[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2442 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2442

 To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to provide long-term, low-interest loans 
                           to apple growers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 13, 2000

  Mrs. Murray introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to provide long-term, low-interest loans 
                           to apple growers.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Apple Orchard Diversification Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) United States apple producers are struggling as the 
        result of low prices and weather-related crop losses in 1998 
        and 1999;
            (2) it is estimated the United States apple industry lost 
        nearly $300,000,000 on the 1998 crop;
            (3) it is estimated that in some counties up to 90 percent 
        of the apple producers will not recover 1999 production costs;
            (4) many apple producers are in danger of not receiving 
        financing from commercial lenders for the 2000 crop;
            (5) many local communities (including businesses, schools, 
        towns, county governments, and irrigation districts) that 
        support and are supported by apple producers are hard hit by 
        downturns in fresh apple and juice concentrate prices;
            (6) as a result of the economic situation, some local 
        communities declared economic disasters and petitioned Federal 
        and State elected officials to declare disasters and provide 
        assistance;
            (7) United States apple producers are harmed by foreign 
        trade barriers and by United States Government trade 
        restrictions, including unilateral trade sanctions;
            (8) the United States Government is not meeting its 
        obligations to expand trade promotion and agricultural research 
        in accordance with the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 
        Reform Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-127; 110 Stat. 888) and 
        amendments made by that Act;
            (9) imports of below-cost apple juice concentrate from 
        China--
                    (A) increased by more than 1,200 percent between 
                1995 and 1998; and
                    (B) led to a 64-percent decline in the price that 
                producers received for juice apples in the same period;
            (10) in April 2000, the Department of Commerce levied 
        antidumping duties of 51.74 percent on most Chinese concentrate 
        imports;
            (11) the International Trade Commission will issue a final 
        injury ruling by May 22, 2000, on the United States apple 
        industry's dumping case against below-cost apple juice 
        concentrate imports from China;
            (12) existing Federal farm policy is inadequate to meet the 
        needs, particularly the credit needs, of United States 
        specialty crop producers during difficult economic times;
            (13) the United States Government should modify 
        agricultural credit policies to provide a variety of flexible 
        long-term, low-interest loan options to United States specialty 
        crop producers in response to periods of low prices or natural 
        disasters;
            (14) there is a need to promote diversification into more 
        economically viable apple varieties that promise to provide 
        greater financial returns for apple producers; and
            (15) an apple orchard diversification initiative that 
        provides long-term, low-interest loans would reduce surpluses 
        in the short term, while enhancing the ability of family 
        farmers to modernize their orchards and stay in business in the 
        long term.

SEC. 3. APPLE ORCHARD DIVERSIFICATION PROGRAM.

    Subtitle B of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 
U.S.C. 1941 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 314 the 
following:

``SEC. 315. APPLE ORCHARD DIVERSIFICATION PROGRAM.

    ``(a) In General.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this section, the Secretary shall develop and implement an 
apple orchard diversification program under which the Secretary 
provides not more than $75,000,000 in long-term, low-interest loans to 
apple growers.
    ``(b) Use of Loans.--A loan under subsection (a) shall be used for 
the purchase of trees for converting existing apple orchards into new 
apple varieties.''.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    (a) Promulgation.--Not later than 30 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, shall promulgate 
such regulations as are necessary to implement the amendment made by 
section 3.
    (b) Procedure.--The promulgation of the regulations under 
subsection (a) and the administration of the section added by the 
amendment made by section 3 shall be made without regard to--
            (1) the notice and comment provisions of section 553 of 
        title 5, United States Code;
            (2) the Statement of Policy of the Secretary of Agriculture 
        effective July 24, 1971 (36 Fed. Reg. 13804), relating to 
        notices of proposed rulemaking and public participation in 
        rulemaking; and
            (3) chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code (commonly 
        known as the ``Paperwork Reduction Act'').
    (c) Stakeholder Process.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a 
        stakeholder process to provide input to the Secretary in 
        developing the program established by the amendment made by 
        section 3.
            (2) Hearings.--In the stakeholder process, the Secretary 
        shall hold at least 3 hearings in different regions of the 
        United States.
            (3) Considerations.--In developing the program, the 
        Secretary shall consider--
                    (A) income and acreage qualifications for growers 
                receiving loans;
                    (B) parameters on payments, acreage, and varietal 
                stock quality; and
                    (C) the comments of apple producers concerning the 
                length of time that the program should be continued.
    (d) Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking.--In carrying out 
this section, the Secretary shall use the authority provided under 
section 808 of title 5, United States Code.
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