[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5062 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5062

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary 
 of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will 
 award grants to specialty crop producers to acquire certain equipment 
    and provide training with respect to the use of such equipment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2023

  Mr. Valadao (for himself, Mr. Costa, Mr. Panetta, and Mr. LaMalfa) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                              Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary 
 of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will 
 award grants to specialty crop producers to acquire certain equipment 
    and provide training with respect to the use of such equipment.

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

SECTION 1. AUTOMATION AND MECHANIZATION GRANTS FOR SPECIALTY CROPS 
              PRODUCERS.

    Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 210B. AUTOMATION AND MECHANIZATION GRANTS.

    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of enhancing the competitiveness of 
specialty crop producers in the United States, the Secretary of 
Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the Agricultural 
Marketing Service, shall establish a program under which the Secretary 
will award grants to eligible entities to acquire certain equipment and 
provide training with respect to the use of such equipment.
    ``(b) Use of Funds.--An eligible entity receiving a grant under 
this section shall use funds received through the grant--
            ``(1) to acquire mechanized or automated systems and tools 
        that increase the efficiency of a task or reduce human labor 
        for a specific activity, as determined by the Secretary; and
            ``(2) to provide training, including worker training, and 
        other professional services required to learn how to deploy and 
        effectively operate such systems and tools , as determined by 
        the Secretary.
    ``(c) Amount of Grants.--To the maximum extent practicable, the 
Secretary shall seek to ensure that the amount of a grant awarded to a 
single eligible entity is sufficient to provide a significant offset to 
the costs such eligible entity incurs in carrying out the activities 
specified in subsection (b).
    ``(d) Matching Funds Requirement.--The recipient of a grant under 
this section shall provide non-Federal matching funds equal to not less 
than 50 percent of the amount of the grant.
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Mechanized or automated systems and tools.--The term 
        `mechanized or automated systems and tools' includes--
                    ``(A) low dust harvesting tools and equipment;
                    ``(B) grinding and chipping tools and equipment;
                    ``(C) sorting machines,;
                    ``(D) phytosanitary, infrared, and pasteurization 
                tools and equipment;
                    ``(E) traceability tools and equipment;
                    ``(F) storage and warehousing tools and equipment;
                    ``(G) drones for monitoring commodity piles and 
                feedstuff for cattle;
                    ``(H) hedgers or shredders;
                    ``(I) wireless, networks, and connectivity 
                equipment to support IoT devices;
                    ``(J) remote, mobile, or drone sensing sensors for 
                field level monitoring of environmental variables for 
                use in farm production and/or processing management 
                decision making;
                    ``(K) enhanced precision irrigation automation, 
                remote sensing, and metering, pest and disease 
                detection, nutrient analysis, and crop load assessment 
                equipment and tools;
                    ``(L) crop monitoring and analytics equipment and 
                tools;
                    ``(M) potential and predictive near-infrared crop 
                damaged assessments;
                    ``(N) robotic, semi-autonomous, autonomous or 
                mechanized systems or other tools;
                    ``(O) equipment and tools that automate or 
                mechanize seeding, weeding, harvesting, packing (field 
                and in-house), pruning, spraying, transporting, climate 
                protection (such as shade cloth or light manipulation); 
                and
                    ``(P) such other automated or mechanized systems or 
                tools that increase efficiency as determined by the 
                Secretary.
            ``(2) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means an 
        individual or entity engaged in the commercial production of 
        specialty crops in the United States.''.
                                 <all>