Title: Growing Value-Added Economies Act
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Growing Value-Added Economies Act
This bill amends the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 to reauthorize and modify the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Value-Added Producer Grants Program. (The program provides grants for the development and marketing of value-added agricultural products, which are products that have increased in value due to processing.)
The bill modifies the program to require USDA to:
The bill also: (1) provides mandatory funding for the program; and (2) prohibits more than 5% of the total annual funding for the program from being used for administrative expenses, program evaluation, outreach, and technical assistance.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5764 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 Lujan of New Mexico (for himself, Mr. Fortenberry, Ms. 
 Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, Mr. Sean Patrick Maloney 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 product market development grants, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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''.

SEC. 2. VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT MARKET DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.

    Section 231(b) of the (7 U.S.C. 1632a(b)) is amended--
            (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 following 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 review 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 
                        universities, State and local agencies, private 
                        nonprofit organizations, industry, and related 
                        institutions.
                    ``(C) Confidentiality.--The Secretary shall ensure 
                that the identity of a member of a panel established 
                under subparagraph (A) is, to the maximum extent 
                practicable, confidential.
                    ``(D) Conflicts of interest.--The Secretary shall 
                ensure that no person with a conflict of interest may 
                be assigned to be a member of a panel established under 
                subparagraph (A).
            ``(8) Outreach and technical assistance.--The Secretary 
        shall develop and implement an outreach and technical 
        assistance strategy, including 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 program that measures 
                the impact of the program and the impact of projects in 
                achieving the purposes of the program.
                    ``(B) Cooperative agreements.--The Secretary may 
                enter into cooperative agreements with private 
                nonprofit entities, cooperative extension, State and 
                local units of government 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 expended, 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 benefit 
                        producers described in clauses (ii), (iii), and 
                        (iv) of paragraph (6)(A) or that best 
                        contribute to creating or increasing marketing 
                        opportunities for such producers.
                            ``(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 applications of 
                        eligible entities described in paragraph (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 entities in any 
                        State, as determined by the Secretary.
                    ``(D) Administrative expenses and program 
                evaluation.--Not more than 5 percent of the total 
                amount made available to carry out this subsection for 
                a fiscal year may be used for administrative expenses, 
                program evaluation, outreach, and technical 
                assistance.''.
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