Pub. L. 87-128, tit. I, subtit. D, sec. 141

Sec. 141. The Agricultural Adjustment Act, as reenacted and amended by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended, is further amended as follows: (1) Section 2 is amended by adding at the end thereof a new paragraph (5) reading as follows: “(5) Through the exercise of the power conferred upon the Secretary of Agriculture under this title, to continue for the 75 Stat. 304 remainder of any marketing season or marketing year, such regulation pursuant to any order as will tend to avoid a disruption of the orderly marketing of any commodity and be in the public interest, if the regulation of such commodity under such order has been initiated during such marketing season or marketing year on the basis of its need to effectuate the policy of this title.” (2) Section 8a(5) is amended to read as follows: “(5) Any person exceeding any quota or allotment fixed for him under this title by the Secretary of Agriculture and any other person knowingly participating or aiding in the exceeding of such quota or allotment shall forfeit to the United States a sum equal to the value of such excess at the current market price for such commodity at the time of violation, which forfeiture shall be recoverable in a civil suit brought in the name of the United States.” (3) Section 8c(2) is amended— (a) by inserting “(A)” after “applicable only to”; (b) by inserting after “grapefruit,” where it first appears “cherries, apples, or cranberries,”; (c) by striking out “and Idaho, and not including fruits, other than olives and grapefruit, for canning or freezing)” and inserting in lieu thereof “Idaho, New York, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Indiana, California, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and not including fruits for canning or freezing other than olives, grapefruit, cherries, cranberries, and apples produced in the States named above except Washington, Oregon, and Idaho)”; (d) by striking out “soybeans,”; and (e) by striking the period at the end and inserting in lieu thereof the following: “; and (B) any agricultural commodity (except honey, cotton, rice, wheat, corn, grain sorghums, oats, barley, rye, sugarcane, sugarbeets, wool, mohair, livestock, soybeans, cottonseed, flaxseed, poultry (but not excepting turkeys), eggs (but not excepting turkey hatching eggs), fruits and vegetables for canning or freezing, and apples), or any regional or market classification thereof, not subject to orders under (A) of this paragraph, but not the products (including canned or frozen commodities or products) thereof. No order issued pursuant to this section shall be effective as to cherries, apples, or cranberries for canning or freezing unless the Secretary of Agriculture determines, in addition to other required findings and determinations, that the issuance of such order is approved or favored by processors who, during a representative period determined by the Secretary, have engaged in canning or freezing such commodity for market and have frozen or canned more than 50 per centum of the total volume of the commodity to be regulated which was canned or frozen within the production area, or marketed within the marketing area, defined in such order, during such representative period. No order issued pursuant to this section shall be applicable to peanuts produced in more than one of the following production areas: the Virginia-Carolina production area, the Southeast production area, and the Southwest production area. If the Secretary determines that the declared policy of the title will be better achieved thereby (i) the commodities of the same general class and used wholly or in part for the same purposes may be combined and treated as a single commodity and (ii) the portion of an agricultural commodity devoted to or marketed for a particular use or combination of uses, may be treated as a separate agricultural commodity. All agricultural commodities and 75 Stat. 305 products covered hereby shall be deemed specified herein for the purposes of section 8c (6) and (7) of this title.” (4) Section 8c(19) is amended to read as follows: “(19) For the purpose of ascertaining whether the issuance of an order is approved or favored by producers or processors, as required under the applicable provisions of this title, the Secretary may conduct a referendum among producers or processors and in the case of an order other than an amendatory order shall do so. The requirements of approval or favor under any such provision shall be held to be complied with if, of the total number of producers or processors, or the total volume of production, as the case may be, represented in such referendum, the percentage approving or favoring is equal to or in excess of the percentage required under such provision. The terms and conditions of the proposed order shall be described by the Secretary in the ballot used in the conduct of the referendum. The nature, content, or extent of such description shall not be a basis for attacking the legality of the order or any action relating thereto. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as limiting representation by cooperative associations as provided in subsection (12) of this section.” (5) Section 8e is amended to read as follows: “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, whenever a marketing order issued by the Secretary of Agriculture pursuant to section 8c of this Act contains any terms or conditions regulating the grade, size, quality, or maturity of tomatoes, avocados, mangoes, limes, grapefruit, green peppers, Irish potatoes, cucumbers, oranges, onions, walnuts, dates, or eggplants produced in the United States the importation into the United States of any such commodity, other than dates for processing, during the period of time such order is in effect shall be prohibited unless it complies with the grade, size, quality, and maturity provisions of such order or comparable restrictions promulgated hereunder: Provided, That this prohibition shall not apply to such commodities when shipped into continental United States from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any Territory or possession of the United States where this Act has force and effect: Provided further, That whenever two or more such marketing orders regulating the same agricultural commodity produced in different areas of the United States are concurrently in effect, the importation into the United States of any such commodity, other than dates for processing, shall be prohibited unless it complies with the grade, size, quality, and maturity provisions of the order which, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, regulates the commodity produced in the area with which the imported commodity is in most direct competition. Such prohibition shall not become effective until after the giving of such notice as the Secretary of Agriculture determines reasonable, which shall not be less than three days. In determining the amount of notice that is reasonable in the case of tomatoes the Secretary of Agriculture shall give due consideration to the time required for their transportation and entry into the United States after picking. Whenever the Secretary of Agriculture finds that the application of the restrictions under a marketing order to an imported commodity is not practicable because of variations in characteristics between the domestic and imported commodity he shall establish with respect to the imported commodity, other than dates for processing, such grade, size, quality, and maturity restrictions by varieties, types, or other classifications as he finds will be equivalent or comparable to those imposed upon the domestic commodity under such order. The Secretary of Agriculture may promulgate such rules and regulations as he deems necessary, to carry out the provisions of this section. Any person who violates any provision if this section or of any rule, regulation, or order promulgated 75 Stat. 306 hereunder shall be subject to a forfeiture in the amount prescribed in section 8a(5) or, upon conviction, a penalty in the amount prescribed in section 8c(14) of the Act, or to both such forfeiture and penalty.”