Commercial
Endorsement Disclaimer
The use of trade, firm, or corporation
names in this publication (or page) is for the information and convenience of the reader.
Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the United States
Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Research Service of any product or service
to the exclusion of others that may be suitable. USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race,
color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual
orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all
programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of
program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET
Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write
USDA, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW,
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal
opportunity provider and employer.
Government
System Usage Policy
This information service operates on a
U.S. Government computer system. This system is monitored to ensure proper operation, to
verify the functioning of applicable security features, and for other like purposes.
Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring and is advised that if such
monitoring reveals evidence of possible criminal activity, system personnel may provide
the evidence of such activity to law enforcement officials. Unauthorized attempts to
upload or change information; to defeat or circumvent security features; or to utilize
this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited.
USDA Privacy
Policy
Thank you for visiting this U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) website and reviewing our privacy statement. Our privacy
policy is clear: We will collect no personal information about you when you visit our
website unless you choose to provide that information to us.
Here is how we handle information
about your visit to our website:
Information
Collected and Stored Automatically
If you do nothing during your visit
but browse through the website, read pages, or download information, we will gather and
store certain information about your visit automatically. This information does not
identify you personally. We automatically collect and store only the following information
about your visit:
- The Internet domain (for example,
"xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or
"yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (an
IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are
surfing the Web) from which you access our website;
- The type of browser and operating
system used to access our site;
- The date and time you access our
site;
- The pages you visit; and
- If you linked to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture website from another website, the address of that website.
We use this information to help us
make our site more useful to visitors - to learn about the number of visitors to our site
and the types of technology our visitors are using. We do not track or record information
about individuals and their visits.
If You Send Us
Personal Information
If you choose to provide us with
personal information, as in an e-mail to the Secretary or someone else or by filling out a
form with your personal information and submitting it to us through our website, we use
that information to respond to your message and to help us locate for you the information
you have requested. We treat e-mails the same way that we regard letters sent to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. We are required to maintain many documents under the
Presidential Records Act for historical purposes, but we do not collect personal
information for any purpose other than to respond to you. We only share the information
you give us with another government agency if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as
otherwise required by law. Moreover, we do not create individual profiles with the
information you provide or to give it to any private organizations. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture does not collect information for commercial marketing.
When You Visit
USDA Agency/Staff Office Websites
Please read the USDA Agency/Staff
Office Privacy Statement when you visit those websites. Where necessary, an Agency/Staff
Office may have additional privacy criteria, conditions, or information that you should
know.
Links to Other
Sites
Our website has links to many other
federal agencies. In a few cases we link to private organizations, with their permission.
Once you access another site through a link that we provide you are subject to the privacy
policy of the new site.
Website Security
Information presented on the USDA
website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of
appropriate byline/photo/image credits is requested.
- For site security purposes and to
ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system
employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to
upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage.
- Except for authorized law
enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or
their usage habits. Raw data logs are used for no other purposes and are scheduled for
regular destruction in accordance with National Archives and Records AdministrationGeneral Schedule 20.
- Unauthorized attempts to upload
information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be
punishable under the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information
Infrastructure Protection Act.
Comments or
Questions
If you have any comments or questions
about the information presented here please forward them to howard.baker@usda.gov
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 |