7 U.S.C. § 7632 — Specialty crop research initiative

(a) Definitions: This section defines four terms. "Citrus disease subcommittee" means the subcommittee set up under section 3123a(a)(2). "Initiative" means the specialty crop research and extension initiative created by subsection (b). "Specialty crop" has the meaning given in the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004. "Specialty crops committee" means the committee set up under section 3123a. (b) Establishment: The Department creates a specialty crop research and extension initiative. It builds and shares science-based tools for specific crops and regions, including: (1) Research in plant breeding and genetics to improve crops' taste, quality, appearance, rootstock size control, tolerance to environment, nutrient uptake, pest and disease resistance, and nutrient content. (2) Work to find and fight pest and disease threats, including threats to pollinators, new and invasive species, and better use of natural predators. (3) Efforts to improve production, handling, processing, productivity, and long-term profit (including policy and marketing), and to better understand soil microbes, pesticide spraying and drift-reduction technology, and ways to extend how long crops stay fresh. (4) New technology, including automating labor-intensive tasks, technology that delays ripening, decision tools based on plant growth stages and weather, better pest-monitoring systems, and systems to manage quarantine pests before and after harvest. (5) Ways to prevent, find, watch, control, and respond to food-safety hazards in growing and processing specialty crops, including fresh produce. (c) Eligible entities: The Secretary can carry this out through federal agencies, national labs, colleges and universities, research groups, private companies, state agricultural experiment stations, individuals, or teams of two or more of these. (d) Review of proposals: Grants are competitive. The Secretary must use (1) a scientific peer review by expert panels from federal agencies, outside groups, and the specialty crop industry, and (2) a review ranking each proposal's merit, relevance, and impact by a panel of specialty crop industry representatives. (e) Consultation: Each year, before doing the reviews in (d), the Secretary must consult the specialty crops committee. In the first year of consulting, the committee gives recommendations for how to run the reviews. In later years, the committee gives (A) an assessment of how the reviews went the year before, (B) recommendations for the current year's reviews, and (C) comments on the grants awarded the year before. (f) Report: The Secretary must report to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on (1) the results of consulting with the specialty crops committee, (2) the committee's recommendations, and (3) the committee's review of grants awarded under subsections (d) and (j). (g) Administration: (1) The Secretary must seek and accept grant proposals. (2) A grant cannot last more than 10 years. (3)(A) A grant recipient must match the federal grant with an equal amount of non-federal funds, which (B) may include in-kind support, not just cash. (4) The Secretary may set other reasonable conditions on grants. (h) Priorities: The Secretary must favor projects that (1) involve multiple states, institutions, or fields of study, and (2) include clear plans to share results with producers and the public. (i) Buildings and facilities: This money cannot be used to build new buildings, or to buy, expand, remodel, or improve existing ones — including site grading or architect fees. (j) Emergency citrus disease research and extension program: (1) The Secretary must run a competitive grant program to fight citrus diseases, to (A) fund research, extension work, technical help, and development to combat diseases like huanglongbing and the Asian Citrus Psyllid, and (B) help spread and commercialize what these projects discover. (2) Priority goes to grants that match research priorities set under section 3123a(g)(4). (3) When planning the budget for this program, the citrus disease subcommittee must get input from federal and state agencies and consider other citrus research already happening. (4) The Secretary must make sure this money adds to, not replaces, other citrus disease funding. (5) Definitions: "Citrus" means edible fruit of the Rutaceae family and its hybrids grown commercially in the U.S.; a "citrus producer" is anyone who grows and sells citrus commercially in the U.S.; the "emergency citrus disease research and extension program" is the program this subsection creates. (k) Funding: (1)(A) From Commodity Credit Corporation funds, the Secretary must provide $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012, with at least 10% going to each of the five activities in subsection (b). (B) The Secretary must also provide $80,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2025, and $175,000,000 for fiscal year 2026 and every year after. (C) For fiscal years 2014 through 2018, at least $25,000,000 of that money each year must be set aside for the citrus program in subsection (j). (D) That set-aside money stays available until spent. (2) Congress may also give an extra $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2023. (3) Congress may give $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2013. (4) From the 2008 funds meant for administrative costs, the Secretary had to transfer $200,000 to the EPA's pesticide office to study methyl bromide. (5) Money made available under this subsection stays available until spent, to pay for costs from that fiscal year.