“A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide support for organic dairy producers and processors, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section amends the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP)—which provides Commodity Credit Corporation-funded payments to eligible producers for qualifying livestock, honey bee, and farm-raised fish losses due to adverse weather, disease, predation, or other events—by (1) expanding coverage to losses incurred by organic dairy farmers that are beyond those addressed by other USDA disaster programs, including those caused by increased organic feed or other input costs resulting in a cumulative net income decrease of more than 10% in any calendar year; and (2) directing the Secretary of Agriculture, to the maximum extent practicable, to streamline the process for making program payments.
This section directs the Secretary of Agriculture to (1) support regional and national programs to collect and publish cost-of-production data for organic milk, including costs and prices (domestic and imported) of major organic feedstuffs (e.g., corn, corn silage, soybeans, sorghum, oilseeds, small grains, forage crops, pasture, hay) and all other production costs; (2) establish, not later than 90 days after enactment, the Organic All Milk Prices Survey—analogous to the existing All Milk Prices Survey of the National Agricultural Statistics Service—to report monthly national data and data for at least the 6 regions with the greatest organic dairy production on prices paid to organic dairy farmers for milk and organic milk cows; and (3) publish, not later than 180 days after enactment and using data from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Economic Research Service, or Agricultural Marketing Service, new or expanded periodic reports on organic milk equivalent to those for conventional milk, including at minimum State-level organic cost-of-production data, regional organic milk production quantities, organic mailbox prices for the top 6 regions, and major organic feedstuff prices.
This section directs the Secretary of Agriculture, not later than one year after the date of enactment, to publish in the Federal Register a proposal to establish new safety net programs for organic dairy farms using cost data specific to organic dairy production. In developing the proposal, the Secretary must solicit and publicly post written and recorded public comments and ensure that the proposed programs make all organic dairy operations eligible while prioritizing small dairy operations (as defined by the small business size standard for the applicable North American Industry Classification System code in 13 C.F.R. § 121.201). Not later than two years after the date of enactment, the Secretary must submit to Congress a report with recommendations for implementing the proposal and a description of actions taken.
This section establishes a program, to be implemented by the Secretary of Agriculture not later than 180 days after enactment, to provide funding for infrastructure investments that enhance regional organic milkshed markets by supporting (1) new organic dairy processing plants serving multiple regional small dairy operations (per small business size standards in 13 C.F.R. §121.201); (2) institutional purchasing of local organic dairy; (3) farm- and aggregation-site infrastructure for transport and processing efficiencies; (4) on-farm organic dairy processing and storage; (5) expansion of regional processing infrastructure, including business plan finalization and processor start-up capital; and (6) increased regional processing capacity for co-packing and tolling of organic milk from multiple small operations. This section further directs the Secretary, not later than 180 days after enactment, to establish Regional Organic Dairy Market Specialist positions in each major organic dairy producing region—filled by Department employees or higher education personnel, each with a research team—to study organic dairy marketing issues (e.g., quality standards, production costs, buyer consolidation, certification requirements, direct marketing, and regional branding) and provide related reports and recommendations to stakeholders, including on establishing an organic dairy insurance program; provides initial support for five years, renewable subject to appropriations; and authorizes $20 million annually for FY2025-FY2029 for the infrastructure program and $5 million annually for the specialists program.