Let's Grow Act of 2012

Bill: 112-hr-4351
Sponsor: Rep. Fudge, Marcia L. [D-OH-11]
Introduced: 2012-04-16 in the House
Policy area: Agriculture and Food
Subjects: Agricultural conservation and pollution
Agricultural education
Agricultural marketing and promotion
Agricultural practices and innovations
Agricultural prices, subsidies, credit
Alcoholic beverages
Business investment and capital
Child care and development
Child health
Computers and information technology
Drug, alcohol, tobacco use
Educational facilities and institutions
Elementary and secondary education
Employment and training programs
Energy efficiency and conservation
Food assistance and relief
Food industry and services
Fruit and vegetables
Government lending and loan guarantees
Health promotion and preventive care
Indian social and development programs
Land transfers
Libraries and archives
Lighting, heating, cooling
Marketing and advertising
Migrant, seasonal, agricultural labor
Minority and disadvantaged businesses
Museums, exhibitions, cultural centers
National and community service
Nutrition and diet
Performance measurement
Poverty and welfare assistance
Preschool education
Public-private cooperation
Retail and wholesale trades
Small business
Teaching, teachers, curricula
Unemployment
Urban and suburban affairs and development
Water quality

Summary:
action_date: 2012-04-16
text: 
Let's Grow Act of 2012 - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) (Secretary) to carry out the Green and Healthy Corner Store Initiative to assist qualified convenience stores expand their offering of fruits and vegetables.
 
Directs the Secretary to make grants to provide access to farmers' markets for communities with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly areas of predominantly lower-income communities.
 
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a pilot grant program to allow local and tribal governments to conduct food security assessments.
 
Directs the Secretary, regarding the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP, formerly food stamp program), to: (1) establish a Fresh Incentive Program to improve participant access to local fruits and vegetables, and (2) provide grants to urban farmers' markets for installation of electronic benefit transfer (EBT) systems.
 
Directs the Secretary to make grants for a Farm-to-Preschool program that fosters the connection between preschools, Head Start programs, childcare or day care centers, kindergarten readiness programs and in-home care facilities with small- or medium-sized agricultural producers to develop an industry-leading preschool nutrition education and meal program.
 
Establishes in USDA a Healthy Food Financing Initiative to: (1) improve access to healthy foods in underserved areas; (2) create and preserve quality jobs; and (3) revitalize low-income communities by providing loans and grants to eligible food retailers to overcome the higher costs and initial barriers to entry in underserved, urban, suburban, and rural areas.
 
Directs the Secretary to provide grants for urban and Native American community gardens. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make grants to convert abandoned or foreclosed property to urban agricultural use; (2) enter into an agreement with the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide the Corporation with funds to support the creation of the HarvestCorps program; and (3) make grants to establish urban farms, gardens, or aquacultural or other facilities for the production of agricultural or aquacultural products or the raising of livestock for sale in the urban area. 
 
Directs the Secretary to make grants to: (1) assist nonprofit organizations purchase and convert publicly owned land in underserved areas for use as urban farms or community gardens, and (2) implement urban agricultural workforce training programs.
 
Extends certain payment assistance and conservation access provisions to socially disadvantaged urban farmers and ranchers.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) an urban entrepreneurship and microenterprise program, and (2) a local farm business and market garden competitive loan program. 
 
 Directs the Secretary to provide commodities to specified nonprofits to provide nutritious food to at-risk school children on weekends and during extended school holidays during the school year. (At-risk school children are those who participate in the school lunch program and reside in an area served by a school in which at least 50% of the students receive free or reduced price meals under the school lunch or breakfast programs.) 
 
Extends: (1) the commodity supplemental food program, and (2) the emergency food assistance program.
 
Directs the Secretary to provide grants: (1) for equipment and technology to increase food bank efficiency; and (2) to schools, museums, and libraries to increase energy efficiency.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-09-26
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.
action_date: 2012-04-16
text: Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2012-04-16
text: Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2012-04-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2012-04-16
text: Introduced in House