Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2902
Sponsor: Sen. Craig, Larry E. [R-ID]
Introduced: 2004-10-06 in the Senate
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Administrative remedies
Agricultural conservation
Agricultural credit
Agricultural research
Agricultural subsidies
Agriculture in foreign trade
Air pollution control
Commerce
Congress
Congress and foreign policy
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Cost effectiveness
Department of Agriculture
Developing countries
Economic assistance
Economic development
Economics and Public Finance
Employee training
Environmental Protection
Executive reorganization
Exotic plants
Exports
Federal installations
Finance and Financial Sector
Food safety
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Foreign trade promotion
Free trade
Fruit
Government Operations and Politics
Governmental investigations
Grants-in-aid
Income
Integrated pest management
Intellectual property
International Affairs
International competitiveness
Labor and Employment
Law
Marketing of farm produce
Marketing orders
Methyl bromide
Non-native species
Nontariff trade barriers
Patent infringement
Patents
Pest control
Pesticides
Plant breeding
Plant diseases
Plant protection
Plant quarantine
Produce trade
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Quality of products
Revolving funds
Risk
Science, Technology, Communications
Sustainable agriculture
Trade agreements
Trees
Urban affairs
Urban growth
Vegetables
Virginia

Summary:
action_date: 2004-10-06
text: 
Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 - Defines "specialty crop" as each U.S. agricultural crop other than wheat, feed grains, oilseeds, cotton, rice, peanuts, sugar, and tobacco.
 
Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act to provide for marketing order specialty crop food safety programs.
 
Amends the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 to: (1) increase assistance for the tree assistance program; (2) provide for increased fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop purchases; and (3) increase and extend specialty crop technical assistance.
 
Authorizes appropriations for maintenance of the Agricultural Marketing Service inspection training center in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
 
Makes grants to enhance specialty crop competitiveness.
 
Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to obligate funds for specialty crop operating loans.
 
Provides for: (1) the study of the extent to which U.S. specialty crops have or have not benefited from any reductions of foreign trade barriers; and (2) a foreign market access strategy plan based on such study.
 
Establishes a division in the Department of Agriculture to process petitions for reducing sanitary and phytosanitary export barriers and an office to develop and protect intellectual property rights in plants and plant materials.
 
Amends Federal patent law to define &quot;essentially derived plant.&quot;
 
Provides for specified additional research initiatives.
 
Establishes a fund to support emergency eradication and research activities. 
 
Provides for independent scientific advice and peer review with regard to specialty crop import and export requests.
 
Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to remove the income limitation from the environmental quality incentives program.
 
Addresses the development of voluntary sustainable practices guidelines for producers and processors of specialty crops.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-10-06
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
action_date: 2004-10-06
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 10/7/2004 S10575)
action_date: 2004-10-06
text: Introduced in Senate