Office of Small Farms Establishment Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3877 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish an Office of Small Farms, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 6, 2023 Ms. STRICKLAND (for herself, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. CROCKETT, and Ms. DELBENE) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri- culture A BILL To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish an Office of Small Farms, 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 ‘‘Office of Small Farms 4 Establishment Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF SMALL FARMS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle B of the Department of 7 Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6931 8 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3877.IH H3877 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3877 IH ‘‘SEC. 229. OFFICE OF SMALL FARMS. 1 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF SMALL FARM, RANCH, OR FOR- 2 EST OPERATION.—In this section, the term ‘small farm, 3 ranch, or forest operation’ means a farm, ranch, or forest 4 operation that— 5 ‘‘(1)(A) is less than 180 acres; or 6 ‘‘(B) meets another acreage-based definition of 7 ‘small’, as determined by the Secretary, that takes 8 into consideration— 9 ‘‘(i) the State or region in which the farm, 10 ranch, or forest operation is located; 11 ‘‘(ii) the production system of the farm, 12 ranch, or forest operation; or 13 ‘‘(iii) both; and 14 ‘‘(2) has annual gross cash farm income of less 15 than $350,000. 16 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab- 18 lish within the farm production and conservation 19 mission area the Office of Small Farms. 20 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The Secretary shall appoint a 21 Director of the Office of Small Farms (referred to 22 in this section as the ‘Director’). A senior official 23 within the farm production and conservation mission 24 area may be appointed to serve as the Director. 25 ‘‘(c) DUTIES.—The Director shall— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3877.IH H3877 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3877 IH ‘‘(1) coordinate efforts to improve support for 1 small farms, ranches, and forest operations across 2 all Department agencies and offices; 3 ‘‘(2) review Department programs and policies 4 and identify statutory, regulatory, and administra- 5 tive provisions, policies, and guidance that disadvan- 6 tage small farm, ranch, or forest operation participa- 7 tion, and recommend changes to ensure that those 8 programs and policies adequately serve small farms, 9 ranches, and forest operations; 10 ‘‘(3) develop recommendations for new initia- 11 tives, including financing mechanisms and technical 12 assistance opportunities, to specifically serve small 13 farms, ranches, and forest operations relating to 14 production, conservation, business planning, land ac- 15 cess, and other issues, as determined by the Sec- 16 retary; 17 ‘‘(4) make recommendations to Department 18 agencies and offices and other Federal agencies on 19 tracking small farm, ranch, or forest operation data, 20 including demographics and program participation 21 rates; 22 ‘‘(5) propose research agendas on topics that 23 are of special interest to small farms, ranches, and 24 forest operations; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3877.IH H3877 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3877 IH ‘‘(6) provide or coordinate technical assistance 1 through the Department or through cooperative 2 agreements with other entities to operators of small 3 farms, ranches, and forest operations to enable those 4 operators to access the full complement of Depart- 5 ment grant, cost-share, and loan programs; 6 ‘‘(7) implement program directly or through co- 7 operative agreements with other entities to provide 8 grants of not more than $25,000 to operators of 9 small farms, ranches, and forest operations for— 10 ‘‘(A) equipment and infrastructure repairs 11 and upgrades; 12 ‘‘(B) uninsured losses; 13 ‘‘(C) business planning and market devel- 14 opment assistance; 15 ‘‘(D) conservation practice adoption; 16 ‘‘(E) down payments for land acquisition; 17 and 18 ‘‘(F) such other purposes as the Secretary 19 determines to be appropriate; 20 ‘‘(8) operate a hotline through which operators 21 of small farms, ranches, and forest operations can 22 anonymously report problems that the operators en- 23 counter in attempts to access Department programs; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3877.IH H3877 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3877 IH ‘‘(9) advise other Federal agencies on how to 1 effectively reach and serve small farms, ranches, and 2 forest operations. 3 ‘‘(d) LIAISONS.—The following officials shall appoint, 4 from among the officers and employees under the respec- 5 tive official, a liaison to the Office of Small Farms: 6 ‘‘(1) The Chief of the Natural Resources Con- 7 servation Service. 8 ‘‘(2) The Administrator of the Farm Service 9 Agency. 10 ‘‘(3) The Administrator of the Risk Manage- 11 ment Agency. 12 ‘‘(4) The Under Secretary of Agriculture for 13 Rural Development. 14 ‘‘(5) The Director of the National Institute of 15 Food and Agriculture. 16 ‘‘(6) The Administrator of the Agricultural 17 Marketing Service. 18 ‘‘(7) The Administrator of the National Agri- 19 cultural Statistics Service. 20 ‘‘(8) The Director of the Office of Partnerships 21 and Public Engagement. 22 ‘‘(9) The heads of such other agencies, advisory 23 groups, and offices as the Secretary determines to be 24 appropriate, including— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3877.IH H3877 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3877 IH ‘‘(A) the Office of Urban Agriculture and 1 Innovative Production; and 2 ‘‘(B) the Office of Tribal Relations. 3 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 4 are authorized to be appropriated— 5 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 6 through 2028 for the administration of the Office of 7 Small Farms; and 8 ‘‘(2) $10,000,000 for each fiscal year to provide 9 technical assistance and grants authorized by this 10 section.’’. 11 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—The Department of 12 Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 is amended by re- 13 designating the first section 225 (7 U.S.C. 6925) (relating 14 to the Food Access Liaison) as section 224A. 15 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 296(b) of 16 the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 17 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended by adding at the end 18 the following: 19 ‘‘(11) The authority of the Secretary to carry 20 out section 229.’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:15 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3877.IH H3877 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS