II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1271
To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996
with respect to transitioning producers from the noninsured crop assist-
ance program to the whole farm revenue insurance plan.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL3, 2025
Mr. B
LUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. MURPHY) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform
Act of 1996 with respect to transitioning producers from
the noninsured crop assistance program to the whole
farm revenue insurance plan.
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 ‘‘Save Our Small Farms 4
Act of 2025’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2
•S 1271 IS
SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATION AND OPERATION OF NON-1
INSURED CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 2
Section 196 of the of the Federal Agriculture Im-3
provement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) is 4
amended— 5
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(C)— 6
(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 7
inserting ‘‘best facilitates’’ after ‘‘assistance 8
program that’’; 9
(B) in clause (i)— 10
(i) by striking ‘‘best facilitates the use 11
of that’’ and inserting ‘‘the use of those’’; 12
and 13
(ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 14
(C) in clause (ii)— 15
(i) by striking ‘‘ensures the avail-16
ability of that’’ and inserting ‘‘the avail-17
ability of those’’; and 18
(ii) by striking the period at the end 19
and inserting a semicolon; and 20
(D) by adding at the end the following: 21
‘‘(iii) the expansion of crops listed on 22
the national crop table of the Agency with 23
a local average market price; 24
‘‘(iv) the voluntary graduation of pro-25
gram participants to the whole farm rev-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3
•S 1271 IS
enue insurance plan developed under sec-1
tion 522(c)(7) of the Federal Crop Insur-2
ance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)(7)); and 3
‘‘(v) the establishment of pilot project 4
options for purposes of addressing emerg-5
ing needs and collecting data to support 6
the development of policies or plans of in-7
surance offered under the Federal Crop In-8
surance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).’’; 9
(2) in subsection (b), by striking paragraph (4) 10
and inserting the following: 11
‘‘(4) S
TREAMLINED APPLICATION PROCESS .— 12
‘‘(A) D
EFINITION OF WHOLE FARM REV -13
ENUE INSURANCE PLAN .—In this paragraph, 14
the term ‘whole farm revenue insurance plan’ 15
means the whole farm revenue insurance plan 16
developed under section 522(c)(7) of the Fed-17
eral Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)(7)). 18
‘‘(B) E
STABLISHMENT.— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary 20
shall establish a streamlined process for 21
the submission of records and acreage re-22
ports under paragraphs (2) and (3), re-23
spectively, for— 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 4
•S 1271 IS
‘‘(I) diverse production systems, 1
such as those typical of urban produc-2
tion systems; 3
‘‘(II) other small-scale production 4
systems; and 5
‘‘(III) direct-to-consumer produc-6
tion systems. 7
‘‘(ii) I
NCLUSIONS.—The streamlined 8
process established under clause (i) shall 9
include— 10
‘‘(I) reduced acreage report re-11
quirements; and 12
‘‘(II) allowing the submission to 13
the Secretary of 2 reports per year so 14
as to accommodate later acreage re-15
porting. 16
‘‘(C) O
N-RAMP TO WHOLE FARM REVENUE 17
INSURANCE PLAN.— 18
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of a 19
producer using diverse production systems 20
described in subparagraph (B)(i) that may 21
be eligible for the whole farm revenue in-22
surance plan, the Secretary, acting through 23
the Administrator of the Agency, shall es-24
tablish a streamlined revenue-based option 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5
•S 1271 IS
under the noninsured crop disaster assist-1
ance program under this section to assist 2
the producer to transition, on a voluntary 3
basis, from the noninsured crop disaster 4
assistance program under this section to 5
the whole farm revenue insurance plan. 6
‘‘(ii) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The stream-7
lined revenue-based option established 8
under clause (i) shall offer a premium dis-9
count of— 10
‘‘(I) 25 percent for the first crop 11
year for which a producer— 12
‘‘(aa) certifies that the pro-13
ducer will transition from the 14
noninsured crop disaster assist-15
ance program under this section 16
to the whole farm revenue insur-17
ance plan not later than 3 years 18
after the date of the certification; 19
and 20
‘‘(bb) provides revenue his-21
tory with respect to that crop 22
year; 23
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 6
•S 1271 IS
‘‘(II) 50 percent for the crop 1
year following the crop year described 2
in subclause (I) if the producer— 3
‘‘(aa) certifies that the pro-4
ducer will transition from the 5
noninsured crop disaster assist-6
ance program under this section 7
to the whole farm revenue insur-8
ance plan not later than 2 years 9
after the date of the certification; 10
and 11
‘‘(bb) provides revenue his-12
tory with respect to that crop 13
year; and 14
‘‘(III) 50 percent for the crop 15
year following the crop year described 16
in subclause (II) if the producer— 17
‘‘(aa) purchases insurance 18
under the whole farm revenue in-19
surance plan not later than 1 20
year after the date of the certifi-21
cation; and 22
‘‘(bb) provides revenue his-23
tory with respect to that crop 24
year. 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 7
•S 1271 IS
‘‘(iii) TAX FORM SCHEDULE F .—The 1
Secretary shall accept the Internal Rev-2
enue Service Tax Form Schedule F (or a 3
successor form) with respect to a producer 4
for purposes of establishing revenue history 5
under clause (ii). 6
‘‘(iv) R
EVENUE HISTORY SHARING .— 7
The Secretary shall submit to the Federal 8
Crop Insurance Corporation the revenue 9
history submitted to the Secretary pursu-10
ant to clause (ii). 11
‘‘(D) R
ULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 12
days after the date of enactment of the Save 13
Our Small Farms Act of 2025 the Secretary 14
shall issue regulations to ensure that premium 15
discounts under this paragraph are only avail-16
able to producers described in subparagraph 17
(C)(i) that comply with this paragraph, to-18
gether with such exceptions as the Secretary de-19
termines to be necessary, including for pro-20
ducers unable to purchase a whole farm plan.’’; 21
(3) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 22
following: 23
‘‘(5) N
OTICE OF CERTAIN LOSSES .—A producer 24
of a hand-harvested or rapidly deteriorating crop 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 8
•S 1271 IS
may submit to the Secretary evidence of a loss of 1
that crop at any time after the 120-hour period fol-2
lowing the loss in order to be eligible for assistance 3
under this section. 4
‘‘(6) A
PPRAISAL OF LOSS.— 5
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—In any case in which 6
an appraisal of crop acreage is requested by a 7
producer or determined to be necessary by a 8
State agricultural official or a State executive 9
director of the Agency for a year in which a no-10
tice of loss is filed under this subsection, par-11
ticularly in any case in which a loss adjuster is 12
not available within 72 hours of the notice, the 13
Secretary shall permit the following alternatives 14
to an in-person appraisal by a loss adjuster: 15
‘‘(i) Remote appraisal, including time- 16
stamped photographs, drone footage, and 17
other technology applications. 18
‘‘(ii) Appraisal by field office staff of 19
the Agency with requisite training, in con-20
junction with a remote appraisal under 21
clause (i). 22
‘‘(B) T
RAINING.—The Secretary shall re-23
quire field office staff to attend noninsured crop 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 9
•S 1271 IS
disaster assistance appraisal training for pur-1
poses of subparagraph (A)(ii).’’; 2
(4) in subsection (e)(3), by striking ‘‘65 per-3
cent’’ and inserting ‘‘100 percent’’; 4
(5) in subsection (i)(2)— 5
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 6
‘‘and’’ at the end; 7
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 8
period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9
(C) by adding at the end the following: 10
‘‘(C) notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) 11
and (B), in the case of a limited resource, be-12
ginning, or socially disadvantaged farmer, as 13
determined by the Secretary, a veteran farmer 14
or rancher (as defined in section 2501(a) of the 15
Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act 16
of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), or a producer par-17
ticipating in the streamlined revenue-based op-18
tion pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C), 19
$600,000.’’; 20
(6) in subsection (k)(2)— 21
(A) by striking ‘‘defined by the Secretary, 22
or a veteran’’ and inserting ‘‘determined by the 23
Secretary, a veteran’’; and 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 10
•S 1271 IS
(B) by inserting ‘‘, or a producer partici-1
pating in the streamlined revenue-based option 2
pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C)’’ before the 3
period at the end; 4
(7) in subsection (l), by striking paragraph (3) 5
and inserting the following: 6
‘‘(3) P
REMIUM DISCOUNT.—The coverage made 7
available under this subsection shall be available to 8
limited resource, beginning, or socially disadvan-9
taged farmers, as determined by the Secretary, vet-10
eran farmers or ranchers (as defined in section 11
2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and 12
Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), and pro-13
ducers participating in the streamlined revenue- 14
based option pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C), in ex-15
change for a premium that is 25 percent of the pre-16
mium determined under paragraph (2).’’; and 17
(8) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(m) D
ELIVERY.—The Secretary shall collaborate 19
with outreach and technical assistance providers, exten-20
sion offices, and State departments of agriculture to ad-21
vertise the noninsured crop disaster assistance program 22
under this section, particularly to limited resource, begin-23
ning, or socially disadvantaged farmers, as determined by 24
the Secretary, veteran farmers or ranchers (as defined in 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11
•S 1271 IS
section 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 1
and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), and pro-2
ducers eligible to participate in the streamlined revenue- 3
based option pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C).’’. 4
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:56 Apr 15, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1271.IS S1271
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS