I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3996
To provide for grants to assist value-added agricultural businesses.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 15, 2000
Mr. TALENT (for himself and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To provide for grants to assist value-added agricultural
businesses.
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 ‘‘Value-Added Develop-
ment Act for American Agriculture’’.
SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE INNOVATION CENTER DEMONSTRA-
TION PROGRAM.
(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are to
carry out a demonstration program under which agricul-
tural producers are provided—
(1) technical assistance, including engineering
services, applied research, scale production, and
similar services to enable the producers to establish
businesses for further processing of agricultural
products;
(2) marketing, market development, and busi-
ness planning;
(3) overall organizational, outreach, and devel-
opment assistance to increase the viability, growth,
and sustainability of value-added agricultural busi-
nesses.
(b) NATURE OF PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Agri-
culture (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’)
shall—
(1) make grants to eligible applicants for the
purposes of enabling the applicants to obtain the as-
sistance described in subsection (a); and
(2) provide assistance to eligible applicants
through the research and technical services of the
Department of Agriculture.
(c) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—An applicant shall be eligible
for a grant and assistance described in subsection
(b) to establish an Agriculture Innovation Center
if—
(A) the applicant—
(i) has provided services similar to
those described in subsection (a); or
(ii) shows the capability of providing
the services;
(B) the application of the applicant for the
grant and assistance sets forth a plan, in ac-
cordance with regulations which shall be pre-
scribed by the Secretary, outlining support of
the applicant in the agricultural community, the
technical and other expertise of the applicant,
and the goals of the applicant for increasing
and improving the ability of local producers to
develop markets and processes for value-added
agricultural products;
(C) the applicant demonstrates that re-
sources (in cash or in kind) of definite value are
available, or have been committed to be made
available, to the applicant, to increase and im-
prove the ability of local producers to develop
markets and processes for value-added agricul-
tural products; and
(D) the applicant meets the requirement of
paragraph (2).
(2) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.—The requirement
of this paragraph is that the applicant shall have a
board of directors comprised of representatives of
the following groups:
(A) The 2 general agricultural organiza-
tions with the greatest number of members in
the State in which the applicant is located.
(B) The Department of Agriculture or
similar State organization or department, for
the State.
(C) Organizations representing the 4 high-
est grossing commodities produced in the State,
according to annual gross cash sales.
(d) GRANTS AND ASSISTANCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the availability of
appropriations, the Secretary shall make annual
grants to eligible applicants under this section, each
of which grants shall not exceed the lesser of—
(A) $1,000,000; or
(B) twice the dollar value of the resources
(in cash or in kind) that the applicant has dem-
onstrated are available, or have been committed
to be made available, to the applicant in accord-
ance with subsection (c)(1)(C).
(2) INITIAL LIMITATION.—In the first year of
the demonstration program under this section, the
Secretary shall make grants under this section, on a
competitive basis, to not more than 10 eligible appli-
cants.
(3) EXPANSION
OF
DEMONSTRATION
PRO-
GRAM.—In the second year of the demonstration
program under this section, the Secretary may make
grants under this section to not more than 10 eligi-
ble applicants, in addition to any entities to which
grants are made under paragraph (2) for such year.
(4) STATE LIMITATION.—In the first 3 years of
the demonstration program under this section, the
Secretary shall not make a Agricultural Innovation
Center Demonstration Program grant under this
section to more than 1 entity in any State.
(e) USE OF FUNDS.—An entity to which a grant is
made under this section may use the grant only for the
following purposes:
(1) Applied research.
(2) Consulting services.
(3) Office equipment.
(4) Hiring of employees, at the discretion of the
board of directors of the entity.
(5) The making of matching grants, each of
which shall be not more than $5,000, to agricultural
producers, so long as the aggregate amount of all
such matching grants shall be not more than
$50,000.
(6) Legal services.
(f) LIMITATIONS ON AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—For grants and assistance under this section,
there are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary
not more than—
(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2001;
(2) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002
and 2003.
(g) REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES.—
(1) EFFECTS
ON
THE
AGRICULTURAL
SEC-
TOR.—The Secretary shall utilize $300,000 per year
of the funds appropriated pursuant to this section to
support research at a land-grant university into the
effects of value-added projects on agricultural pro-
ducers and the commodity markets. The research
should systematically examine possible effects on de-
mand for agricultural commodities, market prices,
farm income, and Federal outlays on commodity
programs using linked, long-term, global projections
of the agricultural sector.
(2) DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.—Not later
than 3 years after the first 10 grants are made
under this section, the Secretary shall prepare and
submit to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition,
and Forestry of the Senate and to the Committee on
Agriculture of the House of Representatives a writ-
ten report on the effectiveness of the demonstration
program conducted under this section at improving
the production of value-added agricultural products
and on the effects of the program on the economic
viability of the producers, which shall include the
best practices and innovations found at each of the
Agriculture Innovation Centers established under the
demonstration program under this section, and de-
tail the number and type of agricultural projects as-
sisted, and the type of assistance provided, under
this section.
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