I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5915 

To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 

improve the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 10, 2023 

Ms. ADAMS (for herself, Ms. BROWN, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. JACKSON

of Illinois, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Ms. NORTON, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. 

DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. 

GOTTHEIMER, Mr. MCGOVERN, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) introduced the 

following bill 

OCTOBER 25, 2023 

Referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization 

Act of 1994 to improve the Office of Urban Agriculture 

and Innovative Production, 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 ‘‘Supporting Urban and 

5 Innovative Farming Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF URBAN AGRICULTURE AND INNOVATIVE 

2 PRODUCTION. 

3 Section 222 of the Department of Agriculture Reor4 ganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6923) is amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (3)(C), by inserting 

7 ‘‘controlled-environment agriculture, such as’’ 

8 before ‘‘indoor’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (4)— 

10 (i) in subparagraph (F), by striking 

11 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

12 (ii) in subparagraph (G), by striking 

13 the period at the end and inserting a semi14 colon; and 

15 (iii) by adding at the end the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(H) leveraging the Department and 

18 State, Tribal, and local agencies to provide 

19 technical assistance for business incorporation, 

20 navigating local zoning, and managing farm 

21 tract numbers for smaller, noncontiguous par22 cels to growers implementing activities de23 scribed in paragraph (3); 

24 ‘‘(I) leveraging the Department and State, 

25 Tribal, and local agencies to promote conserva26 tion techniques unique to urban agriculture and 


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1 innovative production, including techniques that 

2 address stormwater runoff and the impacted 

3 nature of urban land and the subsurface of the 

4 land; and 

5 ‘‘(J) assisting urban, innovative, and con6 trolled-environment agriculture producers to 

7 navigate Federal, State, Tribal, and local poli8 cies and regulations that impact business or op9 erations.’’; and 

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

11 ‘‘(5) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director may 

13 enter into cooperative agreements with eligible 

14 entities described in subparagraph (B) to sup15 port the implementation of responsibilities de16 scribed in paragraph (4). 

17 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An eligible en18 tity referred to in subparagraph (A) is— 

19 ‘‘(i) a nonprofit organization; 

20 ‘‘(ii) an agricultural cooperative; 

21 ‘‘(iii) an Indian Tribe; or 

22 ‘‘(iv) a producer network or associa23 tion. 

24 ‘‘(C) PRIORITY.—In establishing coopera25 tive agreements under subparagraph (A), the 


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1 Director shall give priority to cooperative agree2 ments with eligible entities that— 

3 ‘‘(i) serve geographic areas with high 

4 concentrations of urban or suburban 

5 farms; 

6 ‘‘(ii) have established relationships 

7 with, or a history of serving, socially dis8 advantaged populations; 

9 ‘‘(iii) have experience working with in10 dividuals with limited English proficiency; 

11 or 

12 ‘‘(iv) demonstrate experience pro13 viding urban agriculture technical assist14 ance in their geographic region.’’; 

15 (2) in subsection (b)— 

16 (A) in paragraph (5)(B), by striking 

17 ‘‘2023’’ and inserting ‘‘2028’’; and 

18 (B) in paragraph (7)(A), by striking ‘‘the 

19 date that’’ and all that follows through ‘‘para20 graph (2)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘September 30, 

21 2028’’; 

22 (3) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(c) GRANTS.— 

25 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

2 award competitive grants to support the devel3 opment of urban and innovative agricultural 

4 production that improves access to local foods 

5 in areas where access to fresh, healthy food is 

6 limited, including through community gardens, 

7 urban farms, rooftop farms, urban agroforestry, 

8 orchards, outdoor vertical production, green 

9 walls, indoor farms, controlled-environment ag10 riculture, greenhouses, high-tech vertical tech11 nology, hydroponics, aeroponics, and 

12 aquaponics. 

13 ‘‘(B) MICROGRANTS.—An eligible entity 

14 may use funds from a grant under subpara15 graph (A) to provide microgrants to urban and 

16 innovative producers to support the growth of 

17 the farm or farm business of the urban and in18 novative producer. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to 

20 receive a grant under paragraph (1)(A) is any of the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(A) A nonprofit organization. 

23 ‘‘(B) A unit of local government. 

24 ‘‘(C) A Tribal government. 


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1 ‘‘(D) An agricultural cooperative or other 

2 agricultural business entity or a producer net3 work or association, including a community4 supported agriculture network or association. 

5 ‘‘(E) Any school that serves any of grades 

6 kindergarten through grade 12. 

7 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under 

8 subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1), the Director 

9 shall give priority to applications from eligible enti10 ties that plan to use the grant funds to provide 

11 microgrants in accordance with subparagraph (B) of 

12 that paragraph.’’; 

13 (4) in subsection (d)— 

14 (A) in the subsection heading, by striking 

15 ‘‘PILOT PROJECTS’’ and inserting ‘‘PROJECTS’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (1)(C), in the matter 

17 preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘2023’’ and in18 serting ‘‘2028’’; and 

19 (C) in paragraph (2)— 

20 (i) in subparagraph (A)— 

21 (I) by striking ‘‘shall carry out 

22 pilot projects under which the Sec23 retary’’; and 

24 (II) by inserting ‘‘and construct 

25 at-scale composting or anaerobic diVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:00 Nov 03, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5915.IH H5915

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1 gestion food waste-to-energy projects’’ 

2 after ‘‘food waste reduction plans’’; 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (B)— 

4 (I) in the subparagraph heading, 

5 by striking ‘‘PILOT’’; 

6 (II) in the matter preceding 

7 clause (i), by inserting ‘‘Indian 

8 Tribes,’’ after ‘‘counties,’’; 

9 (III) by redesignating clauses (vi) 

10 through (viii) as clauses (vii) through 

11 (ix), respectively; and 

12 (IV) by inserting after clause (v) 

13 the following: 

14 ‘‘(vi) develop food waste-to-energy op15 erations;’’; 

16 (iii) by redesignating subparagraphs 

17 (C) through (E) as subparagraphs (D) 

18 through (F), respectively; 

19 (iv) by inserting after subparagraph 

20 (B) the following: 

21 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—An entity that receives 

22 assistance under this paragraph may not use 

23 that assistance for an anaerobic digester that 

24 uses manure as the majority of its undigested 

25 biomass.’’; and 


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1 (v) by striking ‘‘pilot’’ each place it 

2 appears; and 

3 (5) by striking subsection (e) and inserting the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(e) MANDATORY FUNDING.—Of the funds of the 

6 Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary shall use to 

7 carry out this section— 

8 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 

9 ‘‘(2) $22,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

10 ‘‘(3) $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

11 ‘‘(4) $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; and 

12 ‘‘(5) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2028.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. AGRICULTURE AND FOOD RESEARCH INITIATIVE. 

14 Section 2(b)(2)(E) of the Competitive, Special, and 

15 Facilities Research Grants Act (7 U.S.C. 3157(b)(2)(E)) 

16 is amended— 

17 (1) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

18 (2) in clause (v), by striking the period at the 

19 end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

21 ‘‘(vi) hydroponics, aquaponics, 

22 aeroponics, and other production tech23 nologies used in controlled-environment ag24 riculture production.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, EDUCATION, AND 

2 CERTIFICATION. 

3 Section 1672E(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Con4 servation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5925g(a)) is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

7 end; 

8 (2) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at 

9 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

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

11 ‘‘(9) in collaboration with the Office of Urban 

12 Agriculture and Innovative Production established 

13 under section 222 of the Department of Agriculture 

14 Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6923), advise 

15 land-grant colleges and universities (as defined in 

16 section 1404 of the National Agricultural Research, 

17 Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 

18 U.S.C. 3103), minority-serving institutions (as de19 scribed in section 371(a) of the Higher Education 

20 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1067q(a)), junior or commu21 nity colleges (as that term is defined in section 

22 312(f) of such Act), and vocational schools with re23 spect to career and technical education, including— 

24 ‘‘(A) workforce development programs; 

25 ‘‘(B) professional credentialing; and 


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1 ‘‘(C) the specialized curricula, developed in 

2 coordination with the National Institute of 

3 Food and Agriculture, non-profit organizations, 

4 and trade associations.’’. 

5 SEC. 5. DATA COLLECTION ON URBAN, INDOOR, AND 

6 EMERGING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. 

7 Section 1672E of the Food, Agriculture, Conserva8 tion, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5925g) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub11 section (e); 

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(d) DATA COLLECTION ON URBAN, INDOOR, AND

15 EMERGING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

17 after the date of the enactment of this subsection 

18 and biennially thereafter, the Secretary, acting 

19 through the Director of the National Agricultural 

20 Statistics Service, shall prepare and transmit to the 

21 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

22 of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of 

23 the House of Representatives, and make publicly 

24 available, a report containing data on urban, indoor, 


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1 and other emerging agricultural production, includ2 ing data on— 

3 ‘‘(A) community gardens and farms lo4 cated in urban areas, suburbs, and urban clus5 ters; 

6 ‘‘(B) rooftop farms, outdoor vertical pro7 duction, and green walls; 

8 ‘‘(C) controlled environment agriculture, 

9 indoor farms, greenhouses, and high-tech 

10 vertical technology farms; 

11 ‘‘(D) hydroponic, aeroponic, and aquaponic 

12 farm facilities; 

13 ‘‘(E) other innovations in agricultural pro14 duction, as determined by the Secretary; 

15 ‘‘(F) the locations of the facilities de16 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (E); and 

17 ‘‘(G) demographic information on the own18 ers and operators of those facilities. 

19 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

20 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

21 this subsection $14,000,000 for the period of fiscal 

22 years 2024 through 2028.’’; and 


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1 (3) in subsection (e) (as so redesignated), by in2 serting ‘‘(other than subsection (d))’’ after ‘‘this sec3 tion’’ each place it appears. 

Æ 


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