I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5764 
To amend the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 to require peer 
review for value-added agricultural product market development grants, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 10, 2018 
Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New Mexico (for himself, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Ms. 
MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALO-
NEY of New York, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 
to require peer review for value-added agricultural prod-
uct market development grants, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Growing Value-Added 
Economies Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKET 
DEVELOPMENT GRANTS. 
Section 231(b) of the (7 U.S.C. 1632a(b)) is amend-
ed— 
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘paragraph 
(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (10)’’; 
(2) by striking paragraph (7); and 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol-
lowing new paragraphs: 
‘‘(7) PEER REVIEW.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
establish independent external review panels 
comprised of members with relevant expertise 
who are not employees of the Department to re-
view and evaluate each eligible application 
based on merit and relevance. 
‘‘(B) MEMBERS
OF
REVIEW
PANEL.— 
Members assigned to a panel established under 
subparagraph (A) may include— 
‘‘(i) producers; and 
‘‘(ii) experts from colleges and univer-
sities, State and local agencies, private 
nonprofit organizations, industry, and re-
lated institutions. 
‘‘(C) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The Secretary 
shall ensure that the identity of a member of a 
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panel established under subparagraph (A) is, to 
the maximum extent practicable, confidential. 
‘‘(D) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.—The Sec-
retary shall ensure that no person with a con-
flict of interest may be assigned to be a member 
of a panel established under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(8) OUTREACH
AND
TECHNICAL
ASSIST-
ANCE.—The Secretary shall develop and implement 
an outreach and technical assistance strategy, in-
cluding entering into cooperative agreements with 
private nonprofit entities, cooperative extension, 
State and local units of government, to— 
‘‘(A) further the purposes of the program 
established under this section; and 
‘‘(B) ensure that underserved States and 
communities are served by the program. 
‘‘(9) PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
provide for the periodic evaluation of the pro-
gram that measures the impact of the program 
and the impact of projects in achieving the pur-
poses of the program. 
‘‘(B) COOPERATIVE
AGREEMENTS.—The 
Secretary may enter into cooperative agree-
ments with private nonprofit entities, coopera-
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tive extension, State and local units of govern-
ment for the purpose of the program evaluation 
required under subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(10) FUNDING.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Of the funds of the 
Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary 
shall make available to carry out this subsection 
$20,000,000, to remain available until ex-
pended, for each of fiscal years 2019 through 
2023. 
‘‘(B) DISCRETIONARY FUNDING.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
subsection $40,000,000 for each of fiscal years 
2008 through 2023. 
‘‘(C) 
RESERVATION
OF
FUNDS
FOR 
PROJECTS
TO
BENEFIT
BEGINNING
FARMERS 
OR
RANCHERS, 
SOCIALLY
DISADVANTAGED 
FARMERS OR RANCHERS, AND MID-TIER VALUE 
CHAINS.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall reserve 10 percent of the amounts 
made available for each fiscal year under 
this paragraph to fund projects that ben-
efit producers described in clauses (ii), 
(iii), and (iv) of paragraph (6)(A) or that 
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best contribute to creating or increasing 
marketing opportunities for such pro-
ducers. 
‘‘(ii) MID-TIER VALUE CHAINS.—The 
Secretary shall reserve 10 percent of the 
amounts made available for each fiscal 
year under this paragraph to fund applica-
tions of eligible entities described in para-
graph (1) that propose to develop mid-tier 
value chains. 
‘‘(iii) UNOBLIGATED AMOUNTS.—Any 
amounts in the reserves for a fiscal year 
established under clauses (i) and (ii) that 
are not obligated after the completion of 
the peer review process for such fiscal year 
shall be available to the Secretary to make 
grants under this subsection to eligible en-
tities in any State, as determined by the 
Secretary. 
‘‘(D) ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPENSES
AND 
PROGRAM EVALUATION.—Not more than 5 per-
cent of the total amount made available to 
carry out this subsection for a fiscal year may 
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