Farm to School Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1328 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reauthorize the farm to school program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BROWN, and Ms. COLLINS) intro- duced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to reauthorize the farm to school program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farm to School Act 4 of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. ACCESS TO LOCAL FOODS: FARM TO SCHOOL PRO- 6 GRAM. 7 Section 18(g) of the Richard B. Russell National 8 School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769(g)) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1328 IS (1) in paragraph (1)— 1 (A) by striking the paragraph designation 2 and heading and all that follows through 3 ‘‘means’’ and inserting the following: 4 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 5 ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER.—The 6 term ‘agricultural producer’ means a farmer, 7 rancher, or fisher (including of farm-raised 8 fish). 9 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term 10 ‘eligible institution’ means’’; and 11 (B) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(C) FARM TO SCHOOL PROGRAM.—The 13 term ‘farm to school program’ means a pro- 14 gram that— 15 ‘‘(i) benefits an eligible institution, as 16 determined by the Secretary; and 17 ‘‘(ii) carries out— 18 ‘‘(I) planting and maintenance of 19 farms or gardens; 20 ‘‘(II) procurement from local ag- 21 ricultural producers; or 22 ‘‘(III) educational activities relat- 23 ing to agriculture, nutrition, or food.’’; 24 (2) in paragraph (2)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1328 IS (A) by striking ‘‘schools’’ each place it ap- 1 pears and inserting ‘‘institutions’’; 2 (B) by inserting ‘‘land-grant colleges and 3 universities,’’ before ‘‘and nonprofit’’; and 4 (C) by striking ‘‘grants and technical as- 5 sistance’’ and inserting ‘‘grants, technical as- 6 sistance, research, and evaluation’’; 7 (3) in paragraph (3)— 8 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 9 (i) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘and 10 technical assistance’’ after ‘‘training’’; 11 (ii) by redesignating clauses (vi) and 12 (vii) as clauses (vii) and (viii), respectively; 13 and 14 (iii) by inserting after clause (v) the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(vi) implementing educational activi- 17 ties relating to agriculture, nutrition, or 18 food;’’; and 19 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in- 20 serting the following: 21 ‘‘(C) IMPROVED PROCUREMENT AND DIS- 22 TRIBUTION.— 23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In awarding 24 grants under this subsection, the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1328 IS shall seek to improve local food procure- 1 ment and distribution options for agricul- 2 tural producers and eligible institutions. 3 ‘‘(ii) AGGREGATION, PROCESSING, 4 TRANSPORTATION, AND DISTRIBUTION.— 5 In advancing local food procurement op- 6 tions and other farm to school program ob- 7 jectives, the Secretary may provide funding 8 for projects that include innovative ap- 9 proaches to aggregation, processing, trans- 10 portation, and distribution. 11 ‘‘(D) AWARDS.— 12 ‘‘(i) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—The total 13 amount provided to a grant recipient under 14 this subsection shall not exceed $500,000. 15 ‘‘(ii) TERM.—The term of an award 16 shall not exceed 3 years. 17 ‘‘(iii) PURPOSE AND SCOPE.—In mak- 18 ing awards under this subsection, the Sec- 19 retary shall seek to make awards of diverse 20 amounts and duration in order to best 21 match the award to the purpose and scope 22 of the project to be funded. 23 ‘‘(E) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may 24 not award a grant under this subsection if the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1328 IS grant funds would be used solely for the pur- 1 pose of carrying out a conference.’’; 2 (4) in paragraph (4)— 3 (A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 4 Tribal,’’ after ‘‘State’’; and 5 (B) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(C) TRIBAL AGENCIES.—The Secretary 7 may allow a Tribal agency to use funds pro- 8 vided to the Indian Tribe of the Tribal agency 9 through a Federal agency (including the Indian 10 Health Service) or any other Federal benefit to 11 satisfy all or part of the non-Federal share de- 12 scribed in subparagraph (A) if that use is con- 13 sistent with the purpose of the funds or other 14 Federal benefit provided.’’; 15 (5) in paragraph (5)— 16 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 17 through (F) and (G) as clauses (i) through (vi) 18 and (ix), respectively, and indenting the clauses 19 appropriately; 20 (B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 21 so redesignated), by striking ‘‘To the maximum 22 extent practicable’’ and inserting the following: 23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—To the maximum ex- 24 tent practicable’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1328 IS (C) in clause (i) (as so redesignated), by 1 striking ‘‘school’’ and inserting ‘‘institution’’; 2 (D) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), by 3 striking ‘‘lunches’’ and inserting ‘‘meals’’; 4 (E) by striking clause (iii) (as so redesig- 5 nated) and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(iii)(I) incorporate experiential and 7 traditional and culturally appropriate food, 8 nutrition, or agricultural education activi- 9 ties in curriculum planning; and 10 ‘‘(II) serve a high proportion of chil- 11 dren from socially disadvantaged back- 12 grounds;’’; 13 (F) in clause (iv) (as so redesignated), by 14 striking ‘‘eligible schools’’ and all that follows 15 through ‘‘partners’’ and inserting ‘‘eligible insti- 16 tutions, State and local agencies, Tribal organi- 17 zations and agencies, agricultural producers or 18 groups of agricultural producers, land-grant col- 19 leges and universities, and nonprofit entities’’; 20 (G) in clause (vi) (as so redesignated), by 21 striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 22 (H) by inserting after clause (vi) (as so re- 23 designated) the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1328 IS ‘‘(vii) expand the selection of local 1 commodities for eligible institutions; 2 ‘‘(viii) identify and address chronic 3 diet-related health issues of the children 4 served by eligible institutions; and’’; and 5 (I) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(B) TRIBAL COMMUNITY PROJECTS.—In 7 the case of projects serving Tribal communities, 8 the Secretary shall, to the maximum extent 9 practicable, give highest priority to projects 10 that best utilize products, including traditional 11 foods, from Tribal agricultural producers, as 12 determined by the Secretary.’’; 13 (6) in paragraph (7)— 14 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 15 through (C) as clauses (i) through (iii), respec- 16 tively, and indenting appropriately; 17 (B) by striking the paragraph designation 18 and heading and all that follows through ‘‘non- 19 profit entities—’’ and inserting the following: 20 ‘‘(7) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND RE- 21 SEARCH.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 23 provide technical assistance, research, and in- 24 formation to assist eligible institutions, State 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1328 IS and local agencies, Indian Tribal organizations, 1 agricultural producers or agricultural producer 2 groups, and nonprofit entities—’’; 3 (C) in subparagraph (A) (as so des- 4 ignated)— 5 (i) in clause (ii) (as so redesignated), 6 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 (ii) in clause (iii) (as so redesignated), 8 by striking the period at the end and in- 9 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(iv) to increase awareness of, and 13 participation in, farm to school programs 14 among agricultural and aquaculture pro- 15 ducers or agricultural producer groups, in- 16 cluding beginning farmers and ranchers, 17 veteran farmers and ranchers, and socially 18 disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (as 19 those terms are defined in section 2501(a) 20 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 21 and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 22 2279(a))).’’; and 23 (D) by adding at the end the following: 24 ‘‘(B) REVIEW.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1328 IS ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 1 year after the date of enactment of the 2 Farm to School Act of 2021 and every 3 3 years thereafter, the Secretary shall review 4 and submit to the Committees on Agri- 5 culture and Education and Labor of the 6 House of Representatives and the Com- 7 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For- 8 estry of the Senate a report that describes 9 the progress that has been made in identi- 10 fying and eliminating regulatory and other 11 barriers related to developing farm to 12 school programs. 13 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENTS.—In preparing 14 the report, the Secretary shall examine— 15 ‘‘(I) the direct and indirect regu- 16 latory compliance costs affecting the 17 production and marketing of locally or 18 regionally produced agricultural food 19 products to school and early childhood 20 food programs; 21 ‘‘(II) barriers to local and re- 22 gional market access for small-scale 23 production; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1328 IS ‘‘(III) barriers to funding 1 projects that meet the criteria de- 2 scribed in paragraph (5)(A); 3 ‘‘(IV) barriers to local and re- 4 gional market access for Tribal farm- 5 ers and ranchers; and 6 ‘‘(V) barriers to funding Tribal 7 projects under farm to school pro- 8 grams.’’; 9 (7) in paragraph (8)— 10 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 11 ‘‘$5,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’; 12 and 13 (B) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(C) ADMINISTRATION.—Of the funds pro- 15 vided to the Secretary under subparagraph (A), 16 not more than 5 percent may be used to pay 17 administrative costs incurred by the Secretary 18 in carrying out this subsection.’’; and 19 (8) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘2011 20 through 2015’’ and inserting ‘‘2022 through 2027’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:42 May 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1328.IS S1328 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS