The need for legislation and regulation to improve or maintain the quality of agricultural products depends on the size and geographic distribution of production units, the complexity of the market channel, the volume of commodity consumed in each use, the extent of processing before consumption, the economic organization of firms in the processing and marketing sectors, and the technology available for measuring quality. CAST appointed a task force to evaluate the need for government action to maintain or improve quality for twelve commodities. The task force defined quality as the composite of attributes of the product that have economic or aesthetic value to the user.
Grades provide a technique for combining several attributes into a single-valued descriptor.
However, quality may also be described by brand names, label information, contract specification, and personal inspection of each item. The appropriate allocation of responsibilities among government agencies and private firms has been the issue in many public hearings and legislative proposals. Industry-wide uniform grades improve marketing efficiency by classifying diverse qualities into a few homogeneous categories, by communicating information about value along the market chain, and by providing a means for the market to create incentives and rewards for firms to improve quality. Not all commodities require a grading system or government regulation. Federal grades are of greatest value for large-volume bulk commodities such as wheat and rice, for which inspection of individual units is not physically or economically feasible.