AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS

AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS Processing, Research, and Marketing office of the secretary For an additional amount for “Office of the Secretary”, $30,780,000,000, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses related to losses of revenue, quality or production of crops (including milk, on-farm stored commodities, crops prevented from planting, and harvested adulterated wine grapes), trees, bushes, and vines, as a consequence of droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, tornadoes, winter storms, freeze, including a polar vortex, smoke exposure, and excessive moisture occurring in calendar years 2023 and 2024 under such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this title as “Secretary”): Provided, Determination.Time period.That of the amounts provided in this paragraph under this heading in this Act, the Secretary shall use up to $2,000,000,000 to provide assistance to producers of livestock, as determined by the Secretary, for losses incurred during calendar years 2023 and 2024 due to drought, wildfires, or floods: Provided further, Determination.That the Secretary may provide assistance for such losses in the form of block grants to eligible States and territories and such assistance may include compensation to producers, as determined by the Secretary, for timber (including payments to non-Federal forest landowners), citrus, pecan, and poultry (including infrastructure) losses, and for agricultural producers who have suffered losses due to the failure of Mexico to deliver water to the United States in accordance with the 1944 Water Treaty: Provided further, That of the amounts provided under this heading in this Act, the Secretary shall offer individualized technical assistance to interested non-insured producers to help them apply for assistance made available under this heading: Provided further, That of the amounts made available 138 STAT. 1727 under this paragraph under this heading in this Act, the Secretary may use up to $30,000,000, for reimbursement for administrative and operating expenses available for crop insurance contracts for 2022 and 2023 reinsurance years in a manner consistent with Section 771 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117–328): Provided further, That of the amounts made available under this paragraph under this heading in this Act, and without regard to 44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq., the Secretary shall use $3,000,000 to carry out regular testing for the purposes of verifying and validating the methodology and protocols of the inspection of molasses at any United States ports of entry, including whether the molasses meets each statutory requirement without the use of additives or blending, relevant definitional explanatory notes, and each property typical of molasses in the United States as directed in Senate Report 118–193: Provided further, Determination.That at the election of a processor eligible for a loan under section 156 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7272) or a cooperative processor of dairy, the Secretary shall make payments for losses in 2023 and 2024 to such processors (to be paid to producers, as determined by such processors) in lieu of payments to producers and under the same terms and conditions as payments made to processors pursuant to title I of the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019 (Public Law 116–20) under the heading “Department of Agriculture—Agricultural Programs—Processing, Research and Marketing—Office of the Secretary”, as last amended by section 791(c) of title VII of division B of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–94): Provided further, That notwithstanding section 760.1503(j) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, in the event that a processor described in the preceding proviso does not elect to receive payments under such clause, the Secretary shall make direct payments to producers under this heading in this Act: Provided further, Determinations.That the total amount of payments received under this paragraph under this heading in this Act for producers who did not obtain a policy or plan of insurance for an insurable commodity for the applicable crop year under the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) for the crop incurring the losses or did not file the required paperwork and pay the service fee by the applicable State filing deadline for a noninsurable commodity for the applicable crop year under Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program for the crop incurring the losses shall not exceed 70 percent of the loss as determined by the Secretary, except the Secretary shall provide payments not to exceed 90 percent of the producer’s revenue losses as determined by the Secretary if the Secretary determines a de minimis amount of a producer’s revenue loss is attributable to crops for which the producer did not insure or obtain Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program coverage: Provided further, Applicability.That the amount provided in this paragraph under this heading in this Act shall be subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the first, second, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and 12th provisos under this heading in title I of the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2022 (division B of Public Law 117–43), except that such ninth proviso under such heading shall be applied by substituting “2023 and 2024” for “2020 and 2021” and the Secretary shall apply a separate payment limit for economic assistance payments: Provided further, Applicability.Reports.That not later than 120 days after the enactment 138 STAT. 1728 of this Act, and for each fiscal quarter thereafter until the amounts provided under this heading in this Act are expended, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the implementation of any programs provided for under this heading in this Act specifying the type, amount, and method of such assistance by State and territory: Provided further, That of the amounts provided in this paragraph, $10,000,000,000 shall be made available for the Secretary to make economic assistance available pursuant to section 2102 of this title in this Act: Provided further, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. For an additional amount for “Office of the Secretary”, $220,000,000, to remain available until expended, for the Secretary to provide assistance in the form of block grants to eligible States to provide compensation to producers for necessary expenses related to crop, timber, and livestock losses, including on-farm infrastructure, as a consequence of any weather event in 2023 or 2024 that a State, in its sole discretion, determines warrants such relief: Provided, That eligible States are those States with a net farm income for 2023 of less than $250,000,000, as recorded in the data in the Economic Research Service publication “Farm Income and Wealth Statistics” as of December 3, 2024, and fewer than eight thousand farms and an average farm size of fewer than one thousand acres per farm, as recorded in the National Agricultural Statistics Service publication “Farms and Land in Farms 2023 Summary (February, 2024)”: Provided further, That the Secretary shall work with eligible States on any necessary terms and conditions of the block grants, fully taking in account the needs of each State: Provided further, That any such terms and conditions may not impose additional costs on producers: Provided further, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.138 STAT. 1729 Office of Inspector General For an additional amount for “Office of Inspector General”, $7,500,000, to remain available until expended, for audits, investigations, and other oversight of projects and activities carried out with funds made available to the Department of Agriculture in this Act: Provided, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. Agricultural Research Service buildings and facilities For an additional amount for “Buildings and Facilities”, $42,500,000, to remain available until expended: Provided, That such amount is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.