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Title 7, AgricultureRelease 119-102

§389 Transfer of Certain Dry Land and Irrigation Field Stations to States

Title 7 › CHAPTER 14 — AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIONS › SUBCHAPTER II — EXPERIMENT STATIONS FOR PROPAGATION OF TREES, SHRUBS, VINES, AND VEGETABLES › § 389

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of Agriculture may transfer, for no payment and by proper legal transfer, the United States’ interest in the land, water rights, buildings, and other property of certain dry‑land and irrigation field stations to the State where each station is located when he thinks the transfer will make cooperative agricultural research with the State more effective and better serve regional or national research. The stations covered are Huntley, Montana; Mitchell, Nebraska; Fallon, Nevada; Tucumcari, New Mexico; Hermiston, Oregon; and Sheridan, Wyoming. If any part of a station’s land or water rights is public‑domain land, only the Secretary of the Interior can transfer that public‑domain land or grant any needed easements on it to the State.

Full Legal Text

Title 7, §389

Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of Agriculture is authorized, at such times as he deems appropriate, to convey by appropriate conveyances, without consideration, the interest of the United States in the lands, including water rights, buildings, and improvements presently comprising or appurtenant to the following dry land and irrigation field stations, to the States in which such stations are located, when, in the opinion of the Secretary of Agriculture, the transfer of any such station will result in establishing a more effective program in the cooperative agricultural experimental work of the Department of Agriculture and the respective State and the furtherance of agricultural experimental work on a national or regional basis will be better served by such transfer: Huntley, Montana; Mitchell, Nebraska; Fallon, Nevada; Tucumcari, New Mexico; Hermiston, Oregon; Sheridan, Wyoming: Provided, That when any or all of the land, including water rights, comprising any such station is public-domain land, only the Secretary of the Interior may by patent or other appropriate conveyance transfer such lands to the respective States: Provided further, That when any easement necessary to a station conveyed or patented hereunder is on public-domain lands, only the Secretary of the Interior may grant such easements to the State to which the station has been conveyed.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Functions of all officers, agencies, and employees of Department of Agriculture transferred, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Agriculture by 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 2, § 1, eff. June 4, 1953, 18 F.R. 3219, 67 Stat. 633, set out as a note under section 2201 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

7 U.S.C. § 389

Title 7, Agriculture

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102