II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3097 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide support for organic dairy 

producers and processors, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 19, 2023 

Mr. WELCH (for himself, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide support 

for organic dairy producers and processors, 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 ‘‘Organic Dairy Assist5 ance, Investment, and Reporting Yields Act of 2023’’ or 

6 the ‘‘O DAIRY Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF ELAP TO CERTAIN LOSSES IN2 CURRED BY ORGANIC DAIRY FARMERS. 

3 (a) EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR LIVESTOCK, 

4 HONEY BEES, AND FARM-RAISED FISH.—Section 

5 1501(d)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 

6 9081(d)(2)) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘used to reduce’’ and inserting 

8 the following: ‘‘used— 

9 ‘‘(A) to reduce’’; and 

10 (2) in subparagraph (A) (as so designated), by 

11 striking ‘‘fever.’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘fever; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) to reduce losses incurred by organic 

14 dairy farmers that are beyond those covered by 

15 other disaster programs of the Department of 

16 Agriculture, including losses that are caused by 

17 an increase in organic feed or other input costs 

18 that result in a cumulative decrease in net in19 come of more than 10 percent in any 1 calendar 

20 year.’’. 

21 (b) STREAMLINED PAYMENT PROCESS.—Section 

22 1501 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9081) is 

23 amended by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(g) STREAMLINED PAYMENT PROCESS.—The Sec25 retary, to the maximum extent practicable, shall stream26 line the process for making payments under this section.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. IMPROVED DATA COLLECTION FOR ORGANIC 

2 DAIRY. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture (re4 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall provide sup5 port for regional and national programs to collect and 

6 publish cost-of-production data for organic milk, including 

7 data relating to— 

8 (1) the costs of major organic feedstuffs, in9 cluding— 

10 (A) corn; 

11 (B) corn silage; 

12 (C) soybeans; 

13 (D) sorghum; 

14 (E) oilseeds; 

15 (F) small grains; 

16 (G) forage crops; 

17 (H) pasture; 

18 (I) hay; and 

19 (J) any other major organic feedstuff, as 

20 determined by the Secretary; 

21 (2) with respect to the costs described in para22 graph (1), prices for— 

23 (A) major organic feedstuffs produced do24 mestically; and 

25 (B) imported major organic feedstuffs; and 


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1 (3) all other costs relating to the production of 

2 organic milk. 

3 (b) ORGANIC ALL MILK PRICE SURVEY.—Not later 

4 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

5 Secretary shall establish a survey, to be known as the ‘‘Or6 ganic All Milk Prices Survey’’, which shall be analogous 

7 to the existing All Milk Prices Survey of the National Ag8 ricultural Statistics Service, to gather and report monthly 

9 data about the amounts that organic dairy farmers are 

10 being paid for the organic milk produced by those organic 

11 dairy farmers and the prices received for organic milk 

12 cows, including— 

13 (1) national data; and 

14 (2) data relating to, at a minimum, the 6 re15 gions with the greatest quantity of organic dairy 

16 production, as determined by the Secretary. 

17 (c) ORGANIC MILK REPORTING.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

19 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec20 retary, using data collected by the National Agricul21 tural Statistics Service, the Economic Research 

22 Service, or the Agricultural Marketing Service, shall 

23 publish new periodic reports that include, or add to 

24 existing periodic reports, data for organic milk, 


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1 which shall be equivalent to data reported for con2 ventionally produced milk. 

3 (2) REQUIREMENT.—Reports published under 

4 paragraph (1) shall include, at a minimum— 

5 (A) organic cost-of-production data by 

6 State; 

7 (B) regional data relating to the quantity 

8 of organic milk production; 

9 (C) organic mailbox price for the 6 regions 

10 with the greatest quantity of organic dairy pro11 duction, as determined by the Secretary; and 

12 (D) major organic feedstuff prices. 

13 SEC. 4. SAFETY NET PROGRAM FOR ORGANIC DAIRY 

14 FARMS. 

15 (a) PROPOSAL.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall publish in 

17 the Federal Register a proposal to establish new organic 

18 dairy safety net programs to ensure that such programs 

19 provide adequate support for organic dairy farms based 

20 on cost data specific to organic dairy. 

21 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept 

23 written and recorded comments with respect to the 

24 development of a proposal under subsection (a). 


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1 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Comments accept2 ed under paragraph (1) shall be made available to 

3 the public. 

4 (c) REQUIREMENT.—In developing a proposal under 

5 subsection (a), the Secretary shall ensure that— 

6 (1) all organic dairy operations are eligible to 

7 participate in the programs proposed to be estab8 lished pursuant to that proposal; and 

9 (2) those programs prioritize support for small 

10 dairy operations (as determined based on the small 

11 business size standard for the applicable North 

12 American Industry Classification System code de13 scribed in section 121.201 of title 13, Code of Fed14 eral Regulations (or a successor regulation)). 

15 (d) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 

17 submit to Congress a report that— 

18 (1) includes recommendations relating to the 

19 implementation of the proposal developed under sub20 section (a); and 

21 (2) describes any actions taken by the Secretary 

22 to implement that proposal. 


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1 SEC. 5. INVESTMENTS IN ORGANIC DAIRY PROCESSING IN2 FRASTRUCTURE. 

3 (a) INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT FUNDING PRO4 GRAM.—Not later than 180 days after the date of enact5 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish a program 

6 to provide funding for investments in infrastructure to en7 hance regional organic milkshed markets that seek to 

8 drive a greater affinity for regionally sourced and proc9 essed organic dairy products by incentivizing support 

10 for— 

11 (1) the development of new organic dairy proc12 essing plants that support multiple regional small 

13 dairy operations (as determined based on the small 

14 business size standard for the applicable North 

15 American Industry Classification System code de16 scribed in section 121.201 of title 13, Code of Fed17 eral Regulations (or a successor regulation)); 

18 (2) initiatives that establish institutional pur19 chasing of local organic dairy products; 

20 (3) investment in infrastructure on farms and 

21 in sites that aggregate raw milk to gain transport 

22 and processing efficiencies; 

23 (4) the establishment of on-farm organic dairy 

24 processing and storage; 

25 (5) producers and processors that want to ex26 pand regional organic processing infrastructure servVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:37 Oct 20, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3097.IS S3097

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1 ing regionally produced organic milk from multiple 

2 regional small dairy operations (as determined based 

3 on the small business size standard for the applica4 ble North American Industry Classification System 

5 code described in section 121.201 of title 13, Code 

6 of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation)), 

7 including by— 

8 (A) supporting work to finalize business 

9 plans; and 

10 (B) providing processor start-up capital; 

11 and 

12 (6) initiatives that support increasing regional 

13 processing capacity to facilitate co-packing and toll14 ing for regionally produced organic milk from mul15 tiple regional small dairy operations (as determined 

16 based on the small business size standard for the ap17 plicable North American Industry Classification Sys18 tem code described in section 121.201 of title 13, 

19 Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regula20 tion)). 

21 (b) REGIONAL ORGANIC DAIRY MARKET SPECIAL22 ISTS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec25 retary shall establish regional positions in each 


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1 major organic dairy producing region, to be known 

2 as ‘‘Regional Organic Dairy Market Specialists’’— 

3 (A) to conduct research on the marketing 

4 of organic dairy, including research relating 

5 to— 

6 (i) quality standards, including 

7 changes in those standards over time; 

8 (ii) cost-of-production data; 

9 (iii) consolidation of, and lack of com10 petition among, buyers; 

11 (iv) requirements for certification, in12 cluding changes in those requirements over 

13 time; 

14 (v) direct marketing of value-added 

15 products at the farm level; and 

16 (vi) the establishment and promotion 

17 of new or existing regional organic dairy 

18 brands that source regional milk; and 

19 (B) to provide reports, recommendations, 

20 and advice to the Secretary, organic dairy pro21 ducers and processors, Congress, and the public 

22 with respect to the matters described in clauses 

23 (i) through (vi) of subparagraph (A) and other 

24 matters relating to the marketing of organic 

25 dairy, including a report describing the options, 


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1 costs, and feasibility of establishing an organic 

2 dairy insurance program through the Depart3 ment of Agriculture. 

4 (2) REQUIREMENT.—A Regional Organic Dairy 

5 Market Specialist may be— 

6 (A) an employee of the Department of Ag7 riculture; or 

8 (B) a position at a relevant institution of 

9 higher education. 

10 (3) RESEARCH TEAMS.—A Regional Organic 

11 Dairy Market Specialist shall establish a research 

12 team to assist the Regional Organic Dairy Market 

13 Specialist in conducting the research described in 

14 paragraph (1)(A). 

15 (4) PERIOD OF SUPPORT.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

17 enter into a commitment to provide support for 

18 Regional Organic Dairy Market Specialists, and 

19 the research teams established under paragraph 

20 (3), for a period of 5 years. 

21 (B) RENEWAL OF SUPPORT.—Subject to 

22 the availability of appropriations, at the end of 

23 a 5-year period of support, the Secretary may 

24 renew the support of a Regional Organic Dairy 

25 Market Specialist (and the research team of 


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1 that Regional Organic Dairy Market Specialist) 

2 for 1 or more successive 5-year periods, pursu3 ant to such commitments as the Secretary de4 termines to be appropriate. 

5 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

6 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for 

7 each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028— 

8 (1) $20,000,000 to carry out subsection (a); 

9 and 

10 (2) $5,000,000 to carry out subsection (b). 

Æ 


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