[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 800 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 800

 To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to authorize 
producers on a farm to produce fruits and vegetables for processing on 
                      the base acres of the farm.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2009

 Ms. Baldwin (for herself, Mr. Pence, Mr. Walz, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Kind, 
 Mr. Petri, Mr. Donnelly of Indiana, Mr. Ellsworth, and Mr. Burton of 
   Indiana) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to authorize 
producers on a farm to produce fruits and vegetables for processing on 
                      the base acres of the farm.

    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 ``Farming Flexibility Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. PRODUCTION OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR PROCESSING ON COVERED 
              COMMODITY BASE ACRES.

    Section 1107 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (7 
U.S.C. 8717) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (d)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``each of the 
                2009 through 2012 crop years'' and inserting ``the 2009 
                crop year''; and
                    (B) by striking paragraph (7); and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) Nation-Wide Authority for Production of Fruits or Vegetables 
for Processing.--
            ``(1) Planting authorized.--Beginning with the 2010 crop 
        year, notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (b) 
        and in addition to the exceptions provided in subsection (c), 
        producers on a farm, with the consent of the owner and other 
        producers on the farm, may reduce the base acres for any 
        covered commodity for the farm if the reduced acres are used 
        for the planting and production of fruits or vegetables for 
        processing.
            ``(2) Reversion to covered commodity base acres.--Any 
        reduced acres of a farm devoted to the planting and production 
        of fruits or vegetables during a crop year under paragraph (1) 
        shall be included in base acres for the covered commodity for 
        the subsequent crop year, unless the producers on the farm make 
        the election described in paragraph (1) for the subsequent crop 
        year.
            ``(3) Recalculation of base acres.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), if 
                the Secretary recalculates base acres for a farm, the 
                planting and production of fruits or vegetables for 
                processing under paragraph (1) shall be considered to 
                be the same as the planting, prevented planting, or 
                production of the covered commodity.
                    ``(B) Prohibition.--Nothing in this subsection 
                provides authority for the Secretary to recalculate 
                base acres for a farm.''.
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