I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5824 

To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 

to improve assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers 

and veteran farmers and ranchers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2018 

Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico (for herself and Mr. BEN

RAY LUJA ́N of New Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade 

Act of 1990 to improve assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers and veteran farmers and 

ranchers, 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 ‘‘Assist Socially Dis5 advantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Act of 

6 2018’’. 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 5824 IH

1 SEC. 2. OUTREACH AND ASSISTANCE FOR SOCIALLY DIS2 ADVANTAGED FARMERS AND RANCHERS AND 

3 VETERAN FARMERS AND RANCHERS. 

4 Section 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conserva5 tion, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a)) is amend6 ed— 

7 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘agricul8 tural’’ and inserting ‘‘agricultural, forestry, and re9 lated’’; 

10 (2) in paragraph (3)— 

11 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 

12 through (D) as subparagraphs (E) through (G), 

13 respectively; 

14 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM TERM AND AMOUNT OF

17 GRANT, CONTRACT, OR AGREEMENT.—A grant, 

18 contract, or agreement entered into under this 

19 paragraph shall be— 

20 ‘‘(i) for a term that is not more than 

21 3 years; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) in an amount that is not more 

23 than $200,000 for each year of the grant, 

24 contract, or agreement. 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 5824 IH

1 ‘‘(C) PEER REVIEW.—The Secretary shall 

2 establish a fair and efficient external peer re3 view process that— 

4 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall use in making 

5 grants and entering into contracts and 

6 other agreements under subparagraph (A); 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(ii) shall include a broad representa9 tion of peers of the eligible entity. 

10 ‘‘(D) INPUT FROM ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— 

11 The Secretary shall seek input from eligible en12 tities providing technical assistance under this 

13 subsection not less than once each year to en14 sure that the program is responsive to the eligi15 ble entities providing that technical assist16 ance.’’; and 

17 (C) in subsection (G) (as so redesignated), 

18 by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(v) The number of farms or ranches 

20 started, maintained, or improved as a re21 sult of funds made available under the pro22 gram. 

23 ‘‘(vi) Actions taken by the Secretary 

24 in partnership with eligible entities to en25 hance participation in agricultural proVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:52 May 31, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5824.IH H5824

pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 5824 IH

1 grams by veteran farmers or ranchers and 

2 socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers. 

3 ‘‘(vii) The effectiveness of the actions 

4 described in clause (vi).’’; and 

5 (3) in paragraph (4)— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

7 (i) in the subparagraph heading, by 

8 striking ‘‘2018’’ and inserting ‘‘2023’’; 

9 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

10 the end; 

11 (iii) in clause (iii), by striking the pe12 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

13 (iv) by adding at the end the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(iv) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal 

16 years 2019 through 2023, to remain avail17 able until expended.’’; and 

18 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

19 ‘‘2018’’ and inserting ‘‘2023’’. 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 5824 IH

1 SEC. 3. TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR SO2 CIALLY DISADVANTAGED FARMERS AND 

3 RANCHERS AND VETERAN FARMERS AND 

4 RANCHERS. 

5 Section 2501A of the Food, Agriculture, Conserva6 tion, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279–1) is amend7 ed— 

8 (1) in the section heading, by inserting ‘‘AND

9 VETERAN FARMERS AND RANCHERS’’ before the 

10 period at the end; 

11 (2) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and veteran 

12 farmers and ranchers’’ before ‘‘in programs’’; 

13 (3) in subsection (b)— 

14 (A) by striking the subsection designation 

15 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘the 

16 term’’ the first place it appears and inserting 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED FARMER OR

20 RANCHER.—The term’’; and 

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

22 ‘‘(2) VETERAN FARMER OR RANCHER.—The 

23 term ‘veteran farmer or rancher’ has the meaning 

24 given the term in section 2501(e).’’; and 

25 (4) in subsection (c)— 

26 (A) in paragraph (1)— 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 5824 IH

1 (i) in the matter preceding subpara2 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘and veteran farm3 ers or ranchers’’ after ‘‘ranchers’’; and 

4 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

5 ‘‘and gender’’ and inserting ‘‘gender, and 

6 veteran status’’; 

7 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 

8 through (4) as paragraphs (3) through (5), re9 spectively; 

10 (C) by inserting after paragraph (1) the 

11 following: 

12 ‘‘(2) 5-YEAR REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

13 March 31, 2020, and every 5 years thereafter, for 

14 each county and State in the United States, the Sec15 retary shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) compile data on— 

17 ‘‘(i) the number of base acres of each 

18 program crop owned by farmers or ranch19 ers; 

20 ‘‘(ii) payment yields for each program 

21 crop made by farmers or ranchers; 

22 ‘‘(iii) the number of fee waivers and 

23 premium reductions provided to farmers or 

24 ranchers under the noninsured crop dis25 aster assistance program established by 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 5824 IH

1 section 196 of the Federal Agriculture Im2 provement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 

3 U.S.C. 7333); 

4 ‘‘(iv) the number of loans guaranteed 

5 by the Secretary to farmers or ranchers; 

6 ‘‘(v) the allocation of grazing permits 

7 by the Forest Service to farmers or ranch8 ers; and 

9 ‘‘(vi) the race, ethnicity, gender, and 

10 veteran status of each farmer or rancher 

11 under clauses (i) through (v), subject to 

12 appropriate privacy protections, as deter13 mined by the Secretary; and 

14 ‘‘(B) organize the data compiled under 

15 clauses (i) through (v) of subparagraph (A) ac16 cording to the categories described in clause (vi) 

17 of that subparagraph.’’; 

18 (D) in paragraph (3) (as so redesig19 nated)— 

20 (i) by striking ‘‘and ethnicity’’ and in21 serting ‘‘ethnicity, and veteran status’’; 

22 and 

23 (ii) by striking ‘‘paragraph (1)’’ and 

24 inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1) and (2)’’; 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 5824 IH

1 (E) in paragraph (4) (as so redesig2 nated)— 

3 (i) by redesignating subparagraphs 

4 (A) through (C) as clauses (i) through 

5 (iii), respectively, and indenting appro6 priately; 

7 (ii) by striking the paragraph designa8 tion and heading and all that follows 

9 through ‘‘Using’’ and inserting the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(4) REPORTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Using’’; 

13 (iii) in subparagraph (A) (as so redes14 ignated), in the matter preceding clause (i) 

15 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘under 

16 paragraph (1)’’ and inserting the following: 

17 ‘‘under— 

18 ‘‘(i) paragraph (1); and 

19 ‘‘(ii) in a separate report, under para20 graph (2). 

21 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted 

22 under subparagraph (A) shall contain data’’; 

23 (iv) in subparagraph (B) (as so redes24 ignated), in the matter preceding clause (i) 

25 (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘that 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 5824 IH

1 paragraph’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1) 

2 and (2), as applicable,’’; and 

3 (F) in paragraph (5) (as so redesignated), 

4 by striking ‘‘the report described in paragraph 

5 (3)’’ and inserting ‘‘the reports described in 

6 paragraph (4)’’. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS