I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4800 

To support specialty crop producers and production in the United States, 

to improve the program of value-added agricultural product market development grants by routing the grant funds through State departments 

of agriculture, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 9, 2004 

Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by 

the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To support specialty crop producers and production in the 

United States, to improve the program of value-added 

agricultural product market development grants by routing the grant funds through State departments of agriculture, 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 ‘‘Specialty Crop and 

5 Value-Added Agriculture Promotion Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. ANNUAL GRANTS TO STATES TO SUPPORT SPE2 CIALTY CROP PRODUCERS. 

3 (a) AVAILABILITY AND PURPOSE OF GRANTS.—Sub4 ject to the appropriation of funds to carry out this section, 

5 the Secretary of Agriculture shall make a grant each fiscal 

6 year under this section to each State that submits an ap7 plication requesting the grant for that fiscal year. The 

8 grant funds shall be used by the State department of agri9 culture solely to enhance the competitiveness of specialty 

10 crops produced in that State. The application for a fiscal 

11 year shall be submitted at such time and in such form 

12 as the Secretary prescribes. 

13 (b) GRANTS BASED ON VALUE OF PRODUCTION.— 

14 The amount of the grant for a fiscal year to a State under 

15 this section shall bear the same ratio to the total amount 

16 appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropria17 tions in subsection (e) for that fiscal year as the value 

18 of specialty crop production in the State during the pre19 ceding calendar year bears to the value of specialty crop 

20 production during that calendar year in all States submit21 ting applications for a grant for that fiscal year. 

22 (c) GRANT FUNDS AS SUPPLEMENT TO STATE EX23 PENDITURES.—Grant funds provided under this section 

24 shall supplement the expenditure of State funds in support 

25 of specialty crops and specialty crop producers, and shall 

26 not replace State funds. 
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1 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) The term ‘‘specialty crop’’ means all agri3 cultural crops, except wheat, feed grains, oilseeds, 

4 cotton, rice, peanuts, sugar, and tobacco. 

5 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the 50 

6 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

7 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

8 Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of 

9 the Northern Mariana Islands. 

10 (3) The term ‘‘State department of agriculture’’ 

11 means the agency, commission, or department of a 

12 State government responsible for protecting and pro13 moting agriculture within the State. 

14 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

15 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary 

16 $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2005 and each fiscal year 

17 thereafter to make grants under this section. 

18 SEC. 3. BLOCK GRANTS TO STATES FOR VALUE-ADDED AG19 RICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKET DEVELOP20 MENT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 231(b) of the Agricultural 

22 Risk Protection Act of 2000 (7 U.S.C. 1621 note) is 

23 amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

25 ‘‘(1) BLOCK GRANTS TO STATES.— 
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—From amounts made 

2 available under paragraph (6) for each fiscal 

3 year, the Secretary shall provide to each State, 

4 subject to subparagraph (B), a sum equal to— 

5 ‘‘(i) the amount so made available; 

6 multiplied by 

7 ‘‘(ii)(I) the total value of the agricul8 tural commodities and products made in 

9 the State during the preceding fiscal year; 

10 divided by 

11 ‘‘(II) the total value of the agricul12 tural commodities and products made in 

13 all of the States during the preceding fiscal 

14 year. 

15 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—The total amount that 

16 may be provided to a State for a fiscal year 

17 under subparagraph (A) shall not exceed 

18 $3,000,000. 

19 ‘‘(2) GRANTS BY STATES.—A State to which 

20 funds are provided under paragraph (1) shall use 

21 the money to award competitive grants— 

22 ‘‘(A) to an eligible independent producer 

23 (as determined by the State) of a value-added 

24 agricultural product to assist the producer— 
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1 ‘‘(i) in developing a business plan for 

2 viable marketing opportunities for the 

3 value-added agricultural product; or 

4 ‘‘(ii) in developing strategies that are 

5 intended to create marketing opportunities 

6 for the producer; and 

7 ‘‘(B) to an eligible agricultural producer 

8 group, farmer or rancher cooperative, or major9 ity-controlled producer-based business venture 

10 (as determined by the State) to assist the enti11 ty— 

12 ‘‘(i) in developing a business plan for 

13 viable marketing opportunities in emerging 

14 markets for a value-added agricultural 

15 product; or 

16 ‘‘(ii) in developing strategies that are 

17 intended to create marketing opportunities 

18 in emerging markets for the value-added 

19 agricultural product. 

20 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The total amount pro22 vided under paragraph (2) to a grant recipient 

23 shall not exceed $500,000. 

24 ‘‘(B) MAJORITY-CONTROLLED PRODUCER25 BASED BUSINESS VENTURES.—The amount of 
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1 grants provided by a State to majority-con2 trolled producer-based business ventures under 

3 paragraph (2)(B) for a fiscal year may not ex4 ceed 10 percent of the amount of funds that are 

5 used by the State to make grants for the fiscal 

6 year under paragraph (2). 

7 ‘‘(4) GRANTEE STRATEGIES.—A grantee under 

8 paragraph (2) shall use the grant— 

9 ‘‘(A) to develop a business plan or perform 

10 a feasibility study to establish a viable mar11 keting opportunity for a value-added agricul12 tural product; or 

13 ‘‘(B) to provide capital to establish alli14 ances or business ventures that allow the pro15 ducer of the value-added agricultural product to 

16 better compete in domestic or international 

17 markets. 

18 ‘‘(5) REPORTS.—Within 90 days after the end 

19 of a fiscal year for which funds are provided to a 

20 State under paragraph (1), the State shall submit to 

21 the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep22 resentatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nu23 trition, and Forestry of the Senate a report describ24 ing how the funds were used. 
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1 ‘‘(6) FUNDING.—On October 1 of each fiscal 

2 year, of the funds of the Commodity Credit Corpora3 tion, the Secretary shall make available to carry out 

4 this subsection $100,000,000, to remain available 

5 until expended. 

6 ‘‘(7) STATE DEFINED.—In this subsection, the 

7 term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States, the Dis8 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

9 Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, 

10 American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 

11 Northern Mariana Islands. ’’. 

12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

13 subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2004. 

14 SEC. 4. REIMBURSEMENT OF CERTIFICATION COSTS. 

15 The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish a quality 

16 standardization program for certification of farmers and 

17 processors under quality assurance systems. The pro18 gram— 

19 (1) shall set standards for types of certifications 

20 that qualify under the program; 

21 (2) may provide for certification under pro22 grams such as Good Agricultural Practices, Good 

23 Handling Practices, and Good Manufacturing Prac24 tices programs; 
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1 (3) shall establish what certification-related ex2 penses shall qualify for reimbursement under the 

3 program; and 

4 (4) shall provide that farmers and processors 

5 shall be reimbursed for 50 percent of qualified ex6 penses related to accepted certifications. 

7 SEC. 5. NATIONWIDE EXPANSION OF RISK MANAGEMENT 

8 AGENCY ADJUSTED GROSS REVENUE INSUR9 ANCE PROGRAM. 

10 (a) EXPANSION.—Section 523(e) of the Federal Crop 

11 Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1523(e)) is amended by adding 

12 at the end the following new paragraph: 

13 ‘‘(3) PERMANENT NATIONWIDE OPERATION.— 

14 Effective beginning with the 2005 reinsurance year, 

15 the Corporation shall carry out the adjusted gross 

16 revenue insurance pilot program as a permanent 

17 program under this Act and may expand the pro18 gram to cover any county in which crops are pro19 duced. To facilitate the expansion of the program 

20 nationwide, the Corporation may grant temporary 

21 premium subsidies for the purchase of a policy 

22 under the program to producers whose farm oper23 ations are located in a county that has a high level 

24 of specialty crop production and has not had a high- 
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1 level of participation in the purchase of crop insur2 ance coverage.’’. 

3 (b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY.—The Comp4 troller General shall conduct a study of the Federal crop 

5 insurance program to determine how well the program 

6 serves specialty crop producers and to recommend such 

7 changes as the Comptroller General considers appropriate 

8 to improve the program for specialty crop producers. 

9 SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROGRAM 

10 IN SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAMS. 

11 The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act 

12 (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) is amended— 

13 (1) in section 18, by striking subsection (g); 

14 and 

15 (2) by inserting after section 18 the following 

16 new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 19. FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROGRAM. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make avail19 able to students in not more than 100 schools in each 

20 State, and in elementary and secondary schools on 1 In21 dian reservation, free fresh and dried fruits and vegetables 

22 throughout the school day in 1 or more areas designated 

23 by the school. 

24 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY IN ALLOCATION.—In selecting States 

25 to participate in the program, the Secretary shall give pri-
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1 ority to States that produce large quantities of specialty 

2 crops. 

3 ‘‘(c) PUBLICITY.—A school participating in the pro4 gram authorized by this section shall publicize within the 

5 school the availability of free fruits and vegetables under 

6 the program. 

7 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

8 is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years 2005 and 

9 2006, $20,000,000 to carry out this section.’’.

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