Funds Availability: Purchase of Fruit, Vegetable, Dairy, and Meat Products Due to COVID-19 National Emergency-USDA Food Box Distribution Program
Docket Number: AMS-CP-20-0040
Dates: Invitations to submit proposals are expected to be issued within two weeks of the date of this notice.
Summary
Cotton Quality Assurance and Futures Certification
The Cotton & Tobacco Program provides reliable quality data to U.S. cotton producers, facilitating the marketing of cotton to U.S. merchants and textile mills. Given the program’s stellar worldwide reputation for accuracy, making USDA quality data available to foreign textile mills adds value to U.S. cotton in a highly competitive global market.
To accomplish this mission, Quality Assurance staff performs two key functions:
Cotton Classing Services
Grading services are an integral part of the U.S. cotton supply chain. Cotton classing is not mandatory, rather grading is performed at the request of producers or their designees who pay a “user- fee” for the service. Growers find third-party unbiased grading services provided by C&T essential to the fair and equitable marketing of their crop.
Cotton Fiber Testing and Standardization
The Universal Cotton Standards Agreement of 1923 elevated the status of the USDA cotton standards to a fully internationally recognized standard. Since this time, the Universal Cotton Standards have been produced and distributed by the AMS Cotton and Tobacco Program under the auspices of a delegate body made up of U.S. and international signatory delegates.
Universal Cotton Standards