§178c — Title 7 Agriculture | U.S. Code

Summary

The Department of Agriculture must lead a program to research and develop crops that can make critical materials, especially methods for growing Parthenium and other hydrocarbon plants on a large scale and extracting latex, and to develop other important native crops. The Secretary of Agriculture must run, fund, and coordinate basic and applied research and technology work. Key tasks include collecting seeds from wild plants in Texas, Mexico, and elsewhere and buying or borrowing seeds; building and storing a Parthenium seed stockpile; speeding plant breeding to raise latex yield and resistance to insects, disease, drought, and cold and running regional trials for foundation seed; creating large experimental plantings totaling 10,000 acres or more to supply shrub feedstock for a developmental rubber processing facility; studying irrigation effects; making needed planting and harvesting equipment; improving extraction methods and building a facility to produce test amounts of guayule natural rubber; keeping a shared research data bank; and studying and testing other native crops (including hemp as defined in section 1639o) to promote commercialization. The Secretary must set up an Office of Critical Agricultural Materials inside USDA to centralize this work. For demonstration projects the Secretary may make contracts or grants with anyone, use agricultural commodities held by the Commodity Credit Corporation from price support operations, and use funds under section 178n(a) or other public or private funds or reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation.

Title 7, §178c

Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Department of Agriculture shall be the lead agency in carrying out this subchapter.

(b)The Secretary of Agriculture shall conduct, sponsor, promote, and coordinate basic and applied research, technology development, and technology transfer leading to effective and economical methods for large-scale culturing of plantations and the extraction of latex from Parthenium or other hydrocarbon-containing plants, and for the development of other critical agricultural materials from native agricultural crops having strategic and industrial importance. Such research shall include, but not be limited to—

(1)carrying out extensive seed collections from wild plants in Texas, Mexico, and other areas and borrowing or purchasing seeds from other sources;

(2)developing a stockpile of Parthenium seeds, such stockpile to be appropriately classified and stored at a suitable facility;

(3)accelerating present plant breeding, genetics, and selection programs for the purpose of improving and increasing latex yields, expanding insect and disease resistance, broadening the ranges of drought and cold resistance of the Parthenium plant, and providing a system of regional research trials for enhancing and increasing the supply of foundation seed for certified seed production;

(4)establishing a system of large-scale experimental plantings (aggregating ten thousand acres or more) to provide shrub for feedstock to process in the developmental rubber processing facility described in paragraph (7);

(5)carrying out specific studies on the effects of irrigation on plant growth and latex yield and survival potential;

(6)developing equipment needed to carry out nursery operations, planting, cultivating, harvesting, transporting the crop, and other necessary agricultural activities;

(7)accelerating the refinement of present extraction and processing technologies and future extraction technologies, including the development and construction of a developmental rubber processing facility for the extraction and production of test quantities of guayule natural rubber;

(8)establishing and maintaining a bank of all pertinent research data on native latex including extant United States Government publications and records from the emergency rubber project. Such data shall be made available to other Federal and State agencies and private persons who are interested or involved in native latex research, development, or manufacture; and

(9)studying the economic feasibility of developing other native agricultural crops (in addition to Parthenium and other hydrocarbon-containing plants, and including hemp (as defined in section 1639o of this title)) that would supply critical agricultural materials for strategic and industrial purposes, carrying out demonstration projects to promote the development or commercialization of such crops (including projects designed to expand domestic or foreign markets for such crops), and, to the extent appropriate, carrying out research activities with respect to such crops in the manner specified in paragraphs (1) through (8).

(c)The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish within the Department of Agriculture an Office of Critical Agricultural Materials, as a central location where such Department can address research and development with respect to agricultural crops that have the potential of producing critical materials for strategic and industrial purposes.

(d)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in carrying out a demonstration project referred to in subsection (b)(9), the Secretary may—

(1)enter into a contract or cooperative agreement with, or provide a grant to, any person, or public or private agency or organization, to participate in, carry out, support, or stimulate such project;

(2)make available for purposes of clause (1) agricultural commodities or the products thereof acquired by the Commodity Credit Corporation under price support operations conducted by the Corporation; or

(3)use any funds appropriated pursuant to section 178n(a) of this title, or any funds provided by any person, or public or private agency or organization, to carry out such project or reimburse the Commodity Credit Corporation for agricultural commodities or products that are utilized in connection with such project.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 115–334 inserted “, and including hemp (as defined in section 1639o of this title)” after “hydrocarbon-containing plants”. 1991—Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 102–237 substituted “industrial purposes,” for “industrial purposes,,”. 1985—Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 99–198, § 1439(a), extended research program to carrying out demonstration projects to promote the development or commercialization of native agricultural crops, including projects designed to expand domestic or foreign markets for such crops. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 99–198, § 1439(b), added subsec. (d). 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(1), added subsec. (a). Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(1), designated existing provisions as subsec. (b) and in first sentence of subsec. (b) as so designated inserted provision relating to development of other critical agricultural materials from native agricultural crops having strategic and industrial importance. Subsec. (b)(1), (2). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(2), redesignated cls. (a) and (b) as pars. (1) and (2) of subsec. (b). Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(2), (3), redesignated cl. (c) as par. (3) of subsec. (b) and substituted “accelerating present plant breeding, genetics, and selection programs for the purpose of improving and increasing latex yields, expanding insect and disease resistance, broadening the ranges of drought and cold resistance of the Parthenium plant, and providing a system of regional research trials for enhancing and increasing the supply of foundation seed for certified seed production” for “carrying out breeding and selection programs for the purpose of improving latex yields, expanding insect and disease resistance, and broadening the ranges of drought and cold tolerance of the Parthenium plant”. Subsec. (b)(4). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(2), (4), redesignated cl. (d) as par. (4) of subsec. (b) and substituted “establishing a system of large-scale experimental plantings (aggregating ten thousand acres or more) to provide shrub for feedstock to process in the developmental rubber processing facility described in paragraph (7)” for “establishing a system of experimental plantings in arid and semiarid regions of the United States having suitable climatic and soil conditions for the culture of Parthenium”. Subsec. (b)(5), (6). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(2), redesignated cls. (e) and (f) as pars. (5) and (6), respectively, of subsec. (b). Subsec. (b)(7). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(2), (5), redesignated cl. (g) as par. (7) of subsec. (b) and substituted “accelerating the refinement of present extraction and processing technologies and future extraction technologies, including the development and

Construction

of a developmental rubber processing facility for the extraction and production of test quantities of guayule natural rubber;” for “further refining present extraction technologies and future extraction technologies, including technologies which utilize solar energy; and”. Subsec. (b)(8). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(2), redesignated cl. (h) as par. (8) of subsec. (b). Subsec. (b)(9). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(7), added par. (9). Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 98–284, § 5(8), added subsec. (c).

§178c Research and development program by Secretary of Agriculture