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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Zero, 50/85-92 provisions — Refers to the 50/85 and 50/92 commodity program provisions for rice and cotton and the 0/85 and 0/92 commodity program provisions for wheat and feed grains that were in effect in various forms from 1986 through 1995. Under these provisions farmers could idle all or part of their permitted acreage, putting the land in a conserving use, and receive deficiency payments as if up to 92% of the permitted acreage had been planted. A minimum planting requirement of 50% of maximum payment acreage applied for rice and cotton.
Zero tolerance — In food safety policy, a zero tolerance standard generally means that if a potentially dangerous substance (whether microbiological, chemical, or other) is present in or on a product, that product will be considered adulterated and unfit for human consumption. In the meat and poultry inspection program, zero tolerance usually refers to USDA's rule that permits no visible signs of fecal contamination on meat and poultry carcasses. See Wash versus trim.
Zeroing — Zeroing refers to a controversial methodology used by the United States for calculating antidumping duties against foreign products. The foreign domestic price (FDP) of the product is compared with its U.S. import price (USIP) adjusted for transportation and handling costs. Under zeroing, the United States sets at zero the negative differences (that is whenever FDP minus USIP is less than zero). Critics of this methodology charge that, because negative amounts are excluded, zeroing results in the calculation of a margin and an antidumping duty in excess of the actual dumping practiced by the countries concerned. The European Union has called for establishment of a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel to rule on the U.S. practice of zeroing.
Zoonotic diseases — Diseases that under natural conditions are communicable from animals to humans. Tuberculosis and rabies are examples of zoonotic diseases. Brucellosis in livestock is undulant fever in humans.