Collapse to view only § 5852. Agricultural Weather Office
- § 5851. Short title and purposes
- § 5852. Agricultural Weather Office
- § 5853. Repealed.
- § 5854. State agricultural weather information systems
- § 5855. Funding
- § 5856. Improvements to United States Drought Monitor
§ 5851. Short title and purposes
(a) Short title
(b) Purposes
The purposes of this subchapter are—
(1) to provide a nationally coordinated agricultural weather information system, based on the participation of universities, State programs, Federal agencies, and the private weather consulting sector, and aimed at meeting the weather and climate information needs of agricultural producers;
(2) to facilitate the collection, organization, and dissemination of advisory weather and climate information relevant to agricultural producers, through the participation of the private sector and otherwise;
(3) to provide for research and education on agricultural weather and climate information, aimed at improving the quality and quantity of weather and climate information available to agricultural producers, including research on short-term forecasts of thunderstorms and on extended weather forecasting techniques and models;
(4) to encourage, where feasible, greater private sector participation in providing agricultural weather and climate information, to encourage private sector participation in educating and training farmers and others in the proper utilization of agricultural weather and climate information, and to strengthen their ability to provide site-specific weather forecasting for farmers and the agricultural sector in general; and
(5) to ensure that the weather and climate data bases needed by the agricultural sector are of the highest scientific accuracy and thoroughly documented, and that such data bases are easily accessible for remote computer access.
(Pub. L. 101–624, title XVI, § 1637, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3747.)
§ 5852. Agricultural Weather Office
(a) Establishment of Office and administration of system
(1) Establishment required
(2) Director
(b) AuthorityThe 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 National Institute of Food and Agriculture, competitive grants under subsection (c) 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 National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 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
(2) Competitive basis
(d) PriorityIn selecting among applications for grants under subsection (c), 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, § 1638, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3748; Pub. L. 102–237, title IV, § 407(6), Dec. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1865; Pub. L. 110–234, title VII, § 7511(c)(18), May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1269; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title VII, § 7511(c)(18), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 2030.)
§ 5853. Repealed. Pub. L. 107–171, title VII, § 7304(a), May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 455
§ 5854. State agricultural weather information systems
(a) Advisory program grants
(1) Grants required
(2) Persons described
(b) Consultation
(c) Eligibility requirementsTo be eligible to receive a grant under this section, the chief executive officer of a State shall submit to the Secretary an application that contains—
(1) assurances that the State will expend such grant to plan and administer a State agricultural weather system that will—
(A) collect observational weather data throughout the State and provide such data to the National Weather Service and the Agricultural Weather Office;
(B) develop methods for packaging information received from the national system for use by agricultural producers (with State Cooperative Extension Services and the private sector to serve as the primary conduit of agricultural weather forecasts and climatic information to producers); and
(C) develop programs to educate agricultural producers on how to best use weather and climate information to improve management decisions; and
(2) such other assurances and information as the Secretary may require by rule.
(Pub. L. 101–624, title XVI, § 1640, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3749; Pub. L. 107–171, title VII, § 7304(b), May 13, 2002, 116 Stat. 455; Pub. L. 110–234, title VII, § 7511(c)(19), May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1269; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title VII, § 7511(c)(19), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 2030.)
§ 5855. Funding
(a) Allocation of funds
(1) Cooperative work
(2) Competitive grants program
(3) Weather information systems
(4) Other purposes
(b) Limitations on use of funds
(c) Authorization of appropriations
(Pub. L. 101–624, title XVI, § 1641, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 3750; Pub. L. 104–127, title VIII, § 833, Apr. 4, 1996, 110 Stat. 1168; Pub. L. 110–234, title VII, §§ 7202, 7511(c)(20), May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1233, 1269; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title VII, §§ 7202, 7511(c)(20), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 1994, 2030; Pub. L. 113–79, title VII, § 7206, Feb. 7, 2014, 128 Stat. 881; Pub. L. 115–334, title VII, § 7207, Dec. 20, 2018, 132 Stat. 4805.)
§ 5856. Improvements to United States Drought Monitor
(a) In general
(b) Utilization
(c) ReviewNot later than 1 year after December 20, 2018, the Secretary shall conduct a review of—
(1) the types of data currently utilized by the United States Drought Monitor;
(2) the geographic coverage and density of existing data collection sites; and
(3) other meteorological or climatological data that is being collected by other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and non-Federal entities that could be utilized by the United States Drought Monitor.
(d) Improvements
(1) In generalUpon the completion of the review prescribed in subsection (c), the Secretary shall—
(A) seek to expand the collection of relevant data in States or geographic areas where coverage is currently lacking as compared to other States or geographic areas; and
(B) to the maximum extent practicable, develop standards to allow the integration of meteorological or climatological data into the United States Drought Monitor derived from—
(i) in-situ soil moisture profile measuring devices;
(ii) citizen science (as defined in the Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Act (15 U.S.C. 3724)), including data from the Cooperative Observer Program of the National Weather Service; and
(iii) other Federal agencies, State and local governments, and non-Federal entities.
(2) Authorization of appropriations
(Pub. L. 115–334, title XII, § 12512, Dec. 20, 2018, 132 Stat. 4995.)