Strengthening Organic Agricultural Research (SOAR) Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2720 To direct the agricultural research service to expand organic research, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 19, 2023 Mr. NEWHOUSE (for himself, Ms. PINGREE, and Mr. PANETTA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To direct the agricultural research service to expand organic research, 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 ‘‘Strengthening Organic 4 Agricultural Research (SOAR) Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. ORGANIC RESEARCH AND EXTENSION INITIATIVE. 6 Section 1672B(f) of the Food, Agriculture, Conserva- 7 tion, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5925b(f)) is 8 amended— 9 (1) in paragraph (1)— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 2720 IH (A) in subparagraph (F), by striking 1 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 2 (B) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘and 3 each fiscal year thereafter.’’ and inserting a 4 semicolon; and 5 (C) by adding at the end the following: 6 ‘‘(H) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2024; 7 ‘‘(I) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 8 ‘‘(J) $80,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 9 ‘‘(K) $90,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 10 and 11 ‘‘(L) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2028 12 and each fiscal year thereafter.’’; and 13 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘2023’’ and 14 inserting ‘‘2028’’. 15 SEC. 3. RESEARCHING THE TRANSITION TO ORGANIC. 16 Title XVI of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 17 and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5801 et seq.) is amended 18 by inserting before section 1667, as added by section 3, 19 the following: 20 ‘‘SEC. 1666. RESEARCHING THE TRANSITION TO ORGANIC 21 PROGRAM. 22 ‘‘(a) COMPETITIVE SPECIALIZED RESEARCH AND 23 EXTENSION GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary may 24 make competitive grants to support research, education, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 2720 IH and extension activities regarding the transition of non- 1 organic production systems into organic production for the 2 purposes of— 3 ‘‘(1) overcoming social, economic, and manage- 4 ment barriers to organic transition; 5 ‘‘(2) documenting and understanding the effects 6 of organic practices on ecosystem services, including 7 soil health and fertility, greenhouse gas mitigation 8 and sequestration, water management, biodiversity- 9 related services, and pest management; and 10 ‘‘(3) developing improved technologies, methods, 11 models, and metrics to document, describe, and opti- 12 mize ecosystem services of transitioning agricultural 13 production into organic management. 14 ‘‘(b) GRANT TYPES AND PROCESS.—Paragraphs (4), 15 (7), (8), and (11)(B) of subsection (b) of the Competitive, 16 Special, and Facilities Research Grant Act (7 U.S.C. 17 3157) shall apply with respect to the making of grants 18 under this section. 19 ‘‘(c) PARTNERSHIPS ENCOURAGED.—Following the 20 completion of a peer review process for applications for 21 a grant received under this section, the Secretary may pro- 22 vide a priority to any such proposal for such a grant 23 that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 2720 IH ‘‘(1) is found in the peer review process to be 1 scientifically meritorious; 2 ‘‘(2) includes as active partners organic pro- 3 ducers that are conducting on-farm research and 4 demostrations (and the organizations that represent 5 such producers); and 6 ‘‘(3) actively involves— 7 ‘‘(A) 1890 Institutions (as defined in sec- 8 tion 2 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, 9 and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 10 7601)); 11 ‘‘(B) 1994 Institutions (as defined in such 12 section 2); and 13 ‘‘(C) Hispanic-serving institutions (as de- 14 fined in section 1404 of the National Agricul- 15 tural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy 16 Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)). 17 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 18 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section— 19 ‘‘(1) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 20 through 2026; and 21 ‘‘(2) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 22 through 2028.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 2720 IH SEC. 4. ORGANIC PRODUCTION AND MARKET DATA INITIA- 1 TIVES. 2 Section 7407 of the Farm Security and Rural Invest- 3 ment Act of 2002 (7 U.S.C. 5925c) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (d)— 5 (A) in paragraph (1)— 6 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 7 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 8 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 9 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 10 and’’; and 11 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(C) $10,000,000 for the period of fiscal 14 years 2024 to 2028.’’; and 15 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘2023’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘2028’’; and 17 (2) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(e) ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS OF ORGANIC 19 FARMING AND CERTIFICATION.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agri- 21 culture, acting through the Administrator of the 22 Economic Research Service (referred to in this sub- 23 section as the ‘Secretary’), shall— 24 ‘‘(A) not later than 1 year after the date 25 of the enactment of this subsection, prepare, 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 2720 IH and submit, a plan to conduct an economic im- 1 pact analysis of organic agriculture, as defined 2 in section 2103 of the Organic Foods Produc- 3 tion Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6502) to the Com- 4 mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 5 of the Senate and the Committee on Agri- 6 culture of the House of Representatives; and 7 ‘‘(B) not later than 3 years after the date 8 on which the plan is submitted under paragraph 9 (1), submit such economic impact analysis to 10 the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 11 Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on 12 Agriculture of the House of Representatives. 13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS.—The analysis under para- 14 graph (1) shall include an analysis of— 15 ‘‘(A) farming and ranching operations of a 16 variety of sizes, with regional differences, and 17 that have a diversity of production practices 18 and methods; and 19 ‘‘(B) the direct and indirect economic im- 20 pacts of organic agriculture on rural and urban 21 communities, including— 22 ‘‘(i) the vitality of the local economy; 23 ‘‘(ii) the labor market; 24 ‘‘(iii) environmental quality; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 2720 IH ‘‘(iv) social dynamics; 1 ‘‘(v) land ownership; and 2 ‘‘(vi) any other information, data, or 3 analysis the Secretary considers necessary 4 to make the economic impact analysis com- 5 prehensive, accurate, and useful.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 May 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2720.IH H2720 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB