“To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish the Domestic Organic Investment Program, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes the Domestic Organic Investment Program to increase capacity in the domestic organic product supply chain (e.g., modernizing manufacturing and tracking systems, improving regulatory compliance, expanding storage and processing, and addressing market barriers for certified organic products). The program authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture, through the Agricultural Marketing Service, to provide grants to eligible entities—including certified or transitioning organic producers, handlers, cooperatives, tribal governments, and others operating in a state, the District of Columbia, U.S. territory, or Indian tribe jurisdiction (as defined in 25 U.S.C. 5304)—for (1) certified organic product storage, aggregation, processing, and distribution capacity expansion or (2) equipment-only projects. Grants have a term of up to three years, with maximum amounts of $2 million for projects under (1) and $100,000 for equipment-only projects; require non-Federal matching funds of at least 50% or 25%, respectively (waivable or reducible for beginning farmers, ranchers, and veterans); are awarded competitively with public criteria and priorities (e.g., trade imbalances, National Organic Standards Board recommendations, supply chain bottlenecks); and use a simplified application process for equipment-only projects.