Section 2-8-62. Recommendation of promulgation of marketing order; permissible provisions of orders; effectiveness of orders heretofore adopted and in effect on July 1, 1989

   (a) If, upon the basis of the record of testimony and documentary evidence received at the hearing provided for in Code Section 2-8-61 and the facts officially noticed therein from official publications or institutions of recognized standing, the commission determines that the issuance of a marketing order or an amendment will tend to effectuate the intent and purpose of this article, it may recommend the promulgation of a marketing order or amendment with respect to the matters specified in the hearing notice and supported by the record, containing any or all of the following provisions, but no others:

   (1) Provisions regulating the period or periods during which peanuts or any grade, size, or quality of peanuts may be processed, distributed, or otherwise marketed within this state by any and all persons engaged in such processing, distributing, or marketing within this state; such periods shall be established by the commission so as to conform to the better principles of sound agricultural practices with respect to production of the peanuts in order to secure, so far as is commercially practical, a sufficient supply of good quality of each grade of peanuts proportionate to normal market demand and to prevent disruptive marketing practices likely to result in oversupply or scarcity, which create unnecessarily inflated prices to consumers and handlers, depressed prices to producers, or salability of products of inferior grade and quality due to unavailability of good quality products;

   (2) Provisions establishing or providing for establishing, with respect to peanuts, either as delivered by producers to handlers or processors or as handled, processed, or otherwise prepared for market or as marketed by producers, handlers, or processors:

      (A) Grading standards of quality, condition, size, maturity, or pack, which standards may include minimum standards, provided that the standards so established shall not be established below any minimum standards prescribed by law for peanuts; and

      (B) Uniform inspection and grading of peanuts in accordance with the standards so established.

   (3) Provisions for the establishment of plans for advertising and sales promotion to maintain present markets or to create new or larger markets for peanuts grown in this state or for the prevention, modification, or removal of trade barriers which obstruct the normal flow of peanuts to market. The commission is authorized to prepare, issue, administer, and enforce plans for promoting the sale of peanuts, provided that any such plan shall be directed toward promoting and increasing the sale, use, and utilization of peanuts without reference to a particular brand or trade name; and provided, further, that no advertising or sales promotion program shall be issued by the commission which makes use of false or unwarranted claims in behalf of any such product or disparages the quality, value, sale, or use of any other agricultural commodity;

   (4) Provisions prohibiting unfair trade practices by which any producer or handler tends toward establishment of monopoly, unfairly discriminates among customers as to price or quality, or engages in fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading representations, concealment, or other similar sharp business practices which are harmful to his or its customers, injurious to competitors, likely to bring into disrepute persons generally engaged in production and handling of peanuts, or detrimental to the intent and purpose of this article;

   (5) Provisions for carrying on research studies in promoting the production, marketing, sale, use and utilization, processing, and improvement of peanuts or any combination thereof and for the expenditure of moneys for such purposes. In any research carried on under this paragraph, the dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences of the University of Georgia and the commission shall cooperate in selecting the research project or projects to be carried on from time to time. Insofar as practicable such projects shall be carried out by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences but, if the dean of the college and the commission determine that the college has no facilities for a particular project or that some other research agency has better facilities therefor, the project may be carried out by other research agencies selected by the commission;

   (6) Provisions establishing or providing authority for establishing, either as peanuts are produced or are delivered by producers to handlers or as peanuts are handled or otherwise prepared for market or as peanuts are marketed by producers or handlers, an educational program designed to acquaint producers, handlers, or other interested persons with quality improvement, including sanitation practices, procedures, or methods as applied to peanuts;

   (7) Provisions for the promotion of the marketing of surplus peanuts through the establishment of surplus, stabilization, or by-product pools for peanuts or any grade, size, quality, or condition thereof, providing for the sale of the peanuts in any such pool and for the equitable distribution among the persons participating therein of the net returns derived from the sale of such peanuts. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of any such pool or pools, the commission shall have the power to receive such peanuts from each producer or handler, to handle the same according to the grade, size, quality, or condition thereof, and to account to each producer or handler participating therein upon a pro rata basis for the net proceeds derived from the sale thereof. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of a surplus, stabilization, or by-product pool, the commission shall have authority to promote the marketing of surplus peanuts by making arrangements for and operating any necessary facilities for the storing, financing, grading, hauling, packing, servicing, processing, preparing for market, selling, and disposing of the contents of any pools provided for in this paragraph. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of any type of pool authorized in this paragraph, the commission shall have authority to create, by a uniform assessment upon producers, or to maintain and disburse, upon some other uniform and equitable basis, an equalization fund to be used for the removal of any inequalities between producers or handlers participating in any pool; and

   (8) Provisions for the establishment and management of a stabilization fund to compensate producers of peanuts for peanuts which must be diverted or which fail to qualify for marketing or sale in regular marketing channels due to grade, quality, or size regulations. The commission shall be authorized to provide, by regulations, for the administration of such stabilization fund, including regulations as to the type, quality or grade of peanuts, the amount of stabilization support, reporting, and qualifying procedures. Whenever the marketing order authorizes the establishment of any type of stabilization fund authorized in this paragraph, the commission shall have the authority to create such fund by a uniform assessment upon producers of peanuts and to maintain and disburse such stabilization fund in accordance with the purposes set out in this paragraph.

(b) All provisions authorized by this Code section which are contained in marketing orders and amendments thereto heretofore adopted by the Agricultural Commodity Commission for Peanuts and in effect on July 1, 1989, shall be and remain of full force and effect until repealed or modified by the commission as provided in this article.

Code 1981, § 2-8-62, enacted by Ga. L. 1989, p. 1420, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 10, § 2.