1 | 1 | | II |
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2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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3 | 3 | | 1 |
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4 | 4 | | STSESSION S. 1271 |
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5 | 5 | | To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 |
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6 | 6 | | with respect to transitioning producers from the noninsured crop assist- |
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7 | 7 | | ance program to the whole farm revenue insurance plan. |
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8 | 8 | | IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES |
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9 | 9 | | APRIL3, 2025 |
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10 | 10 | | Mr. B |
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11 | 11 | | LUMENTHAL (for himself and Mr. MURPHY) introduced the following |
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12 | 12 | | bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, |
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13 | 13 | | Nutrition, and Forestry |
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14 | 14 | | A BILL |
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15 | 15 | | To amend the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform |
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16 | 16 | | Act of 1996 with respect to transitioning producers from |
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17 | 17 | | the noninsured crop assistance program to the whole |
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18 | 18 | | farm revenue insurance plan. |
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19 | 19 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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20 | 20 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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21 | 21 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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22 | 22 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Our Small Farms 4 |
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23 | 23 | | Act of 2025’’. 5 |
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25 | 25 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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26 | 26 | | •S 1271 IS |
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27 | 27 | | SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATION AND OPERATION OF NON-1 |
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28 | 28 | | INSURED CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. 2 |
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29 | 29 | | Section 196 of the of the Federal Agriculture Im-3 |
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30 | 30 | | provement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7333) is 4 |
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31 | 31 | | amended— 5 |
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32 | 32 | | (1) in subsection (a)(1)(C)— 6 |
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33 | 33 | | (A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by 7 |
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34 | 34 | | inserting ‘‘best facilitates’’ after ‘‘assistance 8 |
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35 | 35 | | program that’’; 9 |
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36 | 36 | | (B) in clause (i)— 10 |
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37 | 37 | | (i) by striking ‘‘best facilitates the use 11 |
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38 | 38 | | of that’’ and inserting ‘‘the use of those’’; 12 |
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39 | 39 | | and 13 |
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40 | 40 | | (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 14 |
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41 | 41 | | (C) in clause (ii)— 15 |
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42 | 42 | | (i) by striking ‘‘ensures the avail-16 |
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43 | 43 | | ability of that’’ and inserting ‘‘the avail-17 |
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44 | 44 | | ability of those’’; and 18 |
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45 | 45 | | (ii) by striking the period at the end 19 |
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46 | 46 | | and inserting a semicolon; and 20 |
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47 | 47 | | (D) by adding at the end the following: 21 |
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48 | 48 | | ‘‘(iii) the expansion of crops listed on 22 |
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49 | 49 | | the national crop table of the Agency with 23 |
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50 | 50 | | a local average market price; 24 |
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51 | 51 | | ‘‘(iv) the voluntary graduation of pro-25 |
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52 | 52 | | gram participants to the whole farm rev-26 |
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54 | 54 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 3 |
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55 | 55 | | •S 1271 IS |
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56 | 56 | | enue insurance plan developed under sec-1 |
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57 | 57 | | tion 522(c)(7) of the Federal Crop Insur-2 |
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58 | 58 | | ance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)(7)); and 3 |
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59 | 59 | | ‘‘(v) the establishment of pilot project 4 |
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60 | 60 | | options for purposes of addressing emerg-5 |
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61 | 61 | | ing needs and collecting data to support 6 |
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62 | 62 | | the development of policies or plans of in-7 |
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63 | 63 | | surance offered under the Federal Crop In-8 |
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64 | 64 | | surance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).’’; 9 |
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65 | 65 | | (2) in subsection (b), by striking paragraph (4) 10 |
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66 | 66 | | and inserting the following: 11 |
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67 | 67 | | ‘‘(4) S |
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68 | 68 | | TREAMLINED APPLICATION PROCESS .— 12 |
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69 | 69 | | ‘‘(A) D |
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70 | 70 | | EFINITION OF WHOLE FARM REV -13 |
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71 | 71 | | ENUE INSURANCE PLAN .—In this paragraph, 14 |
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72 | 72 | | the term ‘whole farm revenue insurance plan’ 15 |
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73 | 73 | | means the whole farm revenue insurance plan 16 |
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74 | 74 | | developed under section 522(c)(7) of the Fed-17 |
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75 | 75 | | eral Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)(7)). 18 |
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76 | 76 | | ‘‘(B) E |
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77 | 77 | | STABLISHMENT.— 19 |
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78 | 78 | | ‘‘(i) I |
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79 | 79 | | N GENERAL.—The Secretary 20 |
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80 | 80 | | shall establish a streamlined process for 21 |
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81 | 81 | | the submission of records and acreage re-22 |
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82 | 82 | | ports under paragraphs (2) and (3), re-23 |
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83 | 83 | | spectively, for— 24 |
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86 | 86 | | •S 1271 IS |
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87 | 87 | | ‘‘(I) diverse production systems, 1 |
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88 | 88 | | such as those typical of urban produc-2 |
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89 | 89 | | tion systems; 3 |
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90 | 90 | | ‘‘(II) other small-scale production 4 |
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91 | 91 | | systems; and 5 |
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92 | 92 | | ‘‘(III) direct-to-consumer produc-6 |
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93 | 93 | | tion systems. 7 |
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94 | 94 | | ‘‘(ii) I |
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95 | 95 | | NCLUSIONS.—The streamlined 8 |
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96 | 96 | | process established under clause (i) shall 9 |
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97 | 97 | | include— 10 |
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98 | 98 | | ‘‘(I) reduced acreage report re-11 |
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99 | 99 | | quirements; and 12 |
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100 | 100 | | ‘‘(II) allowing the submission to 13 |
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101 | 101 | | the Secretary of 2 reports per year so 14 |
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102 | 102 | | as to accommodate later acreage re-15 |
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103 | 103 | | porting. 16 |
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104 | 104 | | ‘‘(C) O |
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105 | 105 | | N-RAMP TO WHOLE FARM REVENUE 17 |
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106 | 106 | | INSURANCE PLAN.— 18 |
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107 | 107 | | ‘‘(i) I |
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108 | 108 | | N GENERAL.—In the case of a 19 |
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109 | 109 | | producer using diverse production systems 20 |
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110 | 110 | | described in subparagraph (B)(i) that may 21 |
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111 | 111 | | be eligible for the whole farm revenue in-22 |
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112 | 112 | | surance plan, the Secretary, acting through 23 |
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113 | 113 | | the Administrator of the Agency, shall es-24 |
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114 | 114 | | tablish a streamlined revenue-based option 25 |
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116 | 116 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 5 |
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117 | 117 | | •S 1271 IS |
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118 | 118 | | under the noninsured crop disaster assist-1 |
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119 | 119 | | ance program under this section to assist 2 |
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120 | 120 | | the producer to transition, on a voluntary 3 |
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121 | 121 | | basis, from the noninsured crop disaster 4 |
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122 | 122 | | assistance program under this section to 5 |
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123 | 123 | | the whole farm revenue insurance plan. 6 |
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124 | 124 | | ‘‘(ii) R |
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125 | 125 | | EQUIREMENTS.—The stream-7 |
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126 | 126 | | lined revenue-based option established 8 |
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127 | 127 | | under clause (i) shall offer a premium dis-9 |
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128 | 128 | | count of— 10 |
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129 | 129 | | ‘‘(I) 25 percent for the first crop 11 |
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130 | 130 | | year for which a producer— 12 |
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131 | 131 | | ‘‘(aa) certifies that the pro-13 |
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132 | 132 | | ducer will transition from the 14 |
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133 | 133 | | noninsured crop disaster assist-15 |
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134 | 134 | | ance program under this section 16 |
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135 | 135 | | to the whole farm revenue insur-17 |
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136 | 136 | | ance plan not later than 3 years 18 |
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137 | 137 | | after the date of the certification; 19 |
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138 | 138 | | and 20 |
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139 | 139 | | ‘‘(bb) provides revenue his-21 |
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140 | 140 | | tory with respect to that crop 22 |
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141 | 141 | | year; 23 |
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144 | 144 | | •S 1271 IS |
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145 | 145 | | ‘‘(II) 50 percent for the crop 1 |
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146 | 146 | | year following the crop year described 2 |
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147 | 147 | | in subclause (I) if the producer— 3 |
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148 | 148 | | ‘‘(aa) certifies that the pro-4 |
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149 | 149 | | ducer will transition from the 5 |
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150 | 150 | | noninsured crop disaster assist-6 |
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151 | 151 | | ance program under this section 7 |
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152 | 152 | | to the whole farm revenue insur-8 |
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153 | 153 | | ance plan not later than 2 years 9 |
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154 | 154 | | after the date of the certification; 10 |
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155 | 155 | | and 11 |
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156 | 156 | | ‘‘(bb) provides revenue his-12 |
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157 | 157 | | tory with respect to that crop 13 |
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158 | 158 | | year; and 14 |
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159 | 159 | | ‘‘(III) 50 percent for the crop 15 |
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160 | 160 | | year following the crop year described 16 |
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161 | 161 | | in subclause (II) if the producer— 17 |
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162 | 162 | | ‘‘(aa) purchases insurance 18 |
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163 | 163 | | under the whole farm revenue in-19 |
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164 | 164 | | surance plan not later than 1 20 |
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165 | 165 | | year after the date of the certifi-21 |
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166 | 166 | | cation; and 22 |
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167 | 167 | | ‘‘(bb) provides revenue his-23 |
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168 | 168 | | tory with respect to that crop 24 |
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169 | 169 | | year. 25 |
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172 | 172 | | •S 1271 IS |
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173 | 173 | | ‘‘(iii) TAX FORM SCHEDULE F .—The 1 |
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174 | 174 | | Secretary shall accept the Internal Rev-2 |
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175 | 175 | | enue Service Tax Form Schedule F (or a 3 |
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176 | 176 | | successor form) with respect to a producer 4 |
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177 | 177 | | for purposes of establishing revenue history 5 |
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178 | 178 | | under clause (ii). 6 |
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179 | 179 | | ‘‘(iv) R |
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180 | 180 | | EVENUE HISTORY SHARING .— 7 |
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181 | 181 | | The Secretary shall submit to the Federal 8 |
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182 | 182 | | Crop Insurance Corporation the revenue 9 |
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183 | 183 | | history submitted to the Secretary pursu-10 |
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184 | 184 | | ant to clause (ii). 11 |
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185 | 185 | | ‘‘(D) R |
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186 | 186 | | ULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 12 |
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187 | 187 | | days after the date of enactment of the Save 13 |
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188 | 188 | | Our Small Farms Act of 2025 the Secretary 14 |
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189 | 189 | | shall issue regulations to ensure that premium 15 |
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190 | 190 | | discounts under this paragraph are only avail-16 |
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191 | 191 | | able to producers described in subparagraph 17 |
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192 | 192 | | (C)(i) that comply with this paragraph, to-18 |
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193 | 193 | | gether with such exceptions as the Secretary de-19 |
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194 | 194 | | termines to be necessary, including for pro-20 |
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195 | 195 | | ducers unable to purchase a whole farm plan.’’; 21 |
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196 | 196 | | (3) in subsection (c), by adding at the end the 22 |
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197 | 197 | | following: 23 |
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198 | 198 | | ‘‘(5) N |
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199 | 199 | | OTICE OF CERTAIN LOSSES .—A producer 24 |
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200 | 200 | | of a hand-harvested or rapidly deteriorating crop 25 |
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203 | 203 | | •S 1271 IS |
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204 | 204 | | may submit to the Secretary evidence of a loss of 1 |
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205 | 205 | | that crop at any time after the 120-hour period fol-2 |
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206 | 206 | | lowing the loss in order to be eligible for assistance 3 |
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207 | 207 | | under this section. 4 |
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208 | 208 | | ‘‘(6) A |
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209 | 209 | | PPRAISAL OF LOSS.— 5 |
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210 | 210 | | ‘‘(A) I |
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211 | 211 | | N GENERAL.—In any case in which 6 |
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212 | 212 | | an appraisal of crop acreage is requested by a 7 |
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213 | 213 | | producer or determined to be necessary by a 8 |
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214 | 214 | | State agricultural official or a State executive 9 |
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215 | 215 | | director of the Agency for a year in which a no-10 |
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216 | 216 | | tice of loss is filed under this subsection, par-11 |
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217 | 217 | | ticularly in any case in which a loss adjuster is 12 |
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218 | 218 | | not available within 72 hours of the notice, the 13 |
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219 | 219 | | Secretary shall permit the following alternatives 14 |
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220 | 220 | | to an in-person appraisal by a loss adjuster: 15 |
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221 | 221 | | ‘‘(i) Remote appraisal, including time- 16 |
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222 | 222 | | stamped photographs, drone footage, and 17 |
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223 | 223 | | other technology applications. 18 |
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224 | 224 | | ‘‘(ii) Appraisal by field office staff of 19 |
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225 | 225 | | the Agency with requisite training, in con-20 |
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226 | 226 | | junction with a remote appraisal under 21 |
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227 | 227 | | clause (i). 22 |
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228 | 228 | | ‘‘(B) T |
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229 | 229 | | RAINING.—The Secretary shall re-23 |
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230 | 230 | | quire field office staff to attend noninsured crop 24 |
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233 | 233 | | •S 1271 IS |
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234 | 234 | | disaster assistance appraisal training for pur-1 |
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235 | 235 | | poses of subparagraph (A)(ii).’’; 2 |
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236 | 236 | | (4) in subsection (e)(3), by striking ‘‘65 per-3 |
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237 | 237 | | cent’’ and inserting ‘‘100 percent’’; 4 |
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238 | 238 | | (5) in subsection (i)(2)— 5 |
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239 | 239 | | (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 6 |
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240 | 240 | | ‘‘and’’ at the end; 7 |
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241 | 241 | | (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the 8 |
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242 | 242 | | period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 9 |
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243 | 243 | | (C) by adding at the end the following: 10 |
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244 | 244 | | ‘‘(C) notwithstanding subparagraphs (A) 11 |
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245 | 245 | | and (B), in the case of a limited resource, be-12 |
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246 | 246 | | ginning, or socially disadvantaged farmer, as 13 |
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247 | 247 | | determined by the Secretary, a veteran farmer 14 |
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248 | 248 | | or rancher (as defined in section 2501(a) of the 15 |
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249 | 249 | | Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act 16 |
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250 | 250 | | of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), or a producer par-17 |
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251 | 251 | | ticipating in the streamlined revenue-based op-18 |
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252 | 252 | | tion pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C), 19 |
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253 | 253 | | $600,000.’’; 20 |
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254 | 254 | | (6) in subsection (k)(2)— 21 |
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255 | 255 | | (A) by striking ‘‘defined by the Secretary, 22 |
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256 | 256 | | or a veteran’’ and inserting ‘‘determined by the 23 |
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257 | 257 | | Secretary, a veteran’’; and 24 |
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260 | 260 | | •S 1271 IS |
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261 | 261 | | (B) by inserting ‘‘, or a producer partici-1 |
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262 | 262 | | pating in the streamlined revenue-based option 2 |
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263 | 263 | | pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C)’’ before the 3 |
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264 | 264 | | period at the end; 4 |
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265 | 265 | | (7) in subsection (l), by striking paragraph (3) 5 |
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266 | 266 | | and inserting the following: 6 |
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267 | 267 | | ‘‘(3) P |
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268 | 268 | | REMIUM DISCOUNT.—The coverage made 7 |
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269 | 269 | | available under this subsection shall be available to 8 |
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270 | 270 | | limited resource, beginning, or socially disadvan-9 |
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271 | 271 | | taged farmers, as determined by the Secretary, vet-10 |
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272 | 272 | | eran farmers or ranchers (as defined in section 11 |
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273 | 273 | | 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and 12 |
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274 | 274 | | Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), and pro-13 |
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275 | 275 | | ducers participating in the streamlined revenue- 14 |
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276 | 276 | | based option pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C), in ex-15 |
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277 | 277 | | change for a premium that is 25 percent of the pre-16 |
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278 | 278 | | mium determined under paragraph (2).’’; and 17 |
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279 | 279 | | (8) by adding at the end the following: 18 |
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280 | 280 | | ‘‘(m) D |
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281 | 281 | | ELIVERY.—The Secretary shall collaborate 19 |
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282 | 282 | | with outreach and technical assistance providers, exten-20 |
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283 | 283 | | sion offices, and State departments of agriculture to ad-21 |
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284 | 284 | | vertise the noninsured crop disaster assistance program 22 |
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285 | 285 | | under this section, particularly to limited resource, begin-23 |
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286 | 286 | | ning, or socially disadvantaged farmers, as determined by 24 |
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287 | 287 | | the Secretary, veteran farmers or ranchers (as defined in 25 |
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289 | 289 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 11 |
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290 | 290 | | •S 1271 IS |
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291 | 291 | | section 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 1 |
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292 | 292 | | and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279(a))), and pro-2 |
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293 | 293 | | ducers eligible to participate in the streamlined revenue- 3 |
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294 | 294 | | based option pursuant to subsection (b)(4)(C).’’. 4 |
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295 | 295 | | Æ |
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