II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3129 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reauthorize 

the farm to school program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Ms. COLLINS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 

Act to reauthorize the farm to school program, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm to School Act 

5 of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO LOCAL FOODS: PATRICK LEAHY FARM 

7 TO SCHOOL PROGRAM. 

8 Section 18(g) of the Richard B. Russell National 

9 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769(g)) is amended— 

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1 (1) in the subsection heading, by striking ‘‘PRO2 GRAM’’ and inserting ‘‘PROGRAM.’’; 

3 (2) in paragraph (1)— 

4 (A) by striking the paragraph designation 

5 and heading and all that follows through 

6 ‘‘means’’ and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

8 ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER.—The 

9 term ‘agricultural producer’ means a farmer, 

10 rancher, or fisher (including of farm-raised 

11 fish). 

12 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term 

13 ‘eligible institution’ means’’; and 

14 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(C) FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM.—The 

16 term ‘farm to school program’ means a pro17 gram that— 

18 ‘‘(i) benefits an eligible institution, as 

19 determined by the Secretary; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) carries out— 

21 ‘‘(I) planting and maintenance of 

22 farms or gardens; 

23 ‘‘(II) procurement from local ag24 ricultural producers; or 

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1 ‘‘(III) educational activities relat2 ing to agriculture, nutrition, or food.’’; 

3 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

4 (A) by striking ‘‘schools’’ each place it ap5 pears and inserting ‘‘institutions’’; 

6 (B) by inserting ‘‘land-grant colleges and 

7 universities,’’ before ‘‘and nonprofit’’; and 

8 (C) by striking ‘‘grants and technical as9 sistance’’ and inserting ‘‘grants, technical as10 sistance, research, and evaluation’’; 

11 (4) in paragraph (3)— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

13 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and 

14 technical assistance’’ after ‘‘training’’; 

15 (ii) by redesignating clauses (vi) and 

16 (vii) as clauses (vii) and (viii), respectively; 

17 and 

18 (iii) by inserting after clause (v) the 

19 following: 

20 ‘‘(vi) implementing educational activi21 ties relating to agriculture, nutrition, or 

22 food;’’; and 

23 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in24 serting the following: 

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1 ‘‘(C) IMPROVED PROCUREMENT AND DIS2 TRIBUTION.— 

3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In awarding 

4 grants under this subsection, the Secretary 

5 shall seek to improve local food procure6 ment and distribution options for agricul7 tural producers and eligible institutions. 

8 ‘‘(ii) AGGREGATION, PROCESSING, 

9 TRANSPORTATION, AND DISTRIBUTION.— 

10 In advancing local food procurement op11 tions and other farm to school program ob12 jectives, the Secretary may provide funding 

13 for projects that include innovative ap14 proaches to aggregation, processing, trans15 portation, and distribution. 

16 ‘‘(D) AWARDS.— 

17 ‘‘(i) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total 

18 amount provided to a grant recipient under 

19 this subsection shall not exceed $500,000. 

20 ‘‘(ii) TERM.—The term of an award 

21 shall not exceed 3 years. 

22 ‘‘(iii) PURPOSE AND SCOPE.—In mak23 ing awards under this subsection, the Sec24 retary shall seek to make awards of diverse 

25 amounts and duration in order to best 

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1 match the award to the purpose and scope 

2 of the project to be funded. 

3 ‘‘(E) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may 

4 not award a grant under this subsection if the 

5 grant funds would be used solely for the pur6 pose of carrying out a conference.’’; 

7 (5) in paragraph (4)— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 

9 Tribal,’’ after ‘‘State’’; and 

10 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(C) WAIVER OR MODIFICATION.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

13 may waive or modify the matching require14 ment under this paragraph if the Secretary 

15 determines that a waiver or modification is 

16 necessary to reduce barriers to applications 

17 for projects that meet 1 or more of the cri18 teria for receiving highest priority under 

19 paragraph (5). 

20 ‘‘(ii) PROCESS.—The Secretary shall 

21 establish and make publicly available the 

22 process by which an applicant may request 

23 a waiver or modification under clause (i). 

24 ‘‘(D) TRIBAL AGENCIES.—The Secretary 

25 may allow a Tribal agency to use funds proVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Oct 27, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3129.IS S3129
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1 vided to the Indian Tribe of the Tribal agency 

2 through a Federal agency (including the Indian 

3 Health Service) or any other Federal benefit to 

4 satisfy all or part of the non-Federal share de5 scribed in subparagraph (A) if that use is con6 sistent with the purpose of the funds or other 

7 Federal benefit provided.’’; 

8 (6) in paragraph (5)— 

9 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

10 through (F) and (G) as clauses (i) through (vi) 

11 and (ix), respectively, and indenting the clauses 

12 appropriately; 

13 (B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

14 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘To the maximum 

15 extent practicable’’ and inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum ex17 tent practicable’’; 

18 (C) in clause (i) (as so redesignated), by 

19 striking ‘‘school’’ and inserting ‘‘institution’’; 

20 (D) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), by 

21 striking ‘‘lunches’’ and inserting ‘‘meals’’; 

22 (E) by striking clause (iii) (as so redesig23 nated) and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(iii)(I) incorporate experiential and 

25 traditional and culturally appropriate food, 

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1 nutrition, or agricultural education activi2 ties in curriculum planning; and 

3 ‘‘(II) serve a high proportion of chil4 dren from socially disadvantaged back5 grounds;’’; 

6 (F) in clause (iv) (as so redesignated), by 

7 striking ‘‘eligible schools’’ and all that follows 

8 through ‘‘partners’’ and inserting ‘‘eligible insti9 tutions, State and local agencies, Tribal organi10 zations and agencies, agricultural producers or 

11 groups of agricultural producers, land-grant col12 leges and universities, and nonprofit entities’’; 

13 (G) in clause (vi) (as so redesignated), by 

14 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

15 (H) by inserting after clause (vi) (as so re16 designated) the following: 

17 ‘‘(vii) expand the selection of local 

18 commodities for eligible institutions; 

19 ‘‘(viii) identify and address chronic 

20 diet-related health issues of the children 

21 served by eligible institutions; and’’; and 

22 (I) by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(B) TRIBAL COMMUNITY PROJECTS.—To 

24 the maximum extent practicable, in providing 

25 assistance under this subsection for projects 

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1 that serve Tribal communities, the Secretary 

2 shall give the highest priority to projects that 

3 incorporate products, including traditional 

4 foods, from Tribal agricultural producers, as 

5 determined by the Secretary.’’; 

6 (7) in paragraph (7)— 

7 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

8 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec9 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

10 (B) by striking the paragraph designation 

11 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘non12 profit entities—’’ and inserting the following: 

13 ‘‘(7) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND RE14 SEARCH.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

16 provide technical assistance, research, and in17 formation to assist eligible institutions, State 

18 and local agencies, Indian Tribal organizations, 

19 agricultural producers or agricultural producer 

20 groups, and nonprofit entities—’’; 

21 (C) in subparagraph (A) (as so des22 ignated)— 

23 (i) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), 

24 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

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1 (ii) in clause (iii) (as so redesignated), 

2 by striking the period at the end and in3 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘(iv) to increase awareness of, and 

7 participation in, farm to school programs 

8 among agricultural and aquaculture pro9 ducers or agricultural producer groups, in10 cluding beginning farmers and ranchers, 

11 veteran farmers and ranchers, and socially 

12 disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (as 

13 those terms are defined in section 2501(a) 

14 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 

15 and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 

16 2279(a))).’’; and 

17 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 

20 year after the date of enactment of the 

21 Farm to School Act of 2023 and every 3 

22 years thereafter, the Secretary shall review 

23 and submit to the Committees on Agri24 culture and Education and the Workforce 

25 of the House of Representatives and the 

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1 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 

2 Forestry of the Senate a report that de3 scribes the progress that has been made in 

4 identifying and eliminating regulatory and 

5 other barriers related to developing farm to 

6 school programs. 

7 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—In preparing 

8 the report, the Secretary shall examine— 

9 ‘‘(I) the direct and indirect regu10 latory compliance costs affecting the 

11 production and marketing of locally or 

12 regionally produced agricultural food 

13 products to school and early childhood 

14 food programs; 

15 ‘‘(II) barriers to local and re16 gional market access for small-scale 

17 production; 

18 ‘‘(III) barriers to funding 

19 projects that meet the criteria de20 scribed in paragraph (5)(A); 

21 ‘‘(IV) barriers to local and re22 gional market access for Tribal farm23 ers and ranchers; and 

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1 ‘‘(V) barriers to funding Tribal 

2 projects under farm to school pro3 grams.’’; 

4 (8) in paragraph (8)— 

5 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

6 ‘‘$5,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’; 

7 and 

8 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATION.—Of the funds pro10 vided to the Secretary under subparagraph (A), 

11 not more than 5 percent may be used to pay 

12 administrative costs incurred by the Secretary 

13 in carrying out this subsection.’’; and 

14 (9) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘2011 

15 through 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2023 through 2028’’. 

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