PRIA Logo™
Take the PRIA Score
Title 7 — AgricultureRelease 119-73

§1291 Adjustments in freight rates

Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 35— - AGRICULTURAL ADJUSTMENT ACT OF 1938 › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - ADJUSTMENT IN FREIGHT RATES, NEW USES AND MARKETS, AND DISPOSITION OF SURPLUSES › § 1291

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture can file complaints with the Surface Transportation Board about rates, charges, tariffs, or practices for moving farm products, and can present and argue those complaints before the Board. If someone else files a complaint, the Board must tell the Secretary before it hears or decides the case, and must let the Secretary appear and speak if the Secretary asks. When a matter affects the public interest and the Secretary asks to join, the Board will make the Secretary a formal party with the same rights as other parties, including the right to go to court or appeal the Board’s decision; the Secretary would only be responsible for court costs. The Board may use the Department of Agriculture’s records and help, and the Secretary may assist farmer cooperatives that file complaints.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §1291

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to make complaint to the Surface Transportation Board with respect to rates, charges, tariffs, and practices relating to the transportation of farm products, and to prosecute the same before the Board. Before hearing or disposing of any complaint (filed by any person other than the Secretary) with respect to rates, charges, tariffs, and practices relating to the transportation of farm products, the Board shall cause the Secretary to be notified, and, upon application by the Secretary, shall permit the Secretary to appear and be heard.
(b)If such rate, charge, tariff, or practice complained of is one affecting the public interest, upon application by the Secretary, the Board shall make the Secretary a party to the proceeding. In such case the Secretary shall have the rights of a party before the Board and the rights of a party to invoke and pursue original and appellate judicial proceedings involving the Board’s determination. The liability of the Secretary in any such case shall extend only to liability for court costs.
(c)For the purposes of this section, the Surface Transportation Board is authorized to avail itself of the cooperation, records, services, and facilities of the Department of Agriculture.
(d)The Secretary is authorized to cooperate with and assist cooperative associations of farmers making complaint to the Surface Transportation Board with respect to rates, charges, tariffs, and practices relating to the transportation of farm products.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1995—Pub. L. 104–88 substituted “Surface Transportation Board” for “Interstate Commerce Commission” in subsecs. (a), (c), and (d), “Board” for “Commission” wherever appearing in subsecs. (a) and (b), and “Board’s” for “Commission’s” in subsec. (b).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1995 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–88 effective Jan. 1, 1996, see section 2 of Pub. L. 104–88, set out as an

Effective Date

note under section 1301 of Title 49, Transportation.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 1291

Title 7 — Agriculture

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73