FOOD, AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION, AND TRADE ACT OF 1990.

SEC. 7208. FOOD, AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION, AND TRADE ACT OF 1990. (a) Agricultural Genome Initiative.—Section 1671(b) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5924(b)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (3), by inserting “pathogens and” before “diseases causing economic hardship”; (2) in paragraph (6), by striking “and” at the end; (3) by redesignating paragraph (7) as paragraph (8); and (4) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following new paragraph: “(7) reducing the economic impact of plant pathogens on commercially important crop plants; and”. (b) High-Priority Research and Extension Initiatives.—Section 1672(e) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5925) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: (25) Genetically modified agriculture products (GMAP) research.—Research grants may be made under this section for the purposes of providing unbiased, science-based evaluation of the risks and benefits to the public and the environment of specific genetically modified plant and animal products. Grants may be used to form interdisciplinary teams to review and conduct research on scientific, social, economic, and ethical issues during the review process, to answer questions raised by the release of new genetically modified agriculture products, to conduct fundamental studies on the health and environmental safety of genetically modified agriculture products (including quantitative risk assessment, the effect of specific genetically modified agriculture products on human health, and gene flow studies), to communicate the risk of genetically modified agriculture products through extension and education programs, and to engage the public and industry in relevant issues. (26) Wind erosion research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of validating wind erosion models. (27) Crop loss research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of validating crop loss models. (28) Land use management research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purposes of evaluating the environmental benefits of land use management tools such as those provided in the Farmland Protection Program. (29) Water and air quality research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of better understanding agricultural impacts to air and water quality and means to address them. (30) Revenue and insurance tools research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purposes of better understanding the impact of revenue and insurance tools on farm income.116 STAT. 443 (31) Agrotourism research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of better understanding the economic, environmental, and food systems impacts of agrotourism. (32) Harvesting productivity for fruits and vegetables.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of improving harvesting productivity for fruits and vegetables (including citrus), including the development of mechanical harvesting technologies and effective, economical, and safe abscission compounds. (33) Nitrogen-fixation by plants.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of enhancing the nitrogen-fixing ability and efficiency of legumes, developing new varieties of legumes that fix nitrogen more efficiently, and developing new varieties of other commercially important crops that potentially are able to fix nitrogen. (34) Agricultural marketing.—Extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of providing education materials, information, and outreach programs regarding commodity and livestock marketing strategies for agricultural producers and for cooperatives and other marketers of any agricultural commodity, including livestock. (35) Environment and private lands research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of researching the use of computer models to aid in assessment of best management practices on a watershed basis, working with government, industry, and private landowners to help craft industry-led solutions to identified environmental issues, researching and monitoring water, air, or soil environmental quality to aid in the development of new approaches to local environmental concerns, and working with local, State, and federal officials to help craft effective environmental solutions that respect private property rights and agricultural production realities. (36) Livestock disease research and extension.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of identifying possible livestock disease threats, educating the public regarding livestock disease threats, training persons to deal with such threats, and conducting related research. (35) Plant gene expression.—Research grants may be made under this section for the purpose of plant gene expression research to accelerate the application of basic plant genomic science to the development and testing of new varieties of enhanced food crops, crops that can be used as renewable energy sources, and other alternative uses of agricultural crops. (36) Animal infectious diseases research.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of developing prevention and control methodologies for animal infectious diseases (including evaluation under field conditions in countries in which an animal disease occurs) such as laboratory tests for quicker detection of infected animals and presence of disease, prevention strategies (including vaccination programs), and rapid diagnostic techniques for animal disease agents considered to be risks for agricultural bioterrorism attack.116 STAT. 444 (39) Program to combat childhood obesity.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section to institutions of higher education with demonstrated capacity in basic and clinical obesity research, nutrition research, and community health education research to develop and evaluate community-wide strategies that catalyze partnerships between families and health care, education, recreation, mass media, and other community resources to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. (40) Integrated pest management.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section to coordinate and improve research, education, and outreach on, and implementation on farms of, integrated pest management. (41) Beef cattle genetics.—Research and extension grants for beef cattle genetics evaluation research may be made under this section to consortia of institutions of higher education that have expertise in beef cattle genetic evaluation research and technology and that have been actively involved for at least 20 years in the estimation and prediction of progeny differences for publication and use by seed stock producer breed associations. (42) Dairy pipeline cleaner.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of preventing and eliminating the dangers of dairy pipeline cleaner, including development of safer packaging and transfer mechanisms, outlining accident causes and potential prevention measures, and other means of improving efforts to prevent ingestion of dairy pipeline cleaner. (43) Development of publicly held plants and animal varieties.—Research and extension grants may be made under this section for the purpose of development of publicly held plants and animal varieties (including germplasm for identity-preserved markets) and genetic resource conservation activities. (44) Sugarcane genetics.—Research grants may be made under this section for the purpose of maintaining acceptable yields under reduced production inputs, implementing marker-assisted breeding strategies and other basic plant genomic technologies to screen for improved plant resistance to diseases, weeds, and insects toward minimizing pesticide use, enhancing food, fiber and energy production, and developing varieties for maximum performance under prevailing conditions, including management for improved soil and water conservation.”. (c) Assistive Technology Program for Farmers With Disabilities.—Section 1680(a) of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5933(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: “(6) Consideration for grants for new programs.—For each fiscal year that amounts are made available for grants under this subsection, the Secretary may make grants in a manner that ensures that eligible entities who apply for grants, but have not previously received a grant under this subsection, are given full consideration.”.