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Section
508 compliance
USDA
/ARS-APMRU is committed to making its 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 exceed the
requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Many
of our web sites currently meet the Section 508 accessibility
standards. Furthermore, we 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.
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.
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.
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
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