[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3550 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3550

   To provide a safety net for farmers and consumers, to promote the 
development of farmer-owned value added processing facilities, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 1998

Mr. Gephardt (for himself, Mr. Boswell, Mrs. Clayton, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. 
Evans, Mr. Minge, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Poshard, 
and Ms. Stabenow) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                      the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide a safety net for farmers and consumers, to promote the 
development of farmer-owned value added processing facilities, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Family Farm Safety 
Net Act of 1998''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act is as 
follows:


Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Loan rates for marketing assistance loans for certain crops.
Sec. 3. Authority to extend term of marketing assistance loans.
Sec. 4. Priority for farmer-owned value-added processing facilities.
Sec. 5. Extension programs for small- and medium-sized farm operations.

SEC. 2. LOAN RATES FOR MARKETING ASSISTANCE LOANS FOR CERTAIN CROPS.

    (a) Wheat.--Subsection (a) of section 132 of the Agricultural 
Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 7232) is amended by striking paragraph 
(1) and inserting the following new paragraph:
            ``(1) Loan rate.--Subject to paragraph (2), the loan rate 
        for a marketing assistance loan under section 131 for wheat 
        shall be equal to not less than 85 percent of the simple 
        average price received by producers of wheat, as determined by 
        the Secretary, during the marketing years for the immediately 
        preceding 5 crops of wheat, excluding the year in which the 
        average price was the highest and the year in which the average 
        price was the lowest in the period.''.
    (b) Feed Grains.--Subsection (b) of such section is amended by 
striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following new paragraph:
            ``(1) Loan rate for corn.--Subject to paragraph (2), the 
        loan rate for a marketing assistance loan under section 131 for 
        corn shall be equal to not less than 85 percent of the simple 
        average price received by producers of corn, as determined by 
        the Secretary, during the marketing years for the immediately 
        preceding 5 crops of corn, excluding the year in which the 
        average price was the highest and the year in which the average 
        price was the lowest in the period.''.
    (c) Upland Cotton.--Subsection (c)(2) of such section is amended by 
striking ``or more than $0.5192 per pound''.
    (d) Extra Long Staple Cotton.--Subsection (d) of such section is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``(d) Extra Long Staple Cotton.--The loan rate for a marketing 
assistance loan under section 131 for extra long staple cotton shall be 
equal to not less than 85 percent of the simple average price received 
by producers of extra long staple cotton, as determined by the 
Secretary, during 3 years of the 5-year period ending July 31 of the 
year preceding the year in which the crop is planted, excluding the 
year in which the average price was the highest and the year in which 
the average price was the lowest in the period.''.
    (e) Oilseeds.--Subsection (f) of such section is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ``or more than 
        $5.26''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking ``or more than 
        $0.093''.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO EXTEND TERM OF MARKETING ASSISTANCE LOANS.

    Section 133 of the Agricultural Market Transition Act (7 U.S.C. 
7233) is amended by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 
following:
    ``(c) Extensions.--The Secretary may extend the term of a marketing 
assistance loan for any loan commodity for a period not to exceed 6 
months.''.

SEC. 4. PRIORITY FOR FARMER-OWNED VALUE-ADDED PROCESSING FACILITIES.

    Section 310B of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
U.S.C. 1932) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(h) Priority for Farmer-Owned Value-Added Processing 
Facilities.--In approving applications for loans and grants authorized 
under this section, section 306(a)(11), and other applicable provisions 
of this title (as determined by the Secretary), the Secretary shall 
give a high priority to applications for projects that encourage 
farmer-owned value-added processing facilities.''.

SEC. 5. EXTENSION PROGRAMS FOR SMALL- AND MEDIUM-SIZED FARM OPERATIONS.

    Section 502(d) of the Rural Development Act of 1972 (7 U.S.C. 
2662(d)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' before ``Small farm extension''; 
        and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) To ensure the continued viability of small- and medium-sized 
farm operations, extension programs should emphasize market development 
education and technical assistance for operators of small- and medium-
sized farms in addition to production assistance. Such extension 
efforts should be directed at exploring new marketing avenues for such 
farms, such as direct farm-to-consumer markets, local value-added 
processing, and farmer-owned cooperatives, and at developing 
entrepreneurial training and development in natural resource-based 
industries.''.
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