Agricultural Marketing Service

USDA-AMS
USDA
AMS

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is a division of the United States Department of Agriculture, and has programs in five commodity areas:^[1] cotton and tobacco; dairy; fruit and vegetable; livestock and seed; and poultry. These programs provide testing, standardization, grading and market news services for those commodities, and oversee marketing agreements and orders, administer research and promotion programs, and purchase commodities for federal food programs. The AMS enforces certain federal laws such as the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act and the Federal Seed Act.^[1] The current administrator as of June 6, 2009 is Rayne Pegg.

As of December, 2005, the agency's Microbiological Data Program monitors cantaloupe, green onions, lettuce, tomatoes and alfalfa sprouts for three types of bacterial contamination.^[2]

The internal Science and Technology Program provides centralized scientific support to AMS programs, including laboratory analyses, laboratory quality assurance, coordination of scientific research conducted by other agencies for AMS, and statistical and mathematical consulting services. In addition, the Science and Technology Division's Plant Variety Protection Office issues certificates of protection for new varieties of sexually reproduced plants. The program also conducts a program to collect and analyze data about pesticide residue levels in agricultural commodities. It also administers the Pesticide Recordkeeping program, which requires all certified private applicators of federally restricted-use pesticide to maintain records of all applications. The records will be put into a data base to help analyze agricultural pesticide use.^[3]

AMS's Transportation and Marketing Program supplies research and technical information regarding the nation's food transportation system to producers, producer groups, shippers, exporters, rural communities, carriers, government agencies and universities. The program also administers a program involving financial grants to States for marketing improvements. In addition, the division assists in the planning and design of marketing facilities, processes, and methods in cooperation with state and local governments, universities, farmer groups, and other segments of the U.S. food industry. This program is intended to enhance the overall effectiveness of the food marketing system, provide better quality products to the consumer at reasonable cost, improve market access for growers with farms of small to medium size, and promote regional economic development.^[4][5]

References

External links

• "Agricultural Marketing Service". Archived from the original on 6 October 2005. http://www.ams.usda.gov/. Retrieved 7 October 2005. 
• Agricultural Marketing Service Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

v t e Agencies under the United States Department of Agriculture Headquarters: Jamie L. Whitten Building Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture · Kathleen Merrigan, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Farm Service Agency · Foreign Agricultural Service · Risk Management Agency · Commodity Credit Corporation · Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Forest Service · Natural Resources Conservation Service · Office of Environmental Markets Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development Rural Housing Service · Rural Utilities Service · Rural Business-Cooperative Service Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Food and Nutrition Service · Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety Food Safety and Inspection Service Under Secretary of Agriculture for Research, Education, and Economics Agricultural Research Service · Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service · Economic Research Service · National Agricultural Library · National Agricultural Statistics Service Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Agricultural Marketing Service · Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service · Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration