I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4782 
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which 
the Secretary will enter into cooperative agreements with State, local, 
or Tribal governments to increase the purchase of local foods, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 29, 2025 
Mr. BRESNAHAN (for himself, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. RILEY of 
New York, Mr. WIED, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. NUNN of Iowa, Ms. 
BUDZINSKI, Mr. COSTA, Mr. VINDMAN, Mr. PANETTA, and Ms. ADAMS) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ag-
riculture 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program 
under which the Secretary will enter into cooperative 
agreements with State, local, or Tribal governments to 
increase the purchase of local foods, and for other pur-
poses. 
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 ‘‘Local Farmers Feed-
ing our Communities Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. LOCAL FARMERS FEEDING OUR COMMUNITIES 
PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 
establish a program under which the Secretary will enter 
into cooperative agreements (on a noncompetitive basis) 
with eligible entities— 
(1) to help support covered local producers 
through building and expanding economic opportuni-
ties; 
(2) to establish and broaden partnerships with 
such covered local producers and the food distribu-
tion community to ensure distribution of fresh and 
nutritious foods; and 
(3) to strengthen such entity’s local and re-
gional food security and systems. 
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity selected to 
enter into a cooperative agreement under this section shall 
use funds received through such agreement— 
(1) to purchase unprocessed or minimally proc-
essed local foods (including seafood, meat, milk and 
dairy products, eggs, produce, and poultry) from 
covered producers; 
(2) to ensure that at least 25 percent of the 
total annual value of products purchased by the eli-
gible entity comprises purchases from small-size pro-
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ducers, mid-size producers, beginning farmers or 
ranchers, or veteran farmers or ranchers; 
(3) to provide technical assistance supporting— 
(A) covered local producers, including in 
obtaining food safety training and certifications; 
and 
(B) efforts to grow the local agricultural 
value chain; 
(4) to distribute such local foods to organiza-
tions 
that 
have 
experience 
in 
food 
distributiondistribution, including nonprofits, to im-
prove access to healthy and nutritious food; and 
(5) to build and expand economic opportunity 
for covered local producers. 
(c) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount made avail-
able to an eligible entity through a cooperative 
agreement under this section, an eligible entity may 
use not more than 25 percent of such amount— 
(A) to cover administrative expenses; and 
(B) to provide technical assistance de-
scribed in subsection (b)(3); 
(2) ALLOCATION
FOR
TECHNICAL
ASSIST-
ANCE.—Of the amount described in paragraph (1), 
an eligible entity shall use not less than 50 percent 
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to provide technical assistance described in sub-
section (b)(3). 
(d) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
TO ELIGIBLE ENTI-
TIES.—The Secretary shall provide to eligible entities en-
tering into a cooperative agreement under this section 
guidance, technical assistance, instruction, and monitoring 
throughout the life cycle of the cooperative agreement. 
(e) AMOUNT
OF ALLOCATION.—Of the amounts 
made available to carry out this section for each fiscal 
year, the Secretary shall— 
(1) allocate 10 percent to Tribal governments, 
to be allocated using a funding formula determined 
by the Secretary; and 
(2) of the amounts remaining after making the 
allocation under paragraph (1), allocate 1 percent to 
each State (other than Tribal governments); and 
(3) after making the allocations under para-
graphs (1) and (2), allocate the remaining amounts 
to each eligible entity (other than Tribal govern-
ments) by applying the formula described in section 
214 of the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 
(7 U.S.C. 7515). 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) BEGINNING
FARMER
OR
RANCHER; VET-
ERAN FARMER OR RANCHER.—The terms ‘‘beginning 
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farmer or rancher’’ and ‘‘veteran farmer or rancher’’ 
have the meanings given such terms in section 2501 
of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade 
Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279). 
(2) COVERED PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘covered 
producer’’ means a fisherman, farmer, producer, 
rancher, processor, or cooperative processor that 
is— 
(A) within the geographic boundaries of 
the eligible entity in which the food will be de-
livered; or 
(B) not more than 400 miles from the de-
livery destination of the food. 
(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-
ty’’ means a State agency, commission, or depart-
ment that is responsible for agriculture, procure-
ment, food distribution, emergency response, or 
other similar activities within the State. 
(4) MID-SIZE
PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘mid- 
sized producer’’ means an individual whose annual 
gross cash farm income is equal to or exceeds 
$350,000 and is less than $999,999. 
(5) SMALL-SIZE PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘small- 
sized producer’’ means one whose annual gross cash 
farm income is less than $350,000. 
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