What does AMS mean in FARMING & AGRICULTURE

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides marketing support and services to producers, buyers and consumers of agricultural commodities through programs designed to ensure a fair and profitable marketplace. AMS also oversees farmers' markets, organic certification, farm product labeling, market news collection and analysis, grants, research and promotion programs.

The objectives of AMS are to improve efficiency in agricultural marketing; facilitate greater competition among agricultural producers; expand domestic and foreign markets for American-grown products; foster export promotion activities; protect consumers from deceptive or fraudulent practices in labeling foods; provide useful information on supply and demand conditions in the marketplace; promote voluntary quality standards for the regulated products; communicate marketing data efficiently and effectively; provide air quality monitoring services at public grain warehouses or elevators.

AMS works with over 800 industry organizations to develop quality standards for food safety, product grading, packaging characteristics and other attributes. AMS also provides regulatory oversight for nearly 40 Federal marketing agreements governing fruits, vegetables, nuts and specialty crops as well as contracts to purchase more than $3 billion in commodities annually while ensuring fair pricing across markets. In addition, AMS provides quality monitoring program services at grain elevators which verify that stored grains meet quality requirements set by customers. Finally, AMS collects market news data on prices commodities across the country's diverse agriculture sectors.

Yes, AMS has regulatory oversight over more than 200 food safety regulations offered by USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) including guidance on humane treatment of animals used in production processes along with labeling requirements for processed meat products.

Yes, through the Grain Inspection Packers & Stockyards Administration (GIPSA), investigators from the USDA believe that deceptive labeling or fraudulent practices could artificially inflate prices or lead to unfair advantage amongst competitors in trading grains such as wheat or corn. Thus GIPSA oversees investigations related to packing plants where these agricultural products are inspected stored or shipped.

Farmers' markets are regulated through USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). While there is no uniform regulation applied nationwide since each state governs them independently under state laws however local authorities may require certifications related food safety inspections if selling prepared items like sandwiches cookies etc….

Grants offered by AMC are usually provided to eligible entities such as small businesses land grant institutions nonprofits universities research institutions individuals etc..for variety of purposes such as research development education promotional activities demonstration projects technical assistance consultation advisory studies surveys evaluation pilot project etc…