USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service administers programs for producers of food, fiber and specialty crops including research & promotion programs and marketing orders. Here's an overview of USDA's research & promotion programs and marketing orders.
There are three types of research & promotion programs and marketing orders:
There are 22 research & promotion (R&P) programs today. R&P programs are authorized and overseen by USDA but funded and administered by the industry that's requested it.
These are the ag marketing programs that many consumers are familiar with as the promotion side of these efforts has brought tag-lines like "Got Milk?" and "Cotton, The Fabric of Our Lives" to print, television and internet advertising.
Farmers and academics are often well acquainted with the groups' research efforts. While some of this work is use/function research, much of it focused on improving farmers' yields and systems.
In 2015, the Organic Trade Association submitted an application to USDA to establish an organic research and promotion check-off program.
Fruit, vegetable and specialty crop marketing orders and agreements
The fruit and veg marketing orders and agreements allow agricultural producers and handlers to work together on efforts that include:
maintaining the high quality of produce,
standardizing packages and containers,
regulating the flow of product to market and
authorizing research and development as well as advertising.
Orders are binding for the entire industry in a designated area. Marketing agreements only bind those handlers that sign on.
Today there are 29 fruit, vegetable and specialty crop marketing orders and agreements.
Currently there are 10 Federal milk marketing orders. In the dairy industry they're known as FMMOs.
The milk orders assure a minimum milk price for dairy farmers while ensuring consumers an adequate supply of milk. They help maintain stable marketing relationships for the handlers (milk processors) and producers (dairy farmers) supplying a marketing area thereby facilitating the complex process of getting an extremely perishable product to market for consumers.
California has a state order. In 2015 a group of dairy cooperatives requested that USDA establish a FMMO for California. That process began in 2015 and is expected to take a couple (few?) years.
Here's an example
Research & Promotion Programs
Fruit, Vegetable & Specialty Crop Marketing Orders
Almonds
Apricots
Avocados
Cherries: Sweet;Tart
Citrus: Florida; Texas
Cranberries
Dates
Grapes
Hazelnut
Kiwifruit
Olives
Onions: Idaho-Eastern Oregon; South Texas; Vidalia; Walla Walla
Pears: Oregon-Washington
Pistachios
Plums/Prunes: California
Potatoes: Idaho-E. Oregon; Washington; Oregon-California; Colorado; Virginia-North Carolina
Raisins
Spearmint Oil
Tomatoes
Walnuts