I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6725 
To provide Federal funding for targeted purchases to buy food from producers 
who rely on local agricultural food markets affected by COVID–19, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2020 
Ms. SCHRIER (for herself, Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. KILMER, Ms. 
PINGREE, and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To provide Federal funding for targeted purchases to buy 
food from producers who rely on local agricultural food 
markets affected by COVID–19, 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 ‘‘Farmers Feeding 
Families Coronavirus Response Act’’. 
SEC. 2. TARGETED PURCHASES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
use not less than $300,000,000 of the funds available 
under section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 
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612c), to purchase qualified agricultural products to pro-
vide to food assistance programs, including the emergency 
food assistance program under the Emergency Food As-
sistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.), of which 
the Secretary shall utilize— 
(1) not less than $150,000,000 to purchase spe-
cialty crops; 
(2) not less than $75,000,000 to purchase 
dairy; and 
(3) not less than $75,000,000 to purchase meat 
and poultry products. 
(b) QUALIFIED
AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCT
DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘qualified agricultural 
product’’ means a specialty crop, dairy, meat, or poultry 
product— 
(1) that was packaged, marketed, intended to 
be harvested, or harvested for sale— 
(A) to commercial or food service indus-
tries; or 
(B) through direct-to-consumer, direct-to- 
institution, 
direct-to-retail, 
or 
direct-to-res-
taurant-or-store marketing channels, including 
local and regional food enterprises like food 
hubs, agricultural cooperatives and producer as-
sociations; and 
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(2) for which decreased demand exists for such 
a product due to the COVID–19 outbreak. 
(c) DIRECT MARKET PRODUCTS.—Of the amounts in 
subsection (a), to the maximum extent practicable, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall use not less than 10 percent 
to purchase qualified agricultural products that would oth-
erwise have been sold through direct-to-consumer, direct- 
to-institution, direct-to-retail, or direct-to-restaurant mar-
keting channels. 
(d) STATE PURCHASING FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the amounts 
used under subsection (a), the Secretary of Agri-
culture shall use not less than $200,000,000 of the 
funds available under section 32 of the Act of Au-
gust 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), to be apportioned 
among the States for the purpose of procuring addi-
tional food products to support food assistance pro-
grams within each State. 
(2) AMOUNT AVAILABLE.—The Secretary shall 
allocate the amounts made available under para-
graph (1) to each State in the amount proportionate 
to the share such State received under the formula 
under section 251.3(h) of title 7, Code of Federal 
Regulations, for such fiscal year 2020. 
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