This bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to submit a report to the House and Senate agriculture committees and post it on the Department website within 180 days after the law starts. The report must assess barriers that certified organic farms and farms that may want to transition to organic production face when trying to use Department programs. Programs named include conservation, credit, disaster assistance, risk management, export promotion, market development, technical assistance, rural development, data collection, procurement, and organic certification cost-share.
The report must, to the extent practicable, include participation data such as application and approval rates, funding levels, geographic distribution, farm size, production type, and reasons for denial or nonparticipation. It must assess specific barriers (for example: eligibility, payment rates, ranking criteria, application forms, recordkeeping, crop insurance price elections, disaster assistance valuation, conservation practice standards, certification documentation, supply-chain infrastructure, organic literacy among Department staff, and availability of organic-specific data). The report must assess needs for organic-specific training and technical assistance for relevant USDA field staff and offices. The Secretary must describe administrative actions intended to remove identified barriers and may recommend statutory changes.
For each of the first three years after the initial report, the Secretary must send annual updates to the committees and post them publicly. Each update must describe progress made, administrative actions completed or underway, remaining barriers, and any additional statutory recommendations.
If you are a certified organic farmer or considering a transition to organic production, the Department must study and publish information about the problems you face when using USDA programs. The report could identify steps the Department plans to take and suggest law changes. The initial report and three yearly updates will be available on the Department website and sent to the Agriculture committees in Congress.
No publicly available information on costs or funding in the bill text.
No publicly available information.
No publicly available information.