TARGET PARTICIPATION RATES.

SEC. 617. TARGET PARTICIPATION RATES. Subtitle D (7 U.S.C. 1981 et seq.) is amended by adding after the section added by section 616 of this Act the following new section: “SEC. 355. TARGET PARTICIPATION RATES. “(a) Establishment.— 101 STAT. 1683 “(1) In general.— The Secretary shall establish annual target participation rates, on a county wide basis, that shall ensure that members of socially disadvantaged groups will receive loans made or insured under subtitle A and will have the opportunity to purchase or lease inventory farmland. “(2) Group population.— In establishing such target rates the Secretary shall take into consideration the portion of the population of the county made up of such groups, and the availability of inventory farmland in such county. “(b) Reservation and Allocation.— “(1) Reservation.— The Secretary shall, to the greatest extent practicable, reserve sufficient loan funds made available under subtitle A, for use by members of socially disadvantaged groups identified under target participation rates established under subsection (a). “(2) Allocation.— The Secretary shall allocate such loans on the basis of the proportion of members of socially disadvantaged groups in a county and the availability of inventory farmland, with the greatest amount of loan funds being distributed in the county with the greatest proportion of socially disadvantaged group members and the greatest amount of available inventory farmland. “(c) Report.— The Secretary shall prepare and submit, to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, a report that describes the annual target participation rates and the success in meeting such rates. “(d) Definition.— As used in this section, the term ‘socially disadvantaged group’ means a group whose members have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities.”.