7 U.S.C. § 2302
Section 2302 · Definitions
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 15 court decisions — leading case Michigan Canners & Freezers Assn., Inc. v. Agricultural Marketing and Bargaining Bd. (1984)
Most recently applied in Terry v. Tyson Farms, Inc. (May 2010)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
In this chapter:
(1) Agricultural products
The term “agricultural products” shall not include cotton or tobacco or their products.
(2)(2) 1 Association of producers
(A) In general
The term “association of producers” means any association of producers of agricultural products engaged in marketing, bargaining, shipping, or processing as defined in section 1141j(a) of title 12, or in section 291 of this title.
(B) Inclusion
The term “association of producers” includes an organization whose membership is exclusively limited to agricultural producers and dedicated to promoting the common interest and general welfare of producers of agricultural products.
(3)(3) 1 Handler
(A) In general
The term “handler” means any person engaged in the business or practice of (i) acquiring agricultural products from producers or associations of producers for processing or sale; or (ii) grading, packaging, handling, storing, or processing agricultural products received from producers or associations of producers; or (iii) contracting or negotiating contracts or other arrangements, written or oral, with or on behalf of producers or associations of producers with respect to the production or marketing of any agricultural product; or (iv) acting as an agent or broker for a handler in the performance of any function or act specified in clause (i), (ii), or (iii).
(B) Exclusion
The term “handler” does not include a person, other than a packer (as defined in section 191 of this title), that provides custom feeding services for a producer.
(4) Producer
The term “producer” means a person engaged in the production of agricultural products as a farmer, planter, rancher, dairyman, fruit, vegetable, or nut grower.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Pub. L. 110–234 and Pub. L. 110–246 made identical amendments to this section. The amendments by Pub. L. 110–234 were repealed by section 4(a) of Pub. L. 110–246.
Amendments
2008—Pub. L. 110–246, §11003, in introductory provisions, substituted “In this chapter:” for “When used in this chapter—”, redesignated subsecs. (e), (c), (a), and (b) as pars. (1) to (4), respectively, inserted par. headings, in pars. (2) and (3), inserted duplicate par. designations, designated existing provisions as subpar. (A), and added subpar. (B), in par. (3), redesignated cls. (1) to (4) as (i) to (iv), respectively, in cl. (iv), substituted “clause (i), (ii), or (iii)” for “clause (1), (2), or (3) of this paragraph”, and struck out subsec. (d) which read as follows: “The term ‘person’ includes individuals, partnerships, corporations, and associations.”
Effective Date of 2008 Amendment
Amendment of this section and repeal of Pub. L. 110–234 by Pub. L. 110–246 effective May 22, 2008, the date of enactment of Pub. L. 110–234, see section 4 of Pub. L. 110–246, set out as an Effective Date note under section 8701 of this title.