Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA)
ARS performs FOIA services
for all the Agencies within the REE mission area.
Research,
Education, and Economics Freedom of Information Act
FOIA
Contacts at USDA
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.
Accessability
to Disabled Persons
The USDA, ARS, and NSTL are committed to making their web sites accessible
to all USDA customers and employees. All of the agency web sites are undergoing
review and redesign as necessary to ensure that they meet or excee the
requrements of the Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Many
of our web sites currently meet the Section 508 accessibility standards.
Furthermore, USDA, ARS, and NSTL continue to work on making all web sites
accessible. Thank you very much for your patience through this redesign
process. If you have any comments or suggestions for improvement, please
contact the webmaster
of this page.
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 the ARS 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.
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