I
118THCONGRESS
2
DSESSION H. R. 7920
To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act
of 1998 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program
under which the Secretary will award competitive grants to eligible enti-
ties for the purpose of establishing and enhancing farming and ranching
opportunities for veterans.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL10, 2024
Mr. V
ANORDEN(for himself, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. BACON, and
Mrs. C
HAVEZ-DEREMER) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee
on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Edu-
cation Reform Act of 1998 to direct the Secretary of
Agriculture to establish a program under which the Sec-
retary will award competitive grants to eligible entities
for the purpose of establishing and enhancing farming
and ranching opportunities for veterans.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agriculture Grants for 2
Veterans Education and Training Services Act’’ or the 3
‘‘AG VETS Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE GRANTS FOR VETERAN EDUCATION 5
AND TRAINING SERVICES. 6
Title IV of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and 7
Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7624 et seq.) 8
is amended by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘SEC. 414. AGRICULTURE GRANTS FOR VETERAN EDU-10
CATION AND TRAINING SERVICES. 11
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 12
program under which the Secretary will award competitive 13
grants to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing 14
and enhancing farming and ranching opportunities for 15
veterans (as defined in section 101(2) of title 38, United 16
States Code). 17
‘‘(b) E
LIGIBLEENTITIES.—An entity is eligible for 18
a grant under this section if such entity is— 19
‘‘(1) a cooperative extension service; 20
‘‘(2) a land-grant college or university (as de-21
fined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural 22
Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 23
1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)); 24
‘‘(3) a non-land-grant college of agriculture (as 25
defined in such section); 26
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•HR 7920 IH
‘‘(4) a Hispanic-serving agricultural college and 1
university (as defined in such section); 2
‘‘(5) a State department of agriculture; 3
‘‘(6) a nonprofit organization; 4
‘‘(7) a community-based organization; or 5
‘‘(8) a combination of 2 or more eligible entities 6
described in paragraphs (1) through (7). 7
‘‘(c) U
SE OFFUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 8
a grant under this section shall use the funds received 9
through the grant— 10
‘‘(1) to provide training and classroom edu-11
cation that leads to a comprehensive understanding 12
of farm and ranch business operations and manage-13
ment practices; 14
‘‘(2) to develop or identify curriculum that vet-15
eran farmers and ranchers can adopt to help man-16
age their enterprise; 17
‘‘(3) to offer education, workshops, tours, and 18
instructor-supervised field experiences; or 19
‘‘(4) to support any other activity, as identified 20
by the Secretary, to increase the number of military 21
veterans pursuing knowledge and skills development 22
in agriculture. 23
‘‘(d) M
ATCHINGFUNDS.—An entity that receives a 24
grant under this section shall provide non-Federal match-25
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•HR 7920 IH
ing funds for the purposes of carrying out this section in 1
an amount equal to not less than the amount of the grant. 2
‘‘(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 3
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 4
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029.’’. 5
Æ
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