--- kind: "section" citation: "7 U.S.C. § 7411" title: "7" title_heading: "Agriculture" number: "7411" heading: "Findings and purpose" release: "119-102" date: "2026-07-12" url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/7/7411" units: - "Chapter 101 — Agricultural Promotion" - "Subchapter II — Issuance of Orders for Promotion, Research, and Information Activities Regarding Agricultural Commodities" --- # §7411. Findings and purpose - (a) **Findings—** Congress finds the following: - (1) The production of [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) plays a significant role in the economy of the [United States](/usc/7/7412.md?p=18). Thousands of [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11) in the [United States](/usc/7/7412.md?p=18) are involved in the production of [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1), and such commodities are consumed by millions of people throughout the [United States](/usc/7/7412.md?p=18) and foreign countries. - (2) [Agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) must be of high quality, readily available, handled properly, and marketed efficiently to ensure that consumers have an adequate supply. - (3) The maintenance and expansion of existing [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) and the development of new [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) for [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) through generic commodity [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7412.md?p=13), and [information](/usc/7/7412.md?p=7) programs are vital to the welfare of [persons](/usc/7/7412.md?p=10) engaged in the production, marketing, and consumption of such commodities, as well as to the general economy of the [United States](/usc/7/7412.md?p=18). - (4) Generic [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7412.md?p=13), and [information](/usc/7/7412.md?p=7) activities for [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) play a unique role in advancing the demand for such commodities, since such activities increase the total [market](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) for a product to the benefit of consumers and all [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11). These generic activities complement branded advertising initiatives, which are aimed at increasing the [market](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) share of individual competitors, and are of particular benefit to small [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11) who lack the resources or [market](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) power to advertise on their own. These generic activities do not impede the branded advertising efforts of individual firms, but instead increase general [market](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) demand for an [agricultural commodity](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) using methods that individual companies do not have the incentive to [employ](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-10). - (5) Generic [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7412.md?p=13), and [information](/usc/7/7412.md?p=7) activities for [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1), paid by the [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11) and others in the industry who reap the benefits of such activities, provide a unique opportunity for [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11) to inform consumers about a particular [agricultural commodity](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1). - (6) It is important to ensure that generic [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7412.md?p=13), and [information](/usc/7/7412.md?p=7) activities for [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) be carried out in an effective and coordinated manner designed to strengthen the position of the commodities in the marketplace and to maintain and expand their [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) and uses. Independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the generic [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12) activities of these programs will assist the [Secretary](/usc/7/7412.md?p=14) of Agriculture and Congress in ensuring that these objectives are met. - (7) The cooperative development, financing, and implementation of a coordinated national program of [research](/usc/7/7412.md?p=13), [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12), and [information](/usc/7/7412.md?p=7) regarding [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) are necessary to maintain and expand existing [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) and to develop new [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) for these commodities. - (8) [Agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) move in interstate and foreign commerce, and [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) and their products that do not move in such channels of commerce directly burden or affect interstate commerce in [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) and their products. - (9) Commodity [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12) programs have the ability to provide significant conservation benefits to [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11) and the public. - (b) **Purpose—** The purpose of this subchapter is to authorize the establishment, through the exercise by the [Secretary](/usc/7/7412.md?p=14) of Agriculture of the authority provided in this subchapter, of an orderly program for developing, financing, and carrying out an effective, continuous, and coordinated program of generic [promotion](/usc/7/7412.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7412.md?p=13), and [information](/usc/7/7412.md?p=7) regarding [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) designed to— - (1) strengthen the position of [agricultural commodity](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1) industries in the marketplace; - (2) maintain and expand existing domestic and foreign [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) and uses for [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1); - (3) develop new [markets](/usc/7/7412.md?p=8) and uses for [agricultural commodities](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1); or - (4) assist [producers](/usc/7/7412.md?p=11) in meeting their conservation objectives. - (c) **Rule of construction—** Nothing in this subchapter provides for the control of production or otherwise limits the right of any [person](/usc/7/7412.md?p=10) to produce, handle, or import an [agricultural commodity](/usc/7/7412.md?p=1). ## Source credit (Pub. L. 104–127, title V, § 512, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1032.)