II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 569 

To reauthorize the farm to school program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2015 

Mr. LEAHY (for himself and Mr. COCHRAN) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To reauthorize the farm to school program, 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 ‘‘Farm to School Act 

5 of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO LOCAL FOODS: FARM TO SCHOOL PRO7 GRAM. 

8 Section 18(g) of the Richard B. Russell National 

9 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769(g)) is amended— 

10 (1) in paragraph (1)— 


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1 (A) by striking the paragraph designation 

2 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘In 

3 this subsection, the’’ and inserting the fol4 lowing: 

5 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

6 ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER.—The 

7 term ‘agricultural producer’ means a farmer, 

8 rancher, or fisher (including of farm-raised 

9 fish). 

10 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE SCHOOL.—The’’; and 

11 (B) in subparagraph (B) (as so redesig12 nated), by inserting ‘‘, including the summer 

13 food service program for children under section 

14 13 and the early care and afterschool portions 

15 of the child and adult care food program under 

16 section 17,’’ after ‘‘under this Act’’; 

17 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and non18 profit entities through grants and technical assist19 ance’’ and inserting ‘‘land-grant colleges and univer20 sities, and nonprofit entities through grants, tech21 nical assistance, and research’’; 

22 (3) in paragraph (3)— 

23 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

24 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and 

25 technical assistance’’ after ‘‘training’’; 


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1 (ii) by redesignating clauses (vi) and 

2 (vii) as clauses (vii) and (viii), respectively; 

3 and 

4 (iii) by inserting after clause (v) the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(vi) implementing agricultural lit7 eracy and nutrition education;’’; and 

8 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in9 serting the following: 

10 ‘‘(C) IMPROVED PROCUREMENT AND DIS11 TRIBUTION.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In awarding 

13 grants under this subsection, the Secretary 

14 shall seek to improve local food procure15 ment and distribution options for agricul16 tural producers and eligible schools. 

17 ‘‘(ii) AGGREGATION, PROCESSING, 

18 TRANSPORTATION, AND DISTRIBUTION.— 

19 In advancing local food procurement op20 tions and other farm to school objectives, 

21 the Secretary may provide funding for 

22 projects that include innovative approaches 

23 to aggregation, processing, transportation, 

24 and distribution. 

25 ‘‘(D) AWARDS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total 

2 amount provided to a grant recipient under 

3 this subsection shall not exceed $200,000. 

4 ‘‘(ii) TERM.—The term of an award 

5 shall not exceed 3 years. 

6 ‘‘(iii) PURPOSE AND SCOPE.—In mak7 ing awards under this subsection, the Sec8 retary shall seek to make awards of diverse 

9 amounts and duration in order to best 

10 match the award to the purpose and scope 

11 of the project to be funded. 

12 ‘‘(E) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may 

13 not award a grant under this subsection if the 

14 grant funds would be used solely for the pur15 pose of carrying out a conference.’’; 

16 (4) in paragraph (5)— 

17 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

18 through (G) as clauses (i) through (vii), respec19 tively, and indenting the clauses appropriately; 

20 (B) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), by 

21 striking ‘‘lunches’’ and inserting ‘‘meals’’; 

22 (C) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

23 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘To the maximum 

24 extent practicable’’ and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum ex2 tent practicable’’; 

3 (D) in clause (vi) (as so redesignated), by 

4 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

5 (E) by redesignating clause (vii) (as so re6 designated) as clause (viii); 

7 (F) by inserting after clause (vi) (as so re8 designated) the following: 

9 ‘‘(vii) expand the selection of local 

10 commodities for eligible schools; and’’; and 

11 (G) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(B) TRIBAL COMMUNITY PROJECTS.—In 

13 the case of projects serving tribal communities, 

14 the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent 

15 practicable, give highest priority to projects 

16 that best use products from tribal agricultural 

17 producers, as determined by the Secretary.’’; 

18 (5) in paragraph (7)— 

19 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

20 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec21 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

22 (B) by striking the paragraph designation 

23 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘non24 profit entities—’’ and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(7) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND RE2 SEARCH.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

4 provide technical assistance, research, and in5 formation to assist eligible schools, State and 

6 local agencies, Indian tribal organizations, agri7 cultural producers or agricultural producer 

8 groups, and nonprofit entities—’’; 

9 (C) in subparagraph (A) (as so des10 ignated)— 

11 (i) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), 

12 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

13 (ii) in clause (iii) (as so redesignated), 

14 by striking the period at the end and in15 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (iii) by adding at the end the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(iv) to increase awareness of, and 

19 participation in, farm to school programs 

20 among agricultural and aquaculture pro21 ducers or agricultural producer groups, in22 cluding beginning, veteran, and socially 

23 disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.’’; and 

24 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

25 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 

2 year after the date of enactment of the 

3 Farm to School Act of 2015 and every 3 

4 years thereafter, the Secretary shall review 

5 and submit to the Committee on Agri6 culture and the Committee on Education 

7 and the Workforce of the House of Rep8 resentatives and the Committee on Agri9 culture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the 

10 Senate a report that describes the progress 

11 that has been made in identifying and 

12 eliminating regulatory and other barriers 

13 related to developing farm to school pro14 grams. 

15 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—In preparing 

16 the report, the Secretary shall examine— 

17 ‘‘(I) the direct and indirect regu18 latory compliance costs affecting the 

19 production and marketing of locally or 

20 regionally produced agricultural food 

21 products to school food programs; and 

22 ‘‘(II) barriers to local and re23 gional market access for small-scale 

24 production.’’; 

25 (6) in paragraph (8)— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘$5,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’; 

3 and 

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

5 ‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATION.—Of the funds pro6 vided to the Secretary under subparagraph (A), 

7 not more than 5 percent may be used to pay 

8 administrative costs incurred by the Secretary 

9 in carrying out this subsection.’’; and 

10 (7) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘2011 

11 through 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2016 through 2021’’. 

Æ 


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