118 STAT. 3882 PUBLIC LAW 108–465—DEC. 21, 2004 Public Law 108–465 108th Congress An Act To ensure an abundant and affordable supply of highly nutritious fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops for American consumers and international markets by enhancing the competitiveness of United States-grown specialty crops, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004’’. SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: (1) A secure domestic food supply is a national security imperative for the United States. (2) A competitive specialty crop industry in the United States is necessary for the production of an abundant, afford- able supply of highly nutritious fruits, vegetables, and other specialty crops, which are vital to the health and well-being of all Americans. (3) Increased consumption of specialty crops will provide tremendous health and economic benefits to both consumers and specialty crop growers. (4) Specialty crop growers believe that there are numerous areas of Federal agriculture policy that could be improved to promote increased consumption of specialty crops and increase the competitiveness of producers in the efficient production of affordable specialty crops in the United States. (5) As the globalization of markets continues, it is becoming increasingly difficult for United States producers to compete against heavily subsidized foreign producers in both the domestic and foreign markets. (6) United States specialty crop producers also continue to face serious tariff and non-tariff trade barriers in many export markets. (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to make necessary changes in Federal agriculture policy to accomplish the goals of increasing fruit, vegetable, and nut consumption and improving the competitiveness of United States specialty crop producers. SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: 7 USC 1621 note. 7 USC 1621 note. Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004. Agriculture. 7 USC 3101 note. Dec. 21, 2004 [H.R. 3242] VerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:54 Nov 10, 2005 Jkt 029194 PO 00000 Frm 00416 Fmt 6580 Sfmt 6581 C:\STATUTES\2004\29194PT4.001 APPS10 PsN: 29194PT4
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