(a) Delegations. Pursuant to § 2.21 (a)(3), (a)(8) and (a)(9), subject to reservations in § 2.21(b)(2), the following delegations of authority are made by the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics to the Administrator, Economic Research Service:
(1) Conduct economic research on matters of importance to cooperatives as authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621-1627).
(2) Conduct economic and social science research and analyses relating to:
(i) Food and agriculture situation and outlook;
(ii) The production, marketing, and distribution of food and fiber products (excluding forest and forest products), including studies of the performance of the food and agricultural sector of the economy in meeting needs and wants of consumers;
(iii) Basic and long-range, worldwide, economic analyses and research on supply, demand, and trade in food and fiber products and the effects on the U.S. food and agriculture system, including general economic analyses of the international financial and monetary aspects of agricultural affairs;
(iv) Natural resources, including studies of the use and management of land and water resources, the quality of these resources, resource institutions, and watershed and river basin development problems; and
(v) Rural people and communities, as authorized by title II of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621-1627), and the Act of June 29, 1935, as amended (7 U.S.C. 427).
(3) [Reserved]
(4) Investigate and make findings as to the effect upon the production of food and upon the agricultural economy of any proposed action pending before the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency for presentation in the public interest, before said Administrator, other agencies, or before the courts.
(5) Review economic data and analyses used in speeches by Department personnel and in materials prepared for release through the press, radio and television.
(6) Cooperate and work with national and international institutions and other persons throughout the world in the performance of agricultural research and extension activities to promote and support the development of a viable and sustainable global agricultural system. Such work may be carried out by:
(i) Exchanging research materials and results with the institutions or persons;
(ii) Engaging in joint or coordinated research;
(iii) Entering into cooperative arrangements with Departments and Ministries of Agriculture in other nations to conduct research, extension; and education activities (limited to arrangements either involving no exchange of funds or involving disbursements by the agency to the institutions of other nations), and then reporting these arrangements to the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics;
(iv) Stationing representatives at such institutions or organizations in foreign countries; or
(v) Entering into agreements with land-grant colleges and universities, other organizations, institutions, or individuals with comparable goals, and with the concurrence of the Office of International Cooperation and Development, USDA, international organizations (limited to agreements either involving no exchange of funds or involving disbursements by the agency to the cooperator), and then reporting these agreements to the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics (7 U.S.C. 3291(a)).
(7) [Reserved]
(8) Administer responsibilities and functions assigned under the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.), and title VI of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5195 et seq.), concerning estimates of supplies of agricultural commodities and evaluation of requirements therefor; food and agricultural aspects of economic stabilization and economic research; and coordination of energy programs.
(9) Enter into contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements to further research programs in the food and agricultural sciences (7 U.S.C. 3318).
(10) Enter into cost-reimbursable agreements relating to agricultural research (7 U.S.C. 3319a).
(11) Represent the Department in international organizational activities and on international technical committees concerned with agricultural science, education, and development activities, including library and information science activities.
(12) Facilitate access by research and extension professionals, farmers, and other interested persons in the United States to, and the use by those persons of, organic research conducted outside the United States (7 U.S.C. 5925d).
(13)-(14) [Reserved]
(15) Solicit and consider input and recommendations from persons who conduct or use agricultural research, extension, or education (7 U.S.C. 7612(b)).
(16) Consider the results of the annual review performed by the Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board regarding the relevance to priorities of the funding of all agricultural research, extension, or education activities conducted or funded by the Department and the adequacy of funding, when formulating each request for proposals, and evaluating proposals, involving an agricultural research, extension, or education activity funded, on a competitive basis, by the Department; and solicit and consider input from persons who conduct or use agricultural research, extension, or education regarding the prior year's request for proposals for each activity funded on a competitive basis (7 U.S.C. 7613(c)).
(17) Establish procedures that ensure scientific peer review of all research activities conducted by the Economic Research Service (7 U.S.C. 7613(d)).
(18) Include in each issuance of projections of net farm income an estimate of the net farm income earned by commercial producers in the United States that will in addition show the estimate of net farm income attributable to commercial producers of livestock, loan commodities, and agricultural commodities other than loan commodities (7 U.S.C. 7998).
(19) Conduct surveys and analysis and publish reports relating to organic production, handling, distribution, retail, and trend studies (including consumer purchasing patterns) (7 U.S.C. 5925c).
(20) Ensure that studies carried out by the Economic Research Service document the number, location, and economic contributions of socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers in agricultural production (7 U.S.C. 2279(h)).
(21) Enter into agreements with and receive funds from any State, other political subdivision, organization, or individual for the purpose of conducting cooperative research projects (7 U.S.C. 450a).
(22) Coordinate implementation of section 10016 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 regarding locally or regionally produced agricultural food products (7 U.S.C. 2204h).
(b) Reservation. The following authority is reserved to the Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics: Review all proposed decisions having substantial economic policy implications.
[60 FR 56393, Nov. 8, 1995, as amended at 62 FR 65596, Dec. 15, 1997; 64 FR 40736, July 28, 1999; 65 FR 5418, Feb. 4, 2000; 68 FR 27446, May 20, 2003; 74 FR 3410, Jan. 21, 2009; 79 FR 44116, July 30, 2014]