---
kind: "section"
citation: "7 U.S.C. § 7481"
title: "7"
title_heading: "Agriculture"
number: "7481"
heading: "Findings and declaration of policy"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/7/7481"
units:
  - "Chapter 101 — Agricultural Promotion"
  - "Subchapter V — Popcorn"
---

# §7481. Findings and declaration of policy

- (a) **Findings—** Congress finds that—
  - (1) [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) is an important food that is a valuable part of the human diet;
  - (2) the production and processing of [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) plays a significant role in the economy of the [United States](/usc/7/7482.md?p=16) in that [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) is processed by several [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) [processors](/usc/7/7482.md?p=11), distributed through wholesale and retail outlets, and consumed by millions of people throughout the [United States](/usc/7/7482.md?p=16) and foreign countries;
  - (3) [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) must be of high quality, readily available, handled properly, and marketed efficiently to ensure that the benefits of [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) are available to the people of the [United States](/usc/7/7482.md?p=16);
  - (4) the maintenance and expansion of existing [markets](/usc/7/198.md?p=1) and uses and the development of new [markets](/usc/7/198.md?p=1) and uses for [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) are vital to the welfare of [processors](/usc/7/7482.md?p=11) and [persons](/usc/7/7482.md?p=8) concerned with [marketing](/usc/7/7482.md?p=6), using, and producing [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) for the [market](/usc/7/198.md?p=1), as well as to the agricultural economy of the [United States](/usc/7/7482.md?p=16);
  - (5) the cooperative development, financing, and implementation of a coordinated program of [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) [promotion](/usc/7/7482.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7482.md?p=13), [consumer information](/usc/7/7482.md?p=3), and [industry information](/usc/7/7482.md?p=5) is necessary to maintain and expand [markets](/usc/7/198.md?p=1) for [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9); and
  - (6) [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) moves in interstate and foreign [commerce](/usc/7/7482.md?p=2), and [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) that does not move in those channels of [commerce](/usc/7/7482.md?p=2) directly burdens or affects interstate [commerce](/usc/7/7482.md?p=2) in [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9).
- (b) **Policy—** It is the policy of Congress that it is in the public interest to authorize the establishment, through the exercise of the powers provided in this subchapter, of an orderly procedure for developing, financing (through adequate assessments on unpopped [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) processed domestically), and carrying out an effective, continuous, and coordinated program of [promotion](/usc/7/7482.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7482.md?p=13), [consumer information](/usc/7/7482.md?p=3), and [industry information](/usc/7/7482.md?p=5) designed to—
  - (1) strengthen the position of the [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) industry in the marketplace; and
  - (2) maintain and expand domestic and foreign [markets](/usc/7/198.md?p=1) and uses for [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9).
- (c) **Purposes—** The purposes of this subchapter are to—
  - (1) maintain and expand the [markets](/usc/7/198.md?p=1) for all [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) products in a manner that—
    - (A) is not designed to maintain or expand any individual share of a producer or [processor](/usc/7/7482.md?p=11) of the [market](/usc/7/198.md?p=1);
    - (B) does not compete with or replace individual advertising or [promotion](/usc/7/7482.md?p=12) efforts designed to promote individual brand name or trade name [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) products; and
    - (C) authorizes and funds programs that result in government speech promoting government objectives; and
  - (2) establish a nationally coordinated program for [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) [promotion](/usc/7/7482.md?p=12), [research](/usc/7/7482.md?p=13), [consumer information](/usc/7/7482.md?p=3), and [industry information](/usc/7/7482.md?p=5).
- (d) **Statutory construction—** This subchapter treats [processors](/usc/7/7482.md?p=11) equitably. Nothing in this subchapter—
  - (1) provides for the imposition of a trade barrier to the entry into the [United States](/usc/7/7482.md?p=16) of imported [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9) for the domestic [market](/usc/7/198.md?p=1); or
  - (2) provides for the control of production or otherwise limits the right of any individual [processor](/usc/7/7482.md?p=11) to produce [popcorn](/usc/7/7482.md?p=9).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 104–127, title V, § 572, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1074.)