I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 383
To amend the National Agricultural Weather Information System Act of
1990 to improve the collection and distribution of weather information
to assist agricultural producers.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 4, 1995
Mr. TRAFICANT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the National Agricultural Weather Information
System Act of 1990 to improve the collection and dis-
tribution of weather information to assist agricultural
producers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. WEATHER INFORMATION COLLECTION AND
DISTRIBUTION TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUC-
ERS THROUGH THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE.
(a) COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION.—Section 1638
of the National Agricultural Weather Information System
Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5852) is amended by adding at
the end the following new subsection:
‘‘(e) COLLECTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMA-
TION TO PRODUCERS.—
‘‘(1) COOPERATIVE PROJECT.—As one of the
cooperative projects authorized by subsection (b)(1),
the Secretary of Agriculture shall enter into an
agreement with the Secretary of Commerce to use
Weather Service Offices and Weather Service Fore-
cast Offices to collect, organize, and distribute infor-
mation aimed at meeting the short-term and long-
term weather and climate information needs of agri-
cultural producers.
‘‘(2) INFORMATION
COLLECTION.—The Sec-
retaries shall develop a system for the collection by
the National Weather Service of weather and climate
information that is relevant to agricultural producers
and available through the Agricultural Weather Of-
fice and other Federal agencies, State agricultural
weather information systems and other State pro-
grams, colleges and universities, and the private
weather consulting sector.
‘‘(3) METHODS
OF
DISTRIBUTION.—Weather
and climate information collected under this sub-
section shall be distributed to agricultural producers
through the use of—
‘‘(A) weekly publications containing weath-
er forecasts and other information regarding
anticipated temperatures and precipitation lev-
els;
‘‘(B) toll-free and local telephone numbers
that agricultural producers can call to obtain
immediate information to assist with specific
day-to-day production activities; and
‘‘(C) such other methods as the Secretaries
consider to be appropriate to distribute such
weather and climate information to agricultural
producers in a timely manner.’’.
(b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture
and the Secretary of Commerce shall jointly submit a re-
port to the Congress analyzing the effectiveness of the co-
operative project required by section 1638(e) of the Na-
tional Agricultural Weather Information System Act of
1990, as added by subsection (a), in providing relevant
weather and climate information to agricultural producers.
The report shall include a description of the number of
agricultural producers who obtained weather information
through the project and an estimate of whether the project
improved farm profitability for participating producers.
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated to carry out section 1638(e)
of the National Agricultural Weather Information System
Act of 1990, as added by subsection (a), $2,000,000 for
fiscal year 1996.
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