program to set aside wetlands for a period of 10 years (renewable) for conservation purposes. Participants receive annual rental payments. As these contracts expire, participants are offered the opportunity to place the land in the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP). Land is no longer being enrolled in Water Bank.
Water banking — The practice of foregoing water deliveries during certain periods, and "banking" either the right to use the foregone water in the future, or saving it for someone else to use in exchange for a fee or delivery in kind. Usually used where there is significant storage capacity to facilitate such transfers of water. It is typically regulated and managed at the state level.
Water quality standards — State-adopted and EPA-approved ambient standards for water bodies. The standards prescribe the use of the water body and establish the water quality criteria that must be met to protect designated uses, and contain policies to protect against degradation of water quality once standards are attained and maintained.
Water Quality Incentives Program — This program was authorized in the 1990 farm bill (P.L. 101-624) and is administered by the Farm Service Agency. It was repealed and replaced by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127). It provided cost-share assistance to implement comprehensive water quality protection plans and was funded by earmarking a portion of the Agricultural Conservation Program.
Water Quality Initiative — A multi-agency effort, initiated by USDA in 1990, to determine relationships between agricultural activities and water quality, and develop and implement strategies that protect surface and groundwater quality. This program, which builds on earlier USDA water quality protection efforts, includes research activities, projects involving landowners, and information and data development. Landowners participate in demonstration projects, hydrologic unit area projects, water quality special projects, and water quality incentive projects.
Water service contract — A type of contract, authorized by the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, whereby water is furnished for irrigation or municipal or miscellaneous purposes at rates to produce revenue sufficient to cover charges reimbursable to the federal government.
Waterfowl production areas — A small component of the National Wildlife Refuge System. There are over 2 million acres of this prime duck-producing land, mostly prairie potholes in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Montana. The Fish and Wildlife Service owns, leases, or holds easements on the lands.
Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program — This program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) includes Watershed Operations (under the Flood Control Act of 1944, P.L. 78-534), Emergency Watershed Protection, and Small Watershed Operations (under the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-566)). These programs have built small watershed projects that reduce floods, protect watersheds, improve water quality, reduce soil erosion, improve water supply, and provide recreation. They involve strong partnerships with local interests. They are called small watershed projects to distinguish them from larger downstream projects built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Watershed Program — See Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program.
Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 — P.L. 83-566 established USDA's Small Watershed Program administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Purposes include flood reduction, sediment and erosion control, and water conservation. Since its inception, over $4.2 billion has been appropriated to the Small Watershed Program, which has constructed more than 1,600 projects and more than 10,000 structures. Also known as the PL-566 program (16 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). The Small Watershed Program is one of the programs that make up the Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations Program.
Watershed — The total land area, regardless of size, above a given point on a waterway that contributes runoff water to the flow at that point. It is a major subdivision of a drainage basin. The United States is generally divided into 18 major drainage areas and 160 principal river drainage basins containing about 12,700 smaller watersheds.
Wellhead protection area — A surface and subsurface land area regulated to prevent contamination of a well or well-field supplying a public water system. This program, established under the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 330f-300j)is implemented through state governments.
WEQ — Wind erosion equation.
Western Grain Transportation Act (WGTA) — Canadian legislation under which a transport subsidy, informally called the Crow benefit or Crow subsidy, was provided by the Canadian federal government to assist the rail transportation of specified grains and grain products to specified destinations within Canada for export. Since the producer paid only a portion of the freight rate, the WGTA had the effect of increasing the prices received by grain producers and paid by livestock producers on the prairies. The subsidy encouraged the movement of grain east and west to export shipping terminals. The Act was abolished as part of budget balancing initiatives undertaken in 1995. Subsequently, grain began moving south for transshipment through the United States.
Wet-milling — A process in which feed material is steeped in water, with or without sulphur dioxide, to soften the seed kernel in order to help separate the kernel's various components. For example, wet-milling plants can separate a 56-pound bushel of corn into more than 31 pounds of starch (which in turn can be converted into corn sweeteners or ethanol), 15 pounds of animal feed, and nearly 2 pounds of corn oil.
Wetland mitigation banking — A system used to offset destruction of wetlands that are regulated under section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344) or state wetland law. A bank is established by creating or restoring a wetland. After the bank is in place, any entity who would modify or destroy a wetland and is required by the section 404 regulatory program to mitigate that action can meet their obligation by buying credits in the mitigation bank. The purchase of credits offsets the costs associated with establishing the bank, and if the bank is a private enterprise, can be used to generate a profit. Some agencies, especially state transportation agencies, have established banks for their projects, but private companies have established them as profit-making ventures as well. Many view mitigation banking as a more successful option to mitigation on a case by case or site by site basis.
Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) — A program authorized by 1990 farm bill (P.L. 101-624) to provide long-term protection for wetlands. Producers enrolling in the program must agree to implement approved wetland restoration and protection plans. In return, participating producers receive payments based on the difference in the value of their land caused by placing an easement on a portion of it. The program reached its authorized enrollment ceiling of 1,075,000 acres before the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) was acted upon. The 2002 legislation reauthorized the program with mandatory funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) through FY2007, and set a maximum enrollment ceiling of 2.275 million acres (and with an annual enrollment ceiling of 250,000 acres).
Wetlands — Areas of predominantly hydric soils that can support a prevalence of water-loving plants, know as hydrophitic vegetation. Transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems are wetlands typified by a water table at or near the surface, or the land is covered by shallow water at least part of the year. Types of wetlands are distinguished by water patterns (the frequency and length of flooding) and location in relation to upland areas and water bodies. Wetlands perform many functions including wildlife and fish habitat, storage and conveyance of flood waters, sediment and pollution control, and recreation. Under the swampbuster program, landowners may produce crops in these areas, but only if the water patterns, or hydrology, in the wetland area is not altered and any woody vegetation is not removed.
WFP — United Nations World Food Program. www.wfp.org.
WFPO — Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations.
WGA — Western Growers Association. www.wga.com.
WGTA — Western Grain Transportation Act.
Wheat — Wheat is one of the so-called covered commodities and loan commodities eligible for marketing loan benefits, direct payments, and counter-cyclical payments under the 2002 farm bill (P.L. 101-171, Title I). The top five producing states account for 54% of national production (based on 2003 crop data): Kansas (20%), North Dakota (14%), Oklahoma (8%), Washington (6%), Montana (6%). In the United States, wheat is divided into five official classes that have relatively uniform characteristics related to milling and baking: hard red winter (HRW), hard red spring (HRS), soft white (SW), soft red winter (SRW), and durum. Marketing assistance loan rates are separately set for each of these classes of wheat. Hard white wheat is another class that is produced only in a small quantity in the United States, but is being encouraged by a new Hard White Wheat Incentive Program (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1616). Wheat is milled into flour by grinding it between corrugated steel rollers and screening it to separate the endosperm from the bran and germ. Bulgur is a parched crushed wheat. Farina is a coarsely ground endosperm free of bran and germ. Flour is finely rolled and sifted farina. Semolina is a grind like farina, but from only durum wheat and is used for pasta products. Also known as the extraction rate, it is the amount of flour (represented as a percent of total weight) that can be made from a given unit of wheat kernels. The flour extraction rates (flour yields) vary considerably by grain quality and class, but tend to average about 70 to 75% of total weight from unmilled wheat in the United States. The remaining 25-30% is called millfeed (MF), wheat mill run (WMR), or wheat middlings (WM) and is normally used as livestock feed).
Whey — A collective term referring to the serum or watery part of milk that remains after the manufacture of cheese. Whey can be transformed into a dry product by different techniques, and the quality of the product varies with the technology applied.
WHIP — Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program.
WHO — World Health Organization. www.who.org.
Whole herd buyout program — Another term for the dairy termination program.
Wholesale price index — A composite index of prices of commodities sold in primary U.S. markets. Wholesale refers to sale in large quantities by producers, not to prices received by wholesalers, jobbers, or distributors. In agriculture, it is the average price received by farmers for their farm commodities at the first point of sale when the commodity leaves the farm.
WIC — See Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Act of 1992 — P.L. 102-314 established a program authorizing projects that provide participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) with food coupons that can be used to purchase fresh, unprocessed foods, such as fruits and vegetables at farmers' markets.
WIC-only stores — These are stores approved for participation in the WIC program that receive the bulk (or all) of their revenue from redeeming WIC vouchers. WIC law places restrictions on their participation.
WIC vendors — Grocery and other stores authorized as eligible to accept WIC coupons or vouchers and to receive reimbursement from the state WIC program for purchases made with these food instruments.
WIC vouchers (coupons) — Food instruments commonly issued by WIC agencies to participants that are used in grocery and other authorized food stores to buy certain quantities and types of foods listed on the coupon, which are designated by the state as being authorized for purchase under the WIC program.
Wilderness Preservation System — Federal land set aside to be managed to minimize human impact and maintain its pristine character. Congress has designated more than 104 million acres in 44 states as wilderness, and more than half of this land is in Alaska.
Wilderness study areas — Federal lands which the administering agencies are required to examine for potential additions by Congress to the national Wilderness Preservation System. The areas generally are to be managed to preserve their wilderness characteristics until Congress decides whether to include them in the system.
Wilderness — An area of pristine federally-owned public land where the impact of man is largely unnoticeable, and which is managed to minimize any impacts. Federal land managed as wilderness often has been designated by Congress as a unit in the Wilderness Preservation System.
Wildland-urban interface — Lands within and adjacent to (usually within ½ mile from) communities that abut or are surrounded by wildlands potentially subject to wildfires.
Wildlife corridors — A relatively narrow passage between two larger areas that provide habitat for wildlife. Corridors can range from lengthy passages for large animals who roam over broad territories, such as grizzly bears to relatively short passages, perhaps between ponds, for amphibians. As development, and especially highways have become barriers to wildlife movement, corridors that avoid or bypass these barriers have become increasingly important to maintaining animal populations.
Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) — A program established by the 1996 farm bill (P.L. 104-127) to promote voluntary implementation of on-farm conservation practices to develop habitat for wetland and upland wildlife, threatened and endangered species, fish and other types of wildlife using cost-share payments and technical assistance. Between its inception and the start of FY2002, the program enrollment included 10,729 long term agreements on over 1.6 million acres. The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1241) reauthorized the program through FY2007 with mandatory annual funding from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), growing from $15 million in FY2002 to $85 million in FY2005 through FY2007. It also created a pilot program using up to 15% of the funding to provide additional payments to land owners who agree to enroll land for at least 15 years.
Wildlife Refuges — Units of the National Wildlife Refuge System. They may be designated under general authorities of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703 et seq.), the Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), or (rarely) by specific acts of Congress. There are 537 refuges, with over 92 million acres.
Wildlife Services (WS) Program — An Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) program to protect agriculture, natural resources, property, public health, and endangered species from unwanted and potentially harmful effects of wildlife species, particularly predators. WS also works to prevent wildlife/airplane collisions at civilian and military airports. The program was called the Animal Damage Control Program until August 1997. www.aphis.usda.gov/ws.
William F. Goodling Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998 — This law (P.L. 105-336) extended expiring authorizations for child nutrition and commodity assistance programs, and the WIC program, through FY2003. Among other things, this law significantly expanded the availability of federal subsidies (through the School Lunch Program and the CACFP) for snacks served in after-school programs and authorized demonstration projects providing free breakfasts for elementary schoolchildren without regard to family income. Modest revisions were made to child nutrition and WIC program rules.
Wind erosion equation — An equation used to design wind erosion control systems, which considers soil erodibility, soil roughness, climate, the unsheltered distance across a field, and the vegetative cover on the ground.
Wind erosion — The detachment and transportation of soil by wind. Wind erosion is a cropland management concern in the Plains states. According to the 1997 National Resources Inventory, wind was eroding 840 million tons of soil per year, while water (excluding gully erosion) was eroding 1,060 million tons of soil per year from all cropland (including land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
Windbreak — A living barrier that usually includes several rows of trees, and perhaps shrubs, located upwind of a farm, field, feedlot or other area and intended to reduce wind velocities. Windbreaks, also called shelterbelts, can reduce wind erosion, conserve energy or moisture, control snow accumulations, and provide shelter for livestock or wildlife.
WMI — Wildlife Management Institute. www.wildlifemanagementinstitute.org.
Wool Act of 1954 — See National Wool Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-690, Title VII).
Wool and mohair commodity programs — Income support was provided to producers of wool and mohair under authority of the National Wool Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-690, Title VII), as amended, through 1995. Phase down and termination of the programs was mandated in the omnibus budget reconciliation act enacted November 1, 1993 (P.L. 103-130). Income support was achieved through incentive payments that provided higher benefits to farmers who had more production and/or obtained high market prices. On an ad hoc basis wool and/or mohair support was provided in 1999 (P.L. 106-78, Sec. 801(h) and P.L. 106-224 Sec. 204(d)) and 2000 (P.L. 106-387, Sec. 814 and P.L. 107-25, Sec. 5). The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171, Sec. 1201) made both wool and mohair eligible for marketing assistance loans from 2002 through 2007.
WORC, WORC petition — The acronym stands for the Western Organization of Resource Councils, a private advocacy organization representing some western ranchers who want USDA to play a more prominent regulatory role in live cattle markets. In 1996, WORC submitted a controversial petition calling on the Department to initiate rulemaking to limit most forward contracting and cattle feeding by meat packers. The Department published the petition for public comment in January 1997 but, as of late 2002, had taken no further action. Turning to the 107th Congress, supporters in 2002 won an amendment in the Senate-passed version of omnibus farm legislation (S. 1731; H.R. 2646 as amended) that would have prohibited large packers from owning, feeding, or controlling livestock for more than 14 days prior to slaughter. However, conferees excluded the amendment from the final 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171).
World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) — As part of the Office of the Chief Economist, the WAOB coordinates the commodity forecasting program; monitors global weather and analyzes its impact on agriculture; and coordinates USDA's weather, climate and remote sensing work. www.usda.gov/oce/waob.
World Bank — A multilateral economic development institution established in 1945 to extend loans and technical assistance for development projects in developing countries. It is formally referred to as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. http://www.worldbank.org.
World food security — See Food security.
World Food Program (WFP) — A UN agency that contributes commodities, services, and cash to developing countries to meet emergency food needs or to carry out economic and social development projects using food or local currencies generated from the sale of food aid commodities (monetizaton). The United States is the major contributor of commodities for use by the WFP in its emergency relief and development project activities. www.wfp.org.
World price (rice) — As part of the rice marketing assistance loan program, USDA calculates the world price for each class of milled rice (long grain, medium grain, and short grain) based on the prevailing world market price for each of the classes, modified to reflect U.S. quality and the U.S. cost of exporting milled rice. USDA sets this prevailing market price after reviewing milled rice prices in major world markets, and taking into account the effects of supply-demand changes, government-assisted sales, and other relevant price indicators. The steps for calculating and announcing the world prices are prescribed in more detail in federal regulations.
World price; world market price — The price at which commodities will move in international trade under existing marketing conditions. The concept world price lacks precision unless quality, location, and other factors are specified. See Domestic price.
World Trade Organization (WTO) — The international organization established by the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations to oversee implementation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the agreements arising from the Uruguay Round, including the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. www.wto.org.
WPA — Waterfowl production areas.
WPS — Worker protection standard.
WQIP — Water Quality Incentives Program.
WRI — World Resources Institute. www.wri.org.
WRP — Wetlands Reserve Program.
WTO — World Trade Organization. www.wto.org.
WWF — World Wildlife Fund. www.wwf.org.