II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2745

To provide for grants to assist value-added agricultural businesses.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 15, 2000

Mr. ASHCROFT (for himself and Mr. GRAMS) introduced the following bill;

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

A BILL

To provide for grants to assist value-added agricultural

businesses.

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 ‘‘Value-Added Develop5 ment Act for American Agriculture’’.

6 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE INNOVATION CENTER DEMONSTRA7 TION PROGRAM.

8 (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are to

9 carry out a demonstration program under which agricul10 tural producers are provided—
2

•S 2745 IS

1 (1) technical assistance, including engineering

2 services, applied research, scale production, and

3 similar services to enable the producers to establish

4 businesses for further processing of agricultural

5 products;

6 (2) marketing, market development, and busi7 ness planning;

8 (3) overall organizational, outreach, and devel9 opment assistance to increase the viability, growth,

10 and sustainability of value-added agricultural busi11 nesses.

12 (b) NATURE OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Agri13 culture (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’)

14 shall—

15 (1) make grants to eligible applicants for the

16 purposes of enabling the applicants to obtain the as17 sistance described in subsection (a); and

18 (2) provide assistance to eligible applicants

19 through the research and technical services of the

20 Department of Agriculture.

21 (c) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—An applicant shall be eligible

23 for a grant and assistance described in subsection

24 (b) to establish an Agriculture Innovation Center

25 if—
3

•S 2745 IS

1 (A) the applicant—

2 (i) has provided services similar to

3 those described in subsection (a); or

4 (ii) shows the capability of providing

5 the services;

6 (B) the application of the applicant for the

7 grant and assistance sets forth a plan, in ac8 cordance with regulations which shall be pre9 scribed by the Secretary, outlining support of

10 the applicant in the agricultural community, the

11 technical and other expertise of the applicant,

12 and the goals of the applicant for increasing

13 and improving the ability of local producers to

14 develop markets and processes for value-added

15 agricultural products;

16 (C) the applicant demonstrates that re17 sources (in cash or in kind) of definite value are

18 available, or have been committed to be made

19 available, to the applicant, to increase and im20 prove the ability of local producers to develop

21 markets and processes for value-added agricul22 tural products; and

23 (D) the applicant meets the requirement of

24 paragraph (2).
4

•S 2745 IS

1 (2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The requirement

2 of this paragraph is that the applicant shall have a

3 board of directors comprised of representatives of

4 the following groups:

5 (A) The 2 general agricultural organiza6 tions with the greatest number of members in

7 the State in which the applicant is located.

8 (B) The Department of Agriculture or

9 similar State organization or department, for

10 the State.

11 (C) Organizations representing the 4 high12 est grossing commodities produced in the State,

13 according to annual gross cash sales.

14 (d) GRANTS AND ASSISTANCE.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of

16 appropriations, the Secretary shall make annual

17 grants to eligible applicants under this section, each

18 of which grants shall not exceed the lesser of—

19 (A) $1,000,000; or

20 (B) twice the dollar value of the resources

21 (in cash or in kind) that the applicant has dem22 onstrated are available, or have been committed

23 to be made available, to the applicant in accord24 ance with subsection (c)(1)(C).
5

•S 2745 IS

1 (2) INITIAL LIMITATION.—In the first year of

2 the demonstration program under this section, the

3 Secretary shall make grants under this section, on a

4 competitive basis, to not more than 10 eligible appli5 cants.

6 (3) EXPANSION OF DEMONSTRATION PRO7 GRAM.—In the second year of the demonstration

8 program under this section, the Secretary may make

9 grants under this section to not more than 10 eligi10 ble applicants, in addition to any entities to which

11 grants are made under paragraph (2) for such year.

12 (4) STATE LIMITATION.—In the first 3 years of

13 the demonstration program under this section, the

14 Secretary shall not make a Agricultural Innovation

15 Center Demonstration Program grant under this

16 section to more than 1 entity in any State.

17 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity to which a grant is

18 made under this section may use the grant only for the

19 following purposes:

20 (1) Applied research.

21 (2) Consulting services.

22 (3) Office equipment.

23 (4) Hiring of employees, at the discretion of the

24 board of directors of the entity.
6

•S 2745 IS

1 (5) The making of matching grants, each of

2 which shall be not more than $5,000, to agricultural

3 producers, so long as the aggregate amount of all

4 such matching grants shall be not more than

5 $50,000.

6 (6) Legal services.

7 (f) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA8 TIONS.—For grants and assistance under this section,

9 there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary

10 not more than—

11 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;

12 (2) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002

13 and 2003.

14 (g) REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES.—

15 (1) EFFECTS ON THE AGRICULTURAL SEC16 TOR.—The Secretary shall utilize $300,000 per year

17 of the funds appropriated pursuant to this section to

18 support research at a land-grant university into the

19 effects of value-added projects on agricultural pro20 ducers and the commodity markets. The research

21 should systematically examine possible effects on de22 mand for agricultural commodities, market prices,

23 farm income, and Federal outlays on commodity

24 programs using linked, long-term, global projections

25 of the agricultural sector.
7

•S 2745 IS

1 (2) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—Not later

2 than 3 years after the first 10 grants are made

3 under this section, the Secretary shall prepare and

4 submit to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,

5 and Forestry of the Senate and to the Committee on

6 Agriculture of the House of Representatives a writ7 ten report on the effectiveness of the demonstration

8 program conducted under this section at improving

9 the production of value-added agricultural products

10 and on the effects of the program on the economic

11 viability of the producers, which shall include the

12 best practices and innovations found at each of the

13 Agriculture Innovation Centers established under the

14 demonstration program under this section, and de15 tail the number and type of agricultural projects as16 sisted, and the type of assistance provided, under

17 this section.

Æ