Role of Marketing Orders in Establishing and Maintaining Orderly Marketing Conditions

摘要

Federal marketing orders are legally binding plans, designed and operated by growers and handlers of specific fruit, vegetable, and specialty crops (such as hops and nuts), and approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. Their primary goal is to establish orderly marketing conditions by alleviating supply/demand imbalances. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has overall responsibility for federal marketing orders. GAO noted that the Department's information on marketing orders was not always made available to interested parties and was not current, and that the Department had not measured the performance of marketing orders in terms of program goals. GAO's recommendations address these two issues.