§ 5852. — Agricultural Weather Office.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC5852]
TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
CHAPTER 88--RESEARCH
SUBCHAPTER III--NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL WEATHER INFORMATION SYSTEM
Sec. 5852. Agricultural Weather Office
(a) Establishment of Office and administration of system
(1) Establishment required
The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish in the Department
of Agriculture an Agricultural Weather Office to plan and administer
the National Agricultural Weather Information System. The system
shall be comprised of the office established under this section and
the activities of the State agricultural weather information systems
described in section 5854 of this title.
(2) Director
The Secretary shall appoint a Director to manage the activities
of the Agricultural Weather Office and to advise the Secretary on
scientific and programmatic coordination for climate, weather, and
remote sensing.
(b) Authority
The Secretary, acting through the Office, may undertake the
following activities to carry out this subchapter:
(1) Enter into cooperative projects with the National Weather
Service to--
(A) support operational weather forecasting and observation
useful in agriculture;
(B) sponsor joint workshops to train agriculturalists about
the optimum utilization of agricultural weather and climate
data;
(C) jointly develop improved computer models and computing
capacity; and
(D) enhance the quality and availability of weather and
climate information needed by agriculturalists.
(2) Obtain standardized weather observation data collected in
near real time through State agricultural weather information
systems.
(3) Make, through the Cooperative State Research Service,
competitive grants under subsection (c) of this section for research
in atmospheric sciences and climatology.
(4) Make grants to eligible States under section 5854 of this
title to plan and administer State agricultural weather information
systems.
(5) Coordinate the activities of the Office with the weather and
climate research activities of the Cooperative State Research
Service, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Science
Foundation Atmospheric Services Program, and the National Climate
Program.
(6) Encourage private sector participation in the National
Agricultural Weather Information System through mutually beneficial
cooperation with the private sector, particularly in generating
weather and climatic data useful for site-specific agricultural
weather forecasting.
(c) Competitive grants program
(1) Grants authorized
With funds allocated to carry out this subsection, the Secretary
of Agriculture may make grants to State agricultural experiment
stations, all colleges and universities, other research institutions
and organizations, Federal agencies, private organizations and
corporations, and individuals to carry out research in all aspects
of atmospheric sciences and climatology that can be shown to be
important in both a basic and developmental way to understanding,
forecasting, and delivering agricultural weather information.
(2) Competitive basis
Grants made under this subsection shall be made on a competitive
basis.
(d) Priority
In selecting among applications for grants under subsection (c) of
this section, the Secretary shall give priority to proposals which
emphasize--
(1) techniques and processes that relate to weather-induced
agricultural losses, and to improving the advisory information on
weather extremes such as drought, floods, freezes, and storms well
in advance of their actual occurrence;
(2) the improvement of site-specific weather data collection and
forecasting; or
(3) the impact of weather on economic and environmental costs in
agricultural production.
(Pub. L. 101-624, title XVI, Sec. 1638, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3748;
Pub. L. 102-237, title IV, Sec. 407(6), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1865.)
Amendments
1991--Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 102-237 substituted ``National Science
Foundation'' for ``National Sciences Foundation''.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in section 5855 of this title.
