[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4982 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4982

To amend the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 to require the 
   Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot program to provide 
 recovery payments to producers of seasonal and perishable crops that 
    experience low prices caused by imports, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2024

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 to require the 
   Secretary of Agriculture to establish a pilot program to provide 
 recovery payments to producers of seasonal and perishable crops that 
    experience low prices caused by imports, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Our Produce Act''.

SEC. 2. SEASONAL AND PERISHABLE CROP LOSS PILOT PROGRAM.

    The Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-
465; 118 Stat. 3882) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Secretary of Agriculture'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``Secretary'';
            (2) in section 3 (7 U.S.C. 1621 note)--
                    (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ``(3) The term'' 
                and inserting the following:
            ``(4) State department of agriculture.--The term'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``(2) The term'' 
                and inserting the following:
            ``(3) State.--The term''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (1), by striking ``(1) The term'' 
                and inserting the following:
            ``(1) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
            ``(2) Specialty crop.--The term''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:

            ``TITLE V--SEASONAL AND PERISHABLE CROP PROGRAMS

``SEC. 501. SEASONAL AND PERISHABLE CROP LOSS PILOT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Effective price.--The term `effective price', with 
        respect to a seasonal and perishable crop for a marketing year, 
        means the national average market price for that seasonal and 
        perishable crop during the seasonal marketing window for the 
        seasonal and perishable crop.
            ``(2) Reference price.--The term `reference price', with 
        respect to a seasonal and perishable crop for a marketing year, 
        means the average of the national average market prices 
        received by all producers of the seasonal and perishable crop 
        during the seasonal marketing window for the seasonal and 
        perishable crop for the most recent 5-year period of marketing 
        seasons, excluding--
                    ``(A) the marketing season during that period with 
                the highest national average market price; and
                    ``(B) the marketing season during that period with 
                the lowest national average market price.
            ``(3) Seasonal and perishable crop.--The term `seasonal and 
        perishable crop' means an asparagus, bell pepper, blueberry, 
        cucumber, or squash crop that is--
                    ``(A) marketed in raw form for consumption without 
                further processing; and
                    ``(B) as determined by the Secretary, normally 
                marketed not later than 4 weeks after harvesting.
            ``(4) Seasonal marketing window.--The term `seasonal 
        marketing window' means the timeframe during a marketing year, 
        as determined by the Secretary--
                    ``(A) during which a crop is normally marketed 
                within a specific geographical region of the United 
                States; and
                    ``(B) that concludes on the date that is not later 
                than 4 weeks after the last day on which the crop is 
                normally harvested.
    ``(b) Establishment of Pilot Program.--
            ``(1) In general.--Beginning with marketing year 2025, the 
        Secretary shall establish a pilot program under which the 
        Secretary shall provide annual crop loss payments to producers 
        of seasonal and perishable crops located in any geographical 
        region described in paragraph (2) in accordance with this 
        section, if the Secretary determines that, during the 
        applicable marketing year--
                    ``(A) the effective price of the seasonal and 
                perishable crop is less than the reference price of 
                that seasonal and perishable crop; and
                    ``(B) the crop loss described in subparagraph (A) 
                is caused by imports of the applicable seasonal and 
                perishable crop.
            ``(2) Description of geographical regions.--A geographical 
        region referred to in paragraph (1) is a geographical region of 
        the United States in which a seasonal and perishable crop is 
        grown within a seasonal marketing window during which a harvest 
        and shipment of the seasonal and perishable crop occurs, as 
        determined by the Secretary.
    ``(c) Eligibility.--
            ``(1) Application.--To be eligible to receive a payment 
        under the pilot program under this section, a producer of 1 or 
        more seasonal and perishable crops shall submit to the 
        Secretary an application at such time, in such manner, and 
        containing such information as the Secretary may require, 
        including the information described in paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Requirement.--No producer may be eligible to receive 
        a payment under the pilot program under this section unless the 
        producer--
                    ``(A) has an average adjusted gross income of less 
                than $5,000,000 for the 3 tax years preceding the most 
                recent tax year; and
                    ``(B) derives at least 75 percent of the adjusted 
                gross income of the producer from farming, ranching, or 
                forestry, as determined by the Secretary.
    ``(d) Payment Amount.--The amount of a payment provided under the 
pilot program under this section shall be equal to the product obtained 
by multiplying--
            ``(1) the payment rate for the marketing year for which the 
        payment is provided with respect to the applicable seasonal and 
        perishable crop under subsection (e); and
            ``(2) the average production during the 5 most recent 
        marketing years of the seasonal and perishable crop by the 
        producer during the seasonal marketing window, excluding--
                    ``(A) the marketing year during that period with 
                the highest production; and
                    ``(B) the marketing year during that period with 
                the lowest production.
    ``(e) Payment Rate.--The rate of a payment provided under the pilot 
program under this section shall be equal to the difference between--
            ``(1) the reference price of the applicable seasonal and 
        perishable crop; and
            ``(2) the effective price of that seasonal and perishable 
        crop.
    ``(f) Sunset.--The pilot program under this section shall terminate 
on the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of the 
Protecting Our Produce Act.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $200,000,000 
for each fiscal year that begins after the date of enactment of the 
Protecting Our Produce Act and before the date described in subsection 
(f).''.
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