§ 453. — Authority and duties of division.
[Laws in effect as of January 7, 2003]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 7, 2003 and December 19, 2003]
[CITE: 7USC453]
TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 18--COOPERATIVE MARKETING
Sec. 453. Authority and duties of division
(a) The division shall render service to associations of producers
of agricultural products, and federations and subsidiaries thereof,
engaged in the cooperative marketing of agricultural products, including
processing, warehousing, manufacturing, storage, the cooperative
purchasing of farm supplies, credit, financing, insurance, and other
cooperative activities.
(b) The division is authorized--
(1) To acquire, analyze, and disseminate economic, statistical,
and historical information regarding the progress, organization, and
business methods of cooperative associations in the United States
and foreign countries.
(2) To conduct studies of the economic, legal, financial,
social, and other phases of cooperation, and publish the results
thereof. Such studies shall include the analyses of the
organization, operation, financial and merchandising problems of
cooperative associations.
(3) To make surveys and analyses if deemed advisable of the
accounts and business practices of representative cooperative
associations upon their request; to report to the association so
surveyed the results thereof; and with the consent of the
association so surveyed to publish summaries of the results of such
surveys, together with similar facts, for the guidance of
cooperative associations and for the purpose of assisting
cooperative associations in developing methods of business and
market analysis.
(4) To confer and advise with committees or groups of producers,
if deemed advisable, that may be desirous of forming a cooperative
association and to make an economic survey and analysis of the facts
surrounding the production and marketing of the agricultural product
or products which the association, if formed, would handle or
market.
(5) To acquire from all available sources information concerning
crop prospects, supply, demand, current receipts, exports, imports,
and prices of the agricultural products handled or marketed by
cooperative associations, and to employ qualified commodity
marketing specialists to summarize and analyze this information and
disseminate the same among cooperative associations and others.
(6) To promote the knowledge of cooperative principles and
practices and to cooperate, in promoting such knowledge, with
educational and marketing agencies, cooperative associations, and
others.
(7) To make such special studies, in the United States and
foreign countries, and to acquire and disseminate such information
and findings as may be useful in the development and practice of
cooperation.
(July 2, 1926, ch. 725, Sec. 3, 44 Stat. 802.)
