II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1237
To establish the New Producer Economic Security Program within the Farm
Service Agency Office of Outreach and Education.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL1 (legislative day, MARCH31), 2025
Ms. S
MITHintroduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To establish the New Producer Economic Security Program
within the Farm Service Agency Office of Outreach and
Education.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘New Producer Eco-4
nomic Security Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. NEW PRODUCER ECONOMIC SECURITY PROGRAM. 6
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 7
(1) A
UTHORIZED LEGAL ENTITY .—The term 8
‘‘authorized legal entity’’ means any corporation, 9
business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited li-10
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ability company, association, joint venture, public 1
corporation, cooperative, pension or investment fund, 2
or any other legal or commercial entity organized or 3
created under the laws of any State that meets each 4
of the following requirements: 5
(A) The entity is not a subsidiary of, or 6
owned in any part by, a multilayered subsidiary 7
entity. 8
(B) The shareholders, partners, members, 9
or beneficial owners of the entity do not exceed 10
25 individuals. 11
(C) The shareholders, partners, members, 12
or beneficial owners of the entity are all natural 13
persons who— 14
(i) regularly and frequently make, or 15
take an important part in making, man-16
agement decisions substantially contrib-17
uting to or affecting the operation of a 18
farm or forest; or 19
(ii) perform physical work that signifi-20
cantly contributes to cultivation, steward-21
ship, crop or livestock production, or food 22
production. 23
(2) C
OVERED PROJECT .—The term ‘‘covered 24
project’’ means a project described in subsection (e). 25
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(3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.— 1
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-2
ty’’ means an entity that— 3
(i) has demonstrated experience in 4
serving qualified beneficiaries; and 5
(ii) is— 6
(I) a State, local, or territorial 7
government; 8
(II) an Indian Tribe or Tribal or-9
ganization (as those terms are defined 10
in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter-11
mination and Education Assistance 12
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)); 13
(III) a Native community devel-14
opment financial institution certified 15
by the Secretary of the Treasury; 16
(IV) a community development 17
financial institution (as defined in sec-18
tion 103 of the Community Develop-19
ment Banking and Financial Institu-20
tions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4702)) 21
certified by the Secretary of the 22
Treasury, acting through the Director 23
of the Community Development Fi-24
nancial Institutions Fund established 25
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under section 104(a) of that Act (12 1
U.S.C. 4703(a)); 2
(V) an organization described in 3
paragraph (2) or (3) of section 501(c) 4
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 5
and exempt from tax under section 6
501(a) of such Code; 7
(VI) a foundation; 8
(VII) a cooperative entity; 9
(VIII) an institution of higher 10
education (as defined in section 101 11
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 12
(20 U.S.C. 1001)); 13
(IX) a financial institution de-14
scribed in section 1.7(b)(1)(B) of the 15
Farm Credit Act of 1971 (12 U.S.C. 16
2015(b)(1)(B)); and 17
(X) any other appropriate part-18
ner, as determined by the Secretary. 19
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘eligible enti-20
ty’’ does not include a corporation that is for-21
eign-based or foreign-owned. 22
(4) E
LIGIBLE LAND.— 23
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible 24
land’’ means— 25
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(i) agricultural land; 1
(ii) private land; 2
(iii) urban land; 3
(iv) public land, including Federal, 4
State, and municipally owned or managed 5
land; 6
(v) lands held in common that are 7
controlled and managed by groups of indi-8
viduals; 9
(vi) lands held in trust; 10
(vii) multiple parcels of land described 11
in any of clauses (i) through (vi) that are 12
noncontiguous; and 13
(viii) public or private shoreline or 14
intertidal zone areas, which may be wholly 15
or partially underwater. 16
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘eligible land’’ 17
does not include a natural area (as defined in 18
section 650.23(a) of title 7, Code of Federal 19
Regulations (or successor regulations)). 20
(5) P
ROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 21
the New Producer Economic Security Program es-22
tablished under subsection (b). 23
(6) Q
UALIFIED BENEFICIARY.— 24
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified 1
beneficiary’’ means a farmer, a rancher, or a 2
forest owner who— 3
(i) is a natural person; 4
(ii) is— 5
(I) a shareholder in an author-6
ized legal entity; 7
(II) an officer, director, or em-8
ployee of an authorized legal entity; 9
(III) a member or manager of an 10
authorized legal entity; 11
(IV) a partner in an authorized 12
legal entity; 13
(V) a beneficiary or trustee of an 14
authorized legal entity; or 15
(VI) any other individual who— 16
(aa) regularly and frequently 17
makes, or takes an important 18
part in making, management de-19
cisions substantially contributing 20
to or affecting the operation of a 21
farm or forest; or 22
(bb) performs physical work 23
that significantly contributes to 24
cultivation, stewardship, crop or 25
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livestock production, or food pro-1
duction; and 2
(iii)(I) has never operated, or has not 3
operated for more than 10 consecutive 4
years, a farm or a ranch; 5
(II) operates only on rented or leased 6
land; 7
(III) has an income that is at or 8
below 200 percent of the national poverty 9
level or half of the median household in-10
come of the county in which the natural 11
person is located; or 12
(IV) is economically disadvantaged, as 13
determined by the Secretary. 14
(B) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘qualified 15
beneficiary’’ does not include a natural person 16
who solely provides capital to an authorized 17
legal entity that is not a qualified beneficiary 18
described in subparagraph (A). 19
(7) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 20
the Secretary of Agriculture. 21
(b) E
STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish 22
within the Farm Service Agency a competitive program, 23
to be known as the ‘‘New Producer Economic Security 24
Program’’, to make grants to, enter into cooperative 25
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agreements with, or provide other capital support to eligi-1
ble entities to carry out covered projects in accordance 2
with subsection (e). 3
(c) P
URPOSE.—The purposes of the program are— 4
(1) to strengthen the food systems security of 5
the United States by efficiently investing in commu-6
nity-led solutions to increasing access to land, cap-7
ital, and markets for qualified beneficiaries; and 8
(2) to support projects that— 9
(A) support farm establishment and long- 10
term farm business viability; 11
(B) support the financial viability of quali-12
fied beneficiaries; 13
(C) support the physical and mental health 14
of qualified beneficiaries; 15
(D) increase land access; 16
(E) prevent land loss; 17
(F) establish innovative ways to make land 18
accessible to qualified beneficiaries; 19
(G) transition farmland from existing land-20
owners to qualified beneficiaries; and 21
(H) provide appropriate technical assist-22
ance related to permissible activities described 23
in subsection (e)(2). 24
(d) S
ELECTION.— 25
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(1) APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS .—To be eligi-1
ble to receive assistance under the program, an eligi-2
ble entity shall submit to the Secretary an applica-3
tion at such time, in such manner, and containing 4
such information as the Secretary may require, in-5
cluding— 6
(A) information demonstrating that the 7
covered project the eligible entity seeks to carry 8
out is designed— 9
(i) to serve qualified beneficiaries; and 10
(ii) to meet the purposes of the pro-11
gram described in subsection (c); 12
(B) a description of how project activities 13
will support the long-term financial viability of 14
qualified beneficiaries; 15
(C) a plan for notification and consultation 16
with local Tribal governments for the future 17
sale of land, if applicable; 18
(D) an analysis of anticipated benefits to 19
the community and the agricultural economy 20
within the project area; and 21
(E) a plan for evaluation, data manage-22
ment, communication, and reporting of project 23
findings and results. 24
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(2) EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF APPLICA -1
TIONS.— 2
(A) E
VALUATION PROCESS .—The Sec-3
retary shall develop a process for evaluating 4
and selecting applications submitted under 5
paragraph (1) in collaboration with the stake-6
holder committee established under subpara-7
graph (B). 8
(B) S
TAKEHOLDER COMMITTEE .— 9
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 10
days after the date of enactment of this 11
Act, the Secretary shall establish and con-12
vene a stakeholder committee to provide 13
input on the distribution of funds and the 14
evaluation and selection of applications 15
submitted under paragraph (1). 16
(ii) C
ONSIDERATION.—The Secretary 17
shall ensure that the stakeholder com-18
mittee established under clause (i) includes 19
perspectives reflecting— 20
(I) the complexity of the rural 21
and urban agricultural landscapes of 22
the United States; and 23
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(II) the wide variety of agricul-1
tural production models employed by 2
qualified beneficiaries. 3
(C) P
RIORITY.—In selecting applications 4
submitted under paragraph (1), the Secretary 5
shall give priority to applications for covered 6
projects that— 7
(i) provide direct financial assistance 8
to qualified beneficiaries; 9
(ii) involve a substantial and effective 10
collaborative network or partnership of 11
public or private entities; 12
(iii) include a right of first refusal for 13
Tribal citizens or governments when land 14
becomes available on or near Tribal com-15
munities; 16
(iv) involve mechanisms, such as a 17
deed restriction or conservation easement, 18
that restrict the resale value of eligible 19
land to protect the land for agricultural 20
use; 21
(v) support the voluntary transition of 22
agricultural land from existing producers 23
to qualified beneficiaries; 24
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(vi) provide technical assistance, in-1
cluding translation and interpretation serv-2
ices; 3
(vii) include activities under sub-4
section (e) designed to support farm-5
workers; or 6
(viii) support long-term adoption of 7
conservation practices that are consistent 8
with conservation practice standards of the 9
Natural Resources Conservation Service 10
and designed to achieve conservation out-11
comes. 12
(e) C
OVEREDPROJECTS.— 13
(1) R
EQUIRED USE OF FUNDS .—An eligible en-14
tity that receives assistance under the program shall 15
provide direct assistance to qualified beneficiaries in 16
order to facilitate access to land, capital, and mar-17
kets, which may include payments— 18
(A) to acquire real property (including air 19
rights, water rights, and other interests there-20
in), including closing costs; 21
(B) to subsidize interest rates and mort-22
gage principal amounts for qualified bene-23
ficiaries; 24
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(C) to provide down payment assistance to 1
decrease farm mortgages; 2
(D) to secure clear title on heirs’ property; 3
(E) to conduct surveys and assessments of 4
eligible land; 5
(F) to improve or remediate land, water, 6
and soil; 7
(G) to construct or repair infrastructure; 8
(H) to support land use planning; 9
(I) to acquire succession planning assist-10
ance; 11
(J) to carry out Tribal consultation; 12
(K) to support acquisition of a Department 13
of Agriculture farm number; and 14
(L) for any other activities, as determined 15
by the Secretary. 16
(2) P
ERMISSIBLE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible enti-17
ty that receives assistance under the program may 18
use the funds— 19
(A) for activities associated with strength-20
ening the economic security of qualified bene-21
ficiaries by increasing access to markets and 22
capital; 23
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(B) to provide direct assistance to qualified 1
beneficiaries in assessing, purchasing, acquir-2
ing, or retaining eligible land; 3
(C) for activities designed to support farm 4
establishment and long-term viability; 5
(D) to establish a revolving loan fund or 6
other innovative financial mechanism designed 7
for the purpose of investing in covered projects 8
beyond the initial project timeline; and 9
(E) to provide technical assistance that 10
meets the specific needs of, and is accessible to 11
qualified beneficiaries, including— 12
(i) providing translation and interpre-13
tation services; 14
(ii) developing and carrying out strat-15
egies to identify unique needs and gaps in 16
access, knowledge, and services; and 17
(iii) specialized consultation, training, 18
coaching, capacity building, and mentoring 19
focused on— 20
(I) accessing, purchasing, acquir-21
ing, or retaining eligible land; 22
(II) comprehension of, prepara-23
tion to apply for, and complying with 24
Department of Agriculture programs; 25
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(III) succession planning; 1
(IV) market planning and risk 2
analysis; 3
(V) cooperative development; 4
(VI) legal and tax issues; 5
(VII) developing business plans 6
and feasibility studies; 7
(VIII) financial planning and rec-8
ordkeeping; 9
(IX) enterprise, business, and 10
labor management; and 11
(X) any other activities as deter-12
mined by the Secretary. 13
(3) S
UBCONTRACT.—An eligible entity may 14
subcontract with an organization to carry out a use 15
or activity under paragraph (1) or (2) if the services 16
of the subcontractor are necessary. 17
(4) F
UNDING MECHANISM .— 18
(A) E
LIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The Secretary 19
shall make funding available under the program 20
to eligible entities in the form of— 21
(i) grants; 22
(ii) cooperative agreements; 23
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(iii) capitalization loans, in the case of 1
an activity described in paragraph (2)(D); 2
or 3
(iv) other means, as determined by 4
the Secretary. 5
(B) Q
UALIFIED BENEFICIARIES .—In car-6
rying out covered projects under the program, 7
an eligible entity shall provide direct assistance 8
to qualified beneficiaries in the form of— 9
(i) grants; 10
(ii) loans (both long-term and in-11
terim); or 12
(iii) other direct payments or assist-13
ance, as determined by the Secretary. 14
(5) R
EPAYMENT OF FUNDS IN CASE OF NON -15
COMPLIANCE.—An eligible entity that violates the 16
terms or conditions of assistance provided under the 17
program shall reimburse the Secretary for that as-18
sistance. 19
(f) F
UNDING.— 20
(1) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 21
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-22
retary such sums as are necessary to carry out this 23
section. 24
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(2) AGENCY CONTRIBUTION ACCOUNT .—In ad-1
dition to amounts otherwise made available under 2
paragraph (1), the Secretary may use funds avail-3
able through 1 or more contribution accounts estab-4
lished under section 1241(f)(1) of the Food Security 5
Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3841(f)(1)). 6
(3) A
DMINISTRATION.—Of the amounts made 7
available to carry out the program, the Secretary 8
may use an appropriate amount for the costs of im-9
plementing and administering the program. 10
(4) D
ISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.— 11
(A) L
IMITATION.—An eligible entity that 12
receives assistance under the program shall ob-13
ligate the amounts for a covered project by not 14
later than 5 years after the date on which the 15
funds are made available to the eligible entity, 16
unless the Secretary determines otherwise. 17
(B) E
XCLUSION.—In the case of a covered 18
project to support qualified beneficiaries in as-19
sessing, purchasing, acquiring, or retaining eli-20
gible land for a period longer than the 5-year 21
period described in subparagraph (A), section 22
200.311 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations 23
(or a successor regulation) shall not apply. 24
Æ
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