“Agricultural Commodity,” “Agricultural Product,” “Farm Product” and Related Terms: Definitions for Federal Policy

“Agricultural Commodity,” “Agricultural Product,” “Farm Product” and Related Terms: Definitions for Federal Policy

Order Code RS21370
December 16, 2002
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
“Agricultural Commodity,” “Agricultural
Product,” “Farm Product” and Related Terms:
Definitions for Federal Policy
Geoffrey S. Becker
Specialist in Agricultural Policy
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
No consistent official definitions exist of “agricultural commodity” or of other
closely related terms, such as “agricultural product,” “farm product,” and others. The
table in this report, which will not be updated, provides a broad, but not necessarily
complete, listing of these terms as they are defined throughout the agriculture and
conservation titles of the U.S. Code (Titles 7 and 16, respectively).
When considering legislation affecting the agricultural sector and related industries,
policymakers may be asked to define what they mean by “agricultural commodity” or
some closely related term. Such a definition may help to determine the reach of a
program or policy – for example, the types of farmers and producers eligible for a
particular subsidy; who must abide by a restrictive regulation and who is exempt; the total
cost of a policy to the industry and/or taxpayers.
No consistent official definitions exist of “agricultural commodity” or of other
closely related terms, such as “agricultural product,” “farm product,” “basic
commodities,” “nonbasic commodities,” “perishable commodities,” and “livestock.”
Such terms do appear, and carry with them varying definitions, in at least 20 different
places throughout the agricultural and conservation titles of the U.S. Code (Titles 7 and
16, respectively). The following table provides a broad, but not necessarily complete,
listing of these terms where they are defined throughout these titles.
In each case, the term is intended to have a specialized or unique meaning, most
often either to exclude or to include particular items or producers from eligibility or
coverage under a program or activity. A term might be relatively general and/or
expansive, as in the law authorizing foreign food aid under P.L. 480, the Food for Peace
program (7 U.S.C. Section 1732; see table, below). Or, it may deliberately exclude
certain products, as under the Agricultural Fair Practices Act of 1967 (7 U.S.C. Section
2302; see table).
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

CRS-2
Table 1. Definitions in U.S. Code
Cite
Subject/Program
Language
7 U.S.C. §138
National Laboratory
“Agricultural product means any fresh fruit or
(Chapter 6A)
Accreditation (for
vegetable or any commodity product derived from
pesticide testing)
livestock or fowl, that is marketed in the United States
for human consumption.”
7 U.S.C. §241
Warehouses
“Agricultural product means an agricultural
(Chapter 10)
(agricultural storage
commodity, as determined by the Secretary, including
facility regulation)
a processed product of an agricultural commodity.”
7 U.S.C. §433
Miscellaneous
Federal laws and administrative actions “pertaining to
(Chapter 17)
matters (fur-bearing
fox, rabbit, mink, chinchilla, marten, fisher, muskrat,
animals)
karakul and all other fur-bearing animals, raised in
captivity for breeding and other useful purposes shall
be deemed domestic animals [and] such animals and
the products thereof shall be deemed agricultural
products.”
7 U.S.C. §451
Cooperative
“Agricultural products means agricultural,
(Chapter 18)
marketing (USDA
horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, livestock
services/support for)
and the products thereof, the products of poultry and
bee raising, the edible products of forestry, and any
and all products raised or produced on farms and
processed or manufactured producers thereof,
transported or intended to be transported in interstate
and/or foreign commerce.”
7 U.S.C. §499a
Perishable
“Perishable agricultural commodity (A) Means any of
(Chapter 20A)
Agricultural
the following, whether or not frozen or packed in ice:
Commodities (Act)
Fresh fruits and fresh vegetables of every kind and
character; and (B) includes cherries in brine as defined
by the Secretary in accordance with trade usages.”
7 U.S.C. §608c
Agricultural
This section limits the agricultural commodities for
(Chapter 26)
adjustment
which orders can be issued, by specifying by name,
(marketing orders)
those that can and cannot be covered.
7 U.S.C. §1282a
Agricultural
“Agricultural products shall include meat, poultry,
(Chapter 35)
Adjustment Act of
vegetables, fruits, and all other agricultural
1938 (adjusting
commodities in raw or processed form, except forestry
price controls to
products or fish or fishery products.
ensure adequate
supplies)
7 U.S.C. §1428
Price support of
This section of code sets out the terms of mandatory
(Chapter 35A)
agricultural
price support for a basic agricultural commodity,
commodities
meaning corn, cotton, peanuts, rice, tobacco, and
(general provisions)
wheat, distinguishing them from a nonbasic
agricultural commodity, meaning any agricultural
commodity other than a basic agricultural commodity.

CRS-3
Cite
Subject/Program
Language
7 U.S.C. §1431
Price support of
Eligible commodities are defined to include “dairy
(Chapter 35A)
agricultural
products, wheat, rice, feed grains, and oilseeds
commodities
acquired by the Commodity Credit Corporation [CCC]
(USDA disposition
through price support operations, and the products
of surplus
thereof, that the Secretary determines meet the criteria
commodities to
specified” in this section of the law and “such other
prevent waste)
edible agricultural commodities as may be acquired by
the CCC in the normal course of operations...”
7 U.S.C. §1471
Price support of
“Livestock means cattle, sheep, goats, swine, poultry
(Chapter 35A)
agricultural
(including egg-producing poultry), equine animals
commodities
used for food or in the production of food, fish used
(Emergency
for food, and other animals designated by the Secretary
Livestock Feed
(at the Secretary’s sole discretion) that (A) are part of
Assistance Act of
a foundation herd (including producing dairy cattle) or
1988)
offspring; or (B) are purchased as part of a normal
operation and not to obtain additional benefits...”
7 U.S.C. §1518
Crop insurance
“Agricultural commodity, as used in this chapter,
(Chapter 36)
means wheat, cotton, flax, corn, dry beans, oats,
barley, rye, tobacco, rice, peanuts, soybeans, sugar
beets, sugar cane, tomatoes, grain sorghum,
sunflowers, raisins, oranges, sweet corn, dry peas,
freezing and canning peas, forage, apples, grapes,
potatoes, timber and forests, nursery crops, citrus, and
other fruits and vegetables, nuts, tame hay, native
grass, aquacultural species (including, but not limited
to, any species of finfish, mollusk, crustacean, or other
aquatic invertebrate, amphibian, reptile, or aquatic
plant propagated or reared in a controlled or selected
environment), or any other agricultural commodity,
excluding stored grain, determined by the Board, or
any one or more of such commodities, as the context
may dictate.”
7 U.S.C. §1631
Distribution and
“Farm product means an agricultural commodity such
(Chapter 38)
marketing of
as wheat, corn, soybeans, or a species of livestock such
agricultural
as cattle, hogs, sheep, horses, or poultry used or
products (protection
produced in farming operations, or a product of such
for purchasers of
crop or livestock in its unmanufactured state (such as
farm products)
ginned cotton, wool-clip, maple syrup, milk, and eggs)
that is in the possession of a person engaged in
farming operations.”
7 U.S.C. §1635a
Livestock
“The term livestock means cattle, swine, and lambs.”
(Chapter 38)
mandatory reporting
7 U.S.C. §1732
Agricultural Trade
“Agricultural commodity, unless otherwise provided
(Chapter 41)
Development and
for in this chapter, includes any agricultural
Assistance (P.L.
commodity or the products thereof produced in the
480)
United States, including wood and processed wood
products, fish, and livestock, as well as value-added,
fortified, or high-value agricultural products.”

CRS-4
Cite
Subject/Program
Language
7 U.S.C. §1769
Foreign market
“Agricultural commodity as used in this chapter
(Chapter 43)
development
includes any agricultural commodity or product
thereof..”
7 U.S.C. §2302
Unfair trade
“Agricultural products shall not include cotton or
(Chapter 56)
practices affecting
tobacco or their products.”
producers of
agricultural
products
(Agricultural Fair
Practices Act)
7 U.S.C. §5602
Export promotion
“Agricultural commodity means any agricultural
(Chapter 87)
(Agricultural Trade
commodity, food, feed, fiber, or livestock (including
Act of 1978)
livestock as it is defined in section 1471(2) of this title
and insects), and any product thereof.” (See above for
§1471(2) definition.)
7 U.S.C. §6502
Organic
“Agricultural product means any agricultural
(Chapter 94)
certification of
commodity or product, whether raw or processed,
agricultural
including any commodity or product, whether raw or
products
processed, including any commodity or product
derived from livestock that is marketed in the United
States for human or livestock consumption.”
“Livestock means any cattle, sheep, goats, swine,
poultry, equine animals used for food or in the
production of food, fish used for food, wild and
domesticated game, or other nonplant life.”
7 U.S.C. §7333
Agricultural market
Noninsured crop disaster assistance must be offered,
(Chapter 100)
transition
at an equivalent level, to eligible crops where
(noninsured crop
catastrophic risk protection under the regular crop
assistance)
insurance program is not available. An “eligible crop”
means each commercial crop produced for food and
fiber and “shall include floricultural, ornamental
nursery, and Christmas tree crops, turfgrass sod, seed
crops, aquaculture (including ornamental fish), and
industrial crops.”
7 U.S.C. §7412
Agricultural
“Agricultural commodity means (A) agricultural,
(Chapter 101)
promotion (check-
horticultural, and dairy products; (B) livestock and the
off programs)
products of livestock; (C) the products of poultry and
bee raising); (D) the products of forestry; (E) other
commodities raised or produced on farms, as
determined appropriate by the Secretary; and (F)
products processed or manufactured from products
specified in the preceding subparagraphs, as
determined appropriate by the Secretary.”

CRS-5
Cite
Subject/Program
Language
7 U.S.C. §7996
Equitable relief
“The term agricultural commodity means any
(Chapter 106)
from ineligibility
agricultural commodity, food, feed, fiber, or livestock
for loans, payments
that is subject to a covered program.” (Covered
and other benefits
programs are USDA price or income support, or
under specified
production or market loss assistance, and conservation
farm programs
programs, but not farm credit or crop insurance.)
16 U.S.C. §590j
Soil Conservation
“Agricultural commodity as used in this chapter means
(Chapter 3B)
any such commodity and any regional or market
classification, type, or grade thereof.”
16 U.S.C.§3801
Erodible Land and
“Agricultural commodity means (A) any agricultural
(Chapter 58)
Wetland
commodity planted and produced in a State by annual
Conservation and
tilling of the soil, including tilling by one-trip planters;
Reserve Program
or (B) sugarcane planted and produced in a State.
16 U.S.C.§3831
Erodible Land and
For conservation reserve program, “alfalfa and other
(Chapter 58)
Wetland
multi-year grasses and legumes in a rotation practice,
Conservation and
approved by the Secretary, shall be considered
Reserve Program
agricultural commodities.”