II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2936 

To establish as a permanent program the organic market development grant 

program of the Department of Agriculture. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2023 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself, Mr. KING, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. WELCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To establish as a permanent program the organic market 

development grant program of the Department of Agriculture. 

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

3 SECTION 1. ORGANIC MARKET DEVELOPMENT GRANT PRO4 GRAM. 

5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 (1) CERTIFIED ORGANIC PRODUCT.—The term 

7 ‘‘certified organic product’’ means an agricultural 

8 product (as defined in section 2103 of the Organic 

9 Foods Production Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6502)) 


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1 that is organically produced (as defined in that sec2 tion). 

3 (2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible enti5 ty’’ means an entity described in subparagraph 

6 (B) that— 

7 (i) is owned and operated within— 

8 (I) a State; 

9 (II) the District of Columbia; 

10 (III) the Commonwealth of Puer11 to Rico; 

12 (IV) the United States Virgin Is13 lands; 

14 (V) Guam; 

15 (VI) American Samoa; 

16 (VII) the Commonwealth of the 

17 Northern Mariana Islands; or 

18 (VIII) the jurisdiction of a Tribal 

19 government; and 

20 (ii)(I) is certified in accordance with 

21 subpart E of part 205 of title 7, Code of 

22 Federal Regulations (or successor regula23 tions); or 

24 (II) is in transition to certification. 


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1 (B) ENTITIES DESCRIBED.—An entity re2 ferred to in subparagraph (A) is— 

3 (i) a producer, producer cooperative, 

4 or other commercial entity that produces 

5 or handles certified organic products; 

6 (ii) a nonprofit corporation; 

7 (iii) a trade association; 

8 (iv) a public benefit corporation; 

9 (v) a philanthropic organization; 

10 (vi) a unit of Tribal, State, territorial, 

11 or local government; or 

12 (vii) such other entity as the Sec13 retary may designate. 

14 (C) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘eligible enti15 ty’’ does not include an entity described in sub16 paragraph (B) the operations of which are sus17 pended or revoked under section 205.662 of 

18 title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or a suc19 cessor regulation). 

20 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

21 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

22 (4) TRANSITION TO CERTIFICATION.—The term 

23 ‘‘transition to certification’’, with respect to an eligi24 ble entity, means the period of time during which 

25 the crops or livestock of the eligible entity, as appliVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:44 Sep 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2936.IS S2936

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1 cable, are managed in accordance with the require2 ments of the National Organic Program before being 

3 granted organic certification, which may include— 

4 (A) the management of cropland organi5 cally for not less than 3 years; 

6 (B) the management of slaughter of live7 stock organically from the last third of gesta8 tion; 

9 (C) the management of dairy animals or10 ganically for not less than 1 year; 

11 (D) the management of poultry organically 

12 from the second day of life; and 

13 (E) such other conditions as the Secretary 

14 may require. 

15 (b) ESTABLISHMENT AND PURPOSE.—The Secretary, 

16 acting through the Administrator of the Agricultural Mar17 keting Service, shall establish a program, to be known as 

18 the ‘‘Organic Market Development Grant Program’’, 

19 that— 

20 (1) increases the capacity of the domestic or21 ganic product supply chain for producers, handlers, 

22 suppliers, and processors of certified organic prod23 ucts; 

24 (2) modernizes manufacturing, tracking, stor25 age, and information technology systems specific to 


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1 the purposes described in this subsection, such as 

2 process control or organic product ingredient track3 ing systems; 

4 (3) improves the capacity of eligible entities to 

5 comply with applicable regulatory requirements or 

6 quality standards required to access markets, such 

7 as requirements and standards relating to food safe8 ty and organic product certification; 

9 (4) expands capacity for storage, processing, 

10 aggregation, and distribution of certified organic 

11 products to create more and better markets for pro12 ducers of certified organic products; 

13 (5) facilitates market development for domesti14 cally produced certified organic products; 

15 (6) provides for the conduct of feasibility stud16 ies and market viability assessments to inform or17 ganic transition strategies and opportunities; 

18 (7) ameliorates barriers to entry to organic 

19 product certification for historically underserved en20 tities; 

21 (8) supports market and promotional activities 

22 that help build commercial markets for certified or23 ganic products in the United States; and 

24 (9) provides technical assistance and outreach 

25 to program stakeholders and participants. 


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1 (c) GRANTS.—For each fiscal year for which amounts 

2 are made available to carry out this section under sub3 section (k), the Secretary shall provide grants to support 

4 eligible entities in conducting activities in accordance with 

5 the purposes of the program described in subsection (b). 

6 (d) APPLICATIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a 

8 grant under this section, an eligible entity shall sub9 mit to the Secretary an application at such time, in 

10 such manner, and containing such information as 

11 the Secretary may require. 

12 (2) SIMPLIFIED PROCESS.—The Secretary shall 

13 implement a simplified application and award proc14 ess under this section for use by any eligible entity 

15 seeking to carry out an equipment-only project. 

16 (3) BENEFITS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

18 subparagraph (B), an application submitted 

19 under this subsection shall include a description 

20 of the direct or indirect producer or food busi21 ness benefits intended by the eligible entity to 

22 result from the proposed project within a rea23 sonable period of time after the receipt of a 

24 grant under this section. 


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1 (B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) shall 

2 not apply to any feasibility study or market via3 bility assessment conducted pursuant to this 

4 section. 

5 (4) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall establish 

6 such criteria for the evaluation and funding of pro7 posed projects under this section as the Secretary 

8 determines to be appropriate. 

9 (5) COMPETITIVE PROCESS.—The Secretary— 

10 (A) shall conduct a competitive process to 

11 select applications submitted under this sub12 section; 

13 (B) may assess and rank applications with 

14 similar purposes as a group; and 

15 (C) before accepting any application under 

16 this subsection, shall publish the criteria to be 

17 used in evaluating the applications. 

18 (e) PROJECT TYPES.—An eligible entity may use 

19 amounts received under this section to carry out, in ac20 cordance with such goals and deadlines for completion as 

21 the Secretary may establish, the following types of 

22 projects: 

23 (1) Market development and promotion of cer24 tified organic products. 


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1 (2) Certified organic product storage (including 

2 cold storage), aggregation, processing, and distribu3 tion capacity expansion. 

4 (3) Equipment-only. 

5 (f) TERM.—Unless otherwise determined by the Sec6 retary, a grant provided under this section shall have a 

7 term of not longer than 3 years. 

8 (g) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a grant pro10 vided under this section for a project described in 

11 paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (e) shall be not 

12 more than $3,000,000. 

13 (2) SIMPLIFIED EQUIPMENT-ONLY PROJECTS.— 

14 The amount of a grant provided under this section 

15 for a project described in subsection (e)(3) shall be 

16 not more than $100,000. 

17 (h) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re19 ceives a grant under this section to carry out a 

20 project described in paragraph (1) or (2) of sub21 section (e) shall provide a non-Federal share equal 

22 to not less than 50 percent of the cost of the project. 

23 (2) SIMPLIFIED EQUIPMENT-ONLY PROJECTS.— 

24 An eligible entity that receives a grant under this 

25 section to carry out a project described in subsection 


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1 (e)(3) shall not be required to contribute a non-Fed2 eral share to the cost of the project. 

3 (i) INAPPLICABILITY OF PRIOR LIMITATIONS.— 

4 (1) QUANTITY.—The Secretary may provide a 

5 grant under this section to more than 1 eligible enti6 ty, as the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

7 (2) CONSTRUCTION AND STRUCTURAL

8 CHANGES.—A grant provided under this section may 

9 be used by an eligible entity for— 

10 (A) new construction; or 

11 (B) any structural modification to an exist12 ing building or facility resulting in— 

13 (i) an expansion in the square footage 

14 of the building or facility; or 

15 (ii) a change to the floor, the founda16 tion, or an exterior or load-bearing wall of 

17 the building or facility. 

18 (j) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary may 

19 provide to eligible entities technical assistance under this 

20 section, directly or through a cooperative agreement. 

21 (k) FUNDING.— 

22 (1) MANDATORY FUNDING.—Of the funds of 

23 the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary 

24 shall use to carry out this section $75,000,000 for 


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1 fiscal year 2024 and each fiscal year thereafter, to 

2 remain available until expended. 

3 (2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

5 this section $25,000,000 for fiscal year 2024 and 

6 each fiscal year thereafter, to remain available until 

7 expended. 

Æ 


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