[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2810 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2810

    To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act to assist small cheese 
                               producers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 18, 2016

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act to assist small cheese 
                               producers.

    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 ``Local Cheese Promotion and Dairy 
Support Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL CHEESE PRODUCERS.

    The Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), reenacted 
with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 24. ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL CHEESE PRODUCERS.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Eligible institution.--The term `eligible 
        institution' means--
                    ``(A) a land-grant college or university (as 
                defined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural 
                Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 
                U.S.C. 3103));
                    ``(B) a local office of the National Institute of 
                Food and Agriculture or other regional office of the 
                Department of Agriculture;
                    ``(C) a group of regional experts (as determined by 
                the Secretary) that advises beginning farmers or 
                ranchers (as defined under section 343(a) of the 
                Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act (7 U.S.C. 
                1991(a))); or
                    ``(D) a nonprofit organization.
            ``(2) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
            ``(3) Small cheese producer.--The term `small cheese 
        producer' has the meaning given the term by the Secretary.
    ``(b) Grant Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall establish a program 
        under which the Secretary shall make competitive grants to, as 
        determined by the Secretary--
                    ``(A) eligible small cheese producers; and
                    ``(B) cooperative groups of small cheese producers.
            ``(2) Preference.--In making grants under this subsection, 
        the Secretary shall give preference to small cheese producers 
        that--
                    ``(A) purchase raw dairy product from producers 
                located in the same State as the small cheese 
                producers; or
                    ``(B) produce raw dairy product on the farms of the 
                small cheese producers.
            ``(3) Use of funds.--The recipient of a grant under this 
        subsection may use grant funds--
                    ``(A) to purchase equipment or renovate and make 
                repairs to production facilities;
                    ``(B) to develop a business plan or perform a 
                feasibility study to grow the business of the small 
                cheese producer;
                    ``(C) to promote and market cheese;
                    ``(D) to participate in accounting and financial 
                literacy education and training or purchase necessary 
                software; and
                    ``(E) to carry out food safety upgrades and 
                participate in food safety training.
    ``(c) Cheese Production Education and Promotion Pilot Project.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall not use more than 10 
        percent of the funds made available to carry out this section 
        to establish at 1 or more eligible institutions a pilot project 
        that will--
                    ``(A) develop a regional cheese-making resource 
                center with the technical assistance and electronic 
                resource capabilities to provide small cheese producers 
                with financial, marketing, food safety, and production 
                assistance;
                    ``(B) support a group of experienced cheese 
                producers or subject matter experts (as determined by 
                the Secretary) to advise beginning cheese producers; 
                and
                    ``(C) establish or grow a national cheese-making 
                resource center to act as a clearinghouse for best 
                practices relating to finances, marketing, food safety, 
                and production.
            ``(2) Requirements.--To be eligible to receive funding to 
        establish a pilot project described in paragraph (1), an 
        eligible institution shall demonstrate to the Secretary--
                    ``(A) the capacity and technical expertise to 
                provide the services described in that paragraph;
                    ``(B) the support of the eligible institution in 
                the agricultural community; and
                    ``(C) the availability of resources (in cash or in 
                kind) of definite value to achieve the goal and sustain 
                the mission of the pilot project.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000, to remain available 
until expended.''.
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