[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2745 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
106th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 2745
To provide for grants to assist value-added agricultural businesses.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 15, 2000
Mr. Ashcroft (for himself and Mr. Grams) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for grants to assist value-added agricultural businesses.
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 ``Value-Added Development Act for
American Agriculture''.
SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE INNOVATION CENTER DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.
(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are to carry out a
demonstration program under which agricultural 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 business planning;
(3) overall organizational, outreach, and development
assistance to increase the viability, growth, and
sustainability of value-added agricultural businesses.
(b) Nature of Program.--The Secretary of Agriculture (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 assistance 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 accordance with
regulations which shall be prescribed 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 resources (in
cash or in kind) of definite value are available, or
have been committed to be made available, to the
applicant, to increase and improve the ability of local
producers to develop markets and processes for value-
added agricultural 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 organizations 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 highest
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 demonstrated
are available, or have been committed to be made
available, to the applicant in accordance 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 applicants.
(3) Expansion of demonstration program.--In the second year
of the demonstration program under this section, the Secretary
may make grants under this section to not more than 10 eligible
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 Appropriations.--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 sector.--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 producers and the commodity markets. The research
should systematically examine possible effects on demand 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
written 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 detail the number and type of agricultural projects
assisted, and the type of assistance provided, under this
section.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5271-5272)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
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