Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002

Provides for: (1) tenant and sharecropper protection; and (2) equitable contract payment sharing among eligible producers.

Gives producers a one-time election for specified contract acreage and yield determination methods, which shall apply to all commodities produced on a farm.

Sets forth contract elements.

Directs the Secretary to make direct payments for FY 2002 through 2006. Sets forth payment rates for wheat, corn, grain sorghum, barley, oats, upland cotton, rice, soybeans, and other oilseeds. States that the annual payment amount for a crop shall be the product of the payment rate, acreage, and yield.

Directs the Secretary to make counter-cyclical payments for crop years 2002 through 2006. States that: (1) the annual payment amount for a crop shall be the product of the payment rate, acreage, and yield; and (2) the payment rate shall equal the difference between the income protection price and the sum of the direct payment price and the higher of the five-month average price or the loan rate for the crop.

Sets income protection prices (as amended by section 171 of this Act) at: (1) $3.4460 per bushel for wheat; (2) $2.3472 per bushel for corn; (3) $2.3472 per bushel of grain sorghum; (4) $2.1973 per bushel of barley; (5) $1.5480 per bushel for oats; (6) $0.6793 per pound for upland cotton; (7) $9.2914 per hundredweight for rice; (8) $5.7431 per bushel for soybeans; and (9) $0.1049 per pound for oilseeds.

(Sec. 112) Establishes a refund or payment reduction penalty for first-time planting flexibility violations of not more than twice the amount otherwise payable on the number of acres involved.

(Sec. 113) Permits planting flexibility on base acres, with exceptions for fruits, most vegetables, and wild rice (as of crop year 2003).

(Sec. 114) Directs the Secretary to establish a three-State pilot program for each of FY 2003 through 2005 under which a producer may establish a farm counter-cyclical savings account, consisting of producer contributions and matching contributions by the Secretary (two percent of producer's adjusted gross income, $5,000 maximum). Establishes an annual State maximum of $4 million.

Subtitle B: Nonrecourse Marketing Assistance Loans and Loan Deficiency Payments - Amends FAIRA to direct the Secretary to make nonrecourse marketing assistance loans and loan deficiency payments available to producers of specified commodities through crop year 2006 (upland cotton through crop year 2007).

(Sec. 123) Sets forth loan rates (as amended by section 171 of this Act) for: (1) wheat at $2.9960 per bushel; (2) corn and grain sorghum at $2.0772 per bushel; (3) barley at $1.9973 per bushel; (4) oats at $1.4980 per bushel; (5) upland cotton at $0.5493 per pound; (6) extra long staple cotton at $0.7965 per pound; (7) rice at $6.4914 per hundredweight; (8) soybeans at $5.1931 per bushel; (9) other oilseeds at $0.0949 per pound; (10) graded wool at $1.00 per pound; (11) nongraded wool at $0.40 per pound; (12) honey at $0.60 per pound; (13) dry peas at $6.78 per hundredweight; (14) lentils at $12.79 per hundredweight; (15) large chickpeas at $17.44 per hundredweight; (16) small chickpeas at $8.10 per hundredweight; and (17) mohair at $2.00 per pound.

(Sec. 124) Provides for a market loan term of nine months.

(Sec. 126) Authorizes the Secretary to make loan deficiency payments available to producers (other than extra long staple cotton) who have a beneficial interest in a commodity, and who are eligible for but forgo marketing assistance loans in favor of such payments. Extends payment eligibility to crop-year 2001 producers who lose beneficial interest in a covered commodity.

(Sec. 127) Provides payments to producers of wheat, grain sorghum, barley, or oats in lieu of loan deficiency payments for grazed acreage.

(Sec. 128) Provides special upland cotton marketing loan calculations (without the 1.25 cent threshold) through July 31, 2003.

Subtitle C: Other Commodities - Chapter 1: Dairy - Amends FAIRA, as amended by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2002, to extend the dairy price support program through 2006 (at $9.90 per hundredweight for milk containing 3.67 percent butterfat).

(Sec. 132) Directs the Secretary to provide market loss payments from December 1, 2001, through September 30, 2005, to milk producers in a State other than States receiving Northeast Dairy Market Loss payments (as provided for by this Act). Provides that the payment amount shall be the product of the payment quantity (producer's quarterly milk marketing quantity) and the payment rate (40 percent of the amount by which the quarterly average milk price is less than the five year average price for such quarter). Sets forth a Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funding ceiling for such program.

Directs the Secretary to offer to enter into milk payment contracts through September 30, 2005, with dairy producers in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia. Requires compliance with specified conservation and wetland provisions. Sets forth: (1) payment amount and payment quantity provisions; (2) separate milk marketing bases for new and established producers; and (3) a CCC funding ceiling.

(Sec. 133) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the dairy export incentive program through 2006.

Amends Federal law to extend the dairy indemnity program through 2006.

(Sec. 134) Amends the Fluid Milk Promotion Act to: (1) repeal the December 31, 2002, milk order termination date; and (2) revise the definitions of "fluid milk product" and "fluid milk processor."

(Sec. 136) Amends the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 respecting dairy importers to provide for: (1) National Dairy Promotion and Research Board representation, (2) referenda voting eligibility; and (3) assessments at rates equal to domestic producers. Defines "imported dairy product."

(Sec. 137) Directs the Secretary to conduct a study of the effects of: (1) terminating Federal milk price and management programs; (2) granting congressional consent to State price and management efforts; and (3) including in the identity of fluid milk a required minimum protein content.

Chapter 2: Sugar - Amends FAIRA to authorize (currently requires) the Secretary to adjust domestic sugarcane and sugar beet sugar loan rates if foreign subsidies exceed certain Agreement on Agriculture commitments. Directs the Secretary to make loans available to insolvent or bankrupt producers. Prohibits the Secretary from imposing any administrative requirement that has the effect of preventing a processor from electing to forfeit loan collateral. Terminates authority for: (1) marketing assessments; and (2) forfeiture penalties.

Directs the Secretary to make nonrecourse loans available (at 80 percent of raw sugarcane or refined sugar beet rates) to processors of domestically grown sugarcane and sugar beets for in-process sugars and syrups.

Directs the Secretary to operate the sugar program at no cost to the Federal Government by avoiding sugar forfeiture to CCC. Authorizes CCC to accept processor bids for sugar inventory purchases in exchange for reduced production.

Sets forth producer and importer reporting requirements.

Provides for the substitution of refined sugar with respect to certain sugar export and polyhydric alcohol programs.

Extends the sugar program through crop year 2006.

Makes CCC interest rate provisions inapplicable to sugarcane, sugar beets, and in-process sugar.

(Sec. 142) Directs CCC to establish a sugar storage and handling facility loan program for processors of domestically produced sugarcane and sugar beets.

(Sec. 143) Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to provide for estimates of: (1) U.S. sugar consumption; and (2) total U.S. sugar supply.

Revises sugar marketing allotment provisions. Directs the United States Trade Representative to: (1) determine the annual amount of cane sugar quota used by each supplying country (as defined by this Act); and (2) permit reallocation of the unused quota among such countries.

Chapter 3: Peanuts - Amends FAIRA to direct the Secretary to determine for each historical peanut producer the average yield for the 1998 through 2001 crops (excluding any nonproduction years), and a four-year acreage average (1998 through 2001 planted acreage and acreage prevented by disasters from being planted). Sets forth payment yield and payment acre assignment provisions. Limits payment acres on a farm to 85 percent of the peanut acres assigned to the farm.

Directs the Secretary, for FY 2002 through 2006, to make: (1) direct payments to peanut producers at a rate of $0.018 per pound; and (2) counter-cyclical payments available when the effective price is less than the income protection price ($520 per ton). States that the annual payment amount for a crop shall be the product of the payment rate, acreage, and yield. Provides for 50 percent advance direct payments at producer option.

Requires producers to comply with specified conservation, wetland, planting flexibility, and agricultural use provisions.

Provides for: (1) tenant and sharecropper protection; (2) payment forgiveness in the event of foreclosure; (3) termination of payments in the event of farm transfer or change of interest, unless the transferee agrees to assume such obligation; (4) transfer of payment base and yield upon transfer of interest; and (5) planting flexibility on peanut acres, with exceptions for fruits, most vegetables, and wild rice (as of 2003).

Directs the Secretary to make nine-month nonrecourse marketing loans available to peanut producers through crop year 2006 ($400 per ton). Sets forth loan conditions for producers of commingled peanuts. Authorizes loan deficiency payments for producers who are eligible for but forgo such loans. Requires producers to comply with appropriate conservation and wetland provisions.

States that peanuts under a marketing assistance loan shall be federally or State inspected.

Terminates the Peanut Administrative Committee. Directs the Secretary to establish a Peanut Standards Board to assist in establishing peanut standards.

(Sec. 152) Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to terminate the peanut marketing quota program. Directs the Secretary to offer eligible peanut quota holders a compensation contract (of five equal installments) through FY 2006, which shall be the product of the 2001 actual farm poundage quota and $0.11.

Eliminates peanuts from certain eminent domain provisions.

Subtitle D: Administration - Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act, reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, to authorize the Secretary to issue marketing orders for caneberries (including raspberries, blackberries, and loganberries).

(Sec. 162) Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to revise the definition of "reserve stock level" for Flue-cured tobacco.

(Sec. 163) Directs the Secretary to allow special farm reconstitutions in lieu of leases and transfer of tobacco allotments and quotas for crop year 2002.

(Sec. 164) Authorizes the Secretary to make expenditure adjustments if expenditures will exceed total allowable domestic support levels under the Uruguay Round Agreement.

(Sec. 165) Extends through 2006 specified suspensions of permanent price support authority for loan commodities, peanuts, sugar, and milk under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 and the Agricultural Act of 1949.

(Sec. 166) Directs the Secretary to use specified CCC funds (in addition to other funds) for FY 2002 through 2006 to purchase specialty crops; with set-asides for: (1) fresh fruit and vegetable purchases for the school lunch program; and (2) emergency food assistance program purchases.

Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Secretary should attempt to alleviate the economic crisis among cranberry growers by continuing to purchase cranberries at FY 2001 expenditure levels.

(Sec. 167) Directs the Secretary to provide hard white wheat incentive payments for crop years 2003 through 2005.

(Sec. 168) Directs the Secretary to provide livestock feed assistance to producers who have been adversely affected by disasters. Authorize specified appropriations for FY 2003 through 2008.

(Sec. 169) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to revise payment limitation provisions. Sets forth individual and entity limits for: (1) direct and counter-cyclical payments at $75,000 per fiscal year; and (2) marketing loan gains, loan deficiency payments, and commodity certificates at $150,000 per crop year. Requires an individual or entity to be actively engaged in farming to qualify for such assistance. Exempts land owned by a public school district or State-owned land used to maintain a public school from such limits.

Permits limitation changes based upon the addition of a family member to a farming operation.

Revises administrative provisions. Requires the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture to conduct specified administrative reviews during each of FY 2002 through 2006.

Limits assistance eligibility to an individual or entity whose adjusted gross income does not exceed $2.5 million.

Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to increase FY 2002 through 2011 food stamp program standard deduction amounts for households with children. Revises such determination for Guam. Revises excess shelter expense deductions. (Sets forth dollar limits for FY 2002 and 2003, and a formula beginning with FY 2004. Eliminates caps as of October 1, 2009.)

Amends FAIRA to make loan deficiency payments available to producers who: (1) forgo marketing assistance loans in return for such loan deficiency payments; and (2) for crop years 2000 and 2001, are not eligible for marketing assistance loans but who produce loan commodities.

Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to set forth loan levels for direct loans (farm ownership and operating loans) and guaranteed loans (guaranteed ownership and operating loans) for FY 2002 through 2006.

Directs the Secretary to use specified additional CCC funds for FY 2002 beginning farmer and rancher loans.

Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to: (1) increase FY 2002 through 2006 research and development reimbursement funding; (2) increase FY 2002 through 2006 information and education program funding; and (3) eliminate funding for the partnerships for risk management education program.

(Sec. 170) Amends FAIRA to restrict commodity and crop insurance payments, loans, and benefits under this title to qualifying previously cropped land, including conservation reserve land. Sets forth qualifying provisions for Indian lands.

Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1968 to exclude from: (1) the five-year eligibility limit, food stamp benefits provided to qualifying legal aliens under 18 years old; and (2) the seven-year eligibility limit, food stamp benefits provided to qualifying aliens who have resided in the United States for five years or more.

Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to: (1) increase the food stamp program standard deduction by tying it to the Federal poverty income guideline; (2) make current standard deduction amounts minimum deduction amounts; and (3) set forth deduction provisions for Guam.

(Sec. 172) Amends FAIRA to direct the Secretary to report on the number and disposition of requests for equitable relief.

(Sec. 173) Directs the Secretary to include in projections of net farm income an estimate of net farm income: (1) earned by U.S. commercial producers; and (2) attributable to commercial producers of livestock, and loan and non-loan commodities.

(Sec. 174) Authorizes CCC to use private sector entities to purchase and sell commodities.

(Sec. 175) Authorizes the Secretary to use CCC funds to make specified supplemental payments to agricultural producers who did not receive such payments before October 1, 2001.

Subtitle E: Payment Limitation Commission - Establishes the Commission on the Application of Payment Limitations for Agriculture which shall recommend legislative and regulatory modifications to payment limitation requirements. Obligates specified CCC funds for the Commission. Terminates the Commission after submission of certain required reports.

Subtitle F: Emergency Agricultural Assistance - Directs the Secretary to use specified CCC funds for emergency assistance to producers who have incurred qualifying 2001 income losses, including losses from army worms.

(Sec. 192) Directs the Secretary to use specified CCC funds for 2001 assistance to livestock producers in emergency-designated counties. Obligates specified amounts for the American Indian livestock program.

(Sec. 193) Directs the Secretary to use specified CCC funds for FY 2002 market loss assistance to apple producers. Prohibits the establishment of related payment or income eligibility limitations.

(Sec. 195) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer specified funds to the Secretary for administrative expenses under this subtitle.

Title II: Conservation - Subtitle A: Conservation Security - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to direct the Secretary to establish a FY 2003 through 2006 conservation security program to assist owners and operators to adopt or maintain conservation practices on production land. Includes among such practices promotion of: (1) soil, water, air, energy; (2) flora and fauna; (3) wetland conservation; (4) regeneration of biological resources; (5) carbon sequestration; and (6) invasive species management.

Defines eligible providers and lands (excludes lands in the conservation and wetland reserve programs, and certain other converted lands).

Requires a participant to submit a conservation security plan. Establishes three tiers of conservation contracts, and bases a participant's annual payments upon implemented tiers. Sets forth related program and operating provisions. Authorizes the Secretary, as of October 1, 2004, to establish a conservation security pilot program.

(Sec. 202) Obligates FY 2002 through 2006 CCC funding for the conservation security program.

(Sec. 203) Authorizes the Secretary to designate special projects to enhance technical and financial assistance to owners, operators, and producers to address clean water and air issues. Obligates specified funds for such projects.

(Sec. 204) Provides, with respect to conservation programs, for: (1) specified equitable relief to participants who rely in good faith on inaccurate advice from an employee of the Secretary; (2) education, outreach technical assistance, and evaluation; (3) incentives for beginning farmers and ranchers, and Indian tribes; and (4) privacy of personal information..

(Sec. 205) Directs the Secretary to develop a conservation program reform plan.

(Sec. 207) Renames the environmental conservation acreage reserve program as the comprehensive conservation enhancement program.

Subtitle B: Program Extensions - Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the comprehensive conservation reserve program through 2006. Gives priority to areas that would facilitate the most rapid completion of on-going projects.

(Sec. 212) Extends the conservation reserve program and related habitat use provisions through 2006. Revises program priority provisions. Increases maximum program acreage to 40 million acres.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) extend existing hardwood tree contracts for up to15 years with a 50 percent rental payment reduction; and (2) enter into new contracts for ten- to thirty-year periods.

Extends the program for conservation reserve enrollment of wetland and buffer acreage through 2006. Eliminates pilot program designation. Permits enrollment of ten-acre tracts (payment eligibility limited to five acres).

Provides for conservation reserve enrollment of irrigated land as conservation buffers or into the conservation reserve enhancement program at irrigated land rates unless the Secretary determines otherwise.

Expands marginal pastureland eligibility to include native prairie grass. Revises haying and grazing provisions. Permits wind turbine installation on program land that is not enrolled under continuous sign-up. Provides for reduced rental payments on land with wind turbines.

Exempts land enrolled under continuous sign-up from specified county acreage limitations.

Provides for a study of the conservation reserve program's economic and social effects on rural communities.

(Sec. 213) Revises and extends the environmental quality incentives program through FY 2006. Includes conservation education among eligible practices. Reduces minimum program contracts to three years. Limits: (1) a producer to one contract for structural practices involving livestock nutrient management during FY 2002 through 2006; and (2) a producer with an interest in more than one large confined livestock operation to one contract for cost-share payments for animal waste management. Provides 90 percent cost-share assistance to limited resource and beginning producers.

Revises provisions respecting: (1) cost-share and incentive payments; (2) evaluation of offers and payments; and (3) duties of the Secretary and producers.

Revises payment limitations to provide that total payments to a producer shall not exceed: (1) $30,000 per fiscal year, with exceptions; (2) $90,000 for a three-year contract; (3) $120,000 for a four-year contract; and (4) $150,000 for a contract in excess of four years.

Obligates specified FY 2003 through 2006 funds for conservation innovation grants (50 percent cost-sharing).

Directs the Secretary to provide cost-share payments, incentive payments, and groundwater education assistance to producers who draw water from the Southern High Plains Aquifer (as defined in this Act). Obligates specified FY 2003 through 2006 funds for such activities.

Authorizes the Secretary, in cooperation with local water suppliers, to carry out a drinking water suppliers pilot program.

Directs the Secretary to provide FY 2003 through 2006 incentive payments to agricultural producers to: (1) reduce nutrient loads to the Chesapeake Bay; and (2) achieve specified goals of the Chesapeake Executive Council. Provides for program partnership with State governments, nonprofit organizations, and State universities and colleges. Obligates specified funds for FY 2003 through 2006.

Obligates specified FY 2002 through 2006 funds for the environmental quality incentives program.

Amends the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act to permit fund use for technical assistance.

(Sec. 214) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to extend the wetlands reserve program through 2006. Permits fund use for technical assistance. Increases maximum program acreage to 2,225,000 acres.

Authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative agreements with State, local, or private entities to address critical environmental needs through wetland restoration activities in watershed areas. Authorizes annual enrollment of 25,000 acres.

(Sec. 215) Directs the Secretary to enroll up to 500,000 acres in the conservation reserve program for water conservation purposes in Nevada, California, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Maine, and New Hampshire. Sets forth State and acreage eligibility provisions. Gives priority to State proposals that: (1) provide more than 20 percent cost-sharing; and (2) significantly enhance fish, wildlife, and plant conservation, including threatened or endangered species. States that nothing in such program shall: (1) preempt State water laws; (2) affect any individual's water rights; (3) authorize the Secretary to enter into an agreement with a landowner for water obtained from a water district, irrigation district, or other similar entity in California; and (4) affect a groundwater right unless granted under State law or an integrated groundwater-surface water rights process.

Directs the Secretary to establish, through the National Resources Conservation Service, the water benefits program for eligible entities in Nevada, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Maine, and New Hampshire to provide cost-share assistance for: (1) irrigation efficiency infrastructure; (2) water-intensive crop conversion; or (3) in-stream flows for fish and wildlife. Provides for private property rights protection.

Directs the Secretary to establish a State monitoring program within the Agricultural Research Service. States that nothing in such program shall: (1) preempt State water laws; (2) authorize the Secretary to enter into an agreement with a landowner for water obtained from a water district, irrigation district, or other similar entity in California; and (3) affect a groundwater right unless granted under State law or an integrated groundwater-surface water rights process. Sets forth program and monitoring expenditure limitations.

Excludes Nebraska and North Dakota from provisions under this section.

Obligates FY 2002 through 2006 CCC funds for programs under this section.

(Sec. 216) Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to revise the resource conservation and development program. Provides technical and financial assistance through councils for conservation and development projects. Makes the authorization of appropriations permanent. Renames the Resource Conservation and Development Policy Board as the Resource Conservation and Development Policy Advisory Board.

(Sec. 217) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to eliminate the conservation farm option pilot program.

Directs the Secretary to establish a wildlife habitat incentive program of cost-sharing payments to eligible owners for wildlife habitat development. Obligates 15 percent of funds for endangered and threatened species projects. Authorizes a pilot program to use up to 15 percent of funds to enroll lands for 15 years or longer for critical habitat or species protection. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2007 CCC funds for such programs.

Authorizes the Secretary, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to provide assistance, including purchase of flood plain easements, to watersheds impaired by flood, fire, or other natural occurrence. Gives priority to impacted flood plain areas adjacent to a major river. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) carry out the Great Lakes basin program for soil erosion and sediment control; and (2) provide related grants, technical assistance, and education programs. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations for the conservation of private grazing land program, including establishment of two grazing management demonstration districts. (Transfers program authority from FAIRA to the Food Security Act of 1985.)

Directs the Secretary to establish a national grassroots water protection program to more effectively use onsite technical assistance capabilities of State rural water associations that operate wellhead or groundwater protection programs. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 218) Extends CCC funding for the farmland protection program (to be carried out through the Natural Resources Conservation Service) through FY 2007. Eliminates acreage limitations. Includes land containing historic or archaeological resources within the program. Expands participating entity eligibility. (Transfers program authority from FAIRA to the Food Security Act of 1985.) Authorizes the Secretary to use specified funds to provide matching market viability grants and technical assistance.

(Sec. 219) Directs the Secretary, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to establish a grassland reserve program for land that is or has historically been natural grass or shrubland, and has significant potential for animal or plant restoration. Provides for: (1) enrollment through 30-year rental agreements or permanent or 30-year easements; and (2) maximum enrollment of 2 million acres. Funds the program through CCC.

Sets forth provisions respecting enrollment contracts, easements, and Federal payments.

(Sec. 220) Directs the Secretary to establish a technical committee in each State.

(Sec. 221) Amends FAIRA to authorize the Secretary to: (1) use, license, or transfer Department of Agriculture (Department) symbols, slogans, and, logos; and (2) use the revenues for conservation purposes.

Subtitle C: Organic Farming - Establishes in the Treasury the Organic Agriculture Research Trust Fund.

Directs the Secretary to establish in the Department the National Organic Research Endowment Institute.

Subtitle D: Regional Equity - Directs the Secretary, for each of FY 2002 through 2006, to ensure that: (1) each State receives at least $12 million for conservation programs; and (2) of such minimum, at least $5 million shall be for the environmental quality incentives program, and $7 million for other conservation programs.

Subtitle E: Miscellaneous - Directs the Secretary to establish a cranberry acreage reserve program. Authorizes specified appropriations for such program.

(Sec. 262) Directs the Secretary, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Interior, to establish the Klamath Basin Interagency Task Force which shall use Federal conservation programs in the Klamath basin in Oregon and California for: (1) agricultural promotion, (2) water conservation and quality improvement; (3) aquatic ecosystem restoration; and (4) wildlife and wildlife refuge protection.

Directs: (1) the Secretary, and the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce, to enter into cooperative agreements to fund the Task Force; and (2) the Task Force to establish a grant program under which the Secretaries may enter into an agreement with non-Federal entities, Indian tribes, environmental organizations, and water districts within the Basin to carry out the above programs.

Obligates specified CCC funds for FY 2003 through 2006 for such activities, with specified amounts for the Klamath, Hoopa, Yurok, and Karuk Tribes in Oregon and California. Prohibits fund obligation after September 30, 2006.

Title III: Trade - Subtitle A: Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 and Related Statutes - Amends the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954 (Public Law 480) respecting the food for peace program to: (1) extend the program through 2006; (2) make the amount of funds available for eligible organizations on a percent rather than fixed amount basis; (3) permit private voluntary organizations to be certified institutional partners; (4) permit commodity sale proceeds to be denominated in other than the local currency; (5) increase maximum assistance tonnage levels; (6) extend the Food Aid Consultative Group through 2006; (7) increase the maximum annual expenditure level to $2 billion; (8) extend funding authority for certain commodity prepositioning through FY 2006; (9) authorize the President to establish a pilot emergency program to provide live lamb to Afghanistan; (10) extend authorization of appropriations through FY 2006 for stockpiling, delivery, and distribution of shelf-stable pre-packaged goods; (11) extend the micronutrient fortification program through FY 2006 (ends the program's pilot status); and (12) extend the John Ogonowski farmer-to-farmer program through FY 2006 (increases minimum funding provisions).

Subtitle B: Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 - Amends the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to extend: (1) supplier credit program loans from 180 days to12 months; and (2) the export credit guarantee program, including required guarantees for processed and high-value products, through FY 2006.

(Sec. 322) Extends market access program funding through FY 2006. Establishes priority for annual amounts available above $90 million for (1) new program participants; or (2) programs in emerging markets.

Directs the Secretary to establish a quality export initiative program under which several high-quality U.S. agricultural products will be permitted to carry the "U.S. Quality" seal, and be promoted at trade fairs and through electronic and print media. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 323) Extends the export enhancement program through FY 2006. Expands the definition of "unfair trade practices" to include certain: (1) agricultural pricing practices by state trading enterprises; and (2) dollar exchange rate changes.

(Sec. 324) Amends the foreign market development cooperator program to: (1) replace current authorization of appropriations with a permanent CCC fund or commodity obligation; and (2) establish priority for new program participants and programs in emerging markets for annual amounts available above $35 million.

(Sec. 325) Directs the Secretary to establish the food for progress program to provide agricultural commodities to support free trade enterprises and provide food assistance to recipient countries. Authorizes agreements with: (1) governments of emerging agricultural countries; (2) private voluntary organizations; (3) nonprofit agricultural organizations; (4) non-governmental organizations; and (5) other entities.

Directs the Secretary to establish the international food for education and nutrition program to provide agricultural commodities and nutrition assistance for preschool and primary school age children.

Provides commodities for such programs on a grant or credit basis. Provides for: (1) quality assurance; (2) certification of voluntary organizations as institutional partners; (3) commodity transshipment or resale, or military handling only upon approval of the Secretary; (4) use of proceeds for humanitarian or development purposes; and (5) CCC funding and facility use.

Establishes minimum commodity tonnages (400,000 metric tons) for each of FY 2002 through 2006. Authorizes: (1) appropriations; and (2) CCC fund use under Title I of Public Law 480 to carry out such programs. Sets forth specified funding limitations.

Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 (Food for Progress Act of 1985) to repeal the food for progress program.

(Sec. 326) Amends the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary to develop a website to assist agricultural exporters. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Agricultural Trade Provisions - Amends the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust Act to extend the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust (food security commodity trust) through FY 2006.

(Sec. 332) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to extend funds through FY 2006 for the promotion of agricultural exports to emerging markets program.

(Sec. 333) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish a program to enhance foreign acceptance of agricultural biotechnology and related U.S. products; and (2) use specified CCC funds and facilities. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 334) Amends the Agricultural Act of 1949, respecting the program of providing surplus commodities to developing or friendly countries, to permit: (1) commodity sales in recipient countries to be transacted in other than the local currency; (2) direct commodity delivery to mills or other processing facilities in recipient countries which are majority-owned by U.S. citizens; and (3) private voluntary organizations to be certified as institutional partners.

(Sec. 335) Amends the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 to eliminate restrictions on private financing of sales of food and medicine to Cuba.

(Sec. 336) Expresses the sense of Congress respecting priorities and concerns for bilateral and multilateral agricultural trade negotiations.

(Sec. 337) Directs the Secretary to report on funding, transport, and storage deficiencies that have limited perishable commodities' use in international food programs.

(Sec. 338) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the United States should: (1) increase humanitarian, economic development, and agricultural assistance to foster peace and human rights; and (2) lead international efforts to provide increased financial assistance to countries with disadvantaged populations that are the breeding grounds for terrorism.

Title IV: Nutrition Programs - Food Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2002 - Subtitle A: Food Stamp Program - Amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 exclude from income for food stamp program (program) purposes legally-obligated child support payments made by a household member on behalf of a person not a member of such household. Allows a State to continue to provide a child support deduction, rather than such exclusion. Requires that such deduction be determined before computing the excess shelter expense deduction.

Allows a State to use information from child support enforcement agencies to determine the amount of child support paid for program purposes.

(Sec. 412) Excludes from income for program purposes deferred educational and veterans' educational assistance, State complementary assistance payments, and certain medical assistance not included as income under specified provisions of titles IV and XIX of the Social Security Act.

(Sec. 413) Revises, and increases, the standard deduction by tying it to the Federal poverty income guideline, according to household size and indexed for inflation. Specifies standard deduction provisions for Guam.

(Sec. 414) Authorizes: (1) a household to claim as shelter expenses any housing-related money paid to a landlord without specific-charge designation; and (2) a State to elect to give a homeless household with some shelter expenses a $143 monthly deduction rather than an excess shelter expense deduction.

(Sec. 415) Revises provisions respecting: (1) utility allowances; (2) earned income determination; and (3) deduction determinations.

(Sec. 419) Authorizes the Secretary to select alternative methods to issue emergency food stamps to disaster victims.

(Sec. 420) Authorizes a State to reduce household reporting requirements.

(Sec. 421) Revises the time-limit for program participation for non-excluded individuals without dependents to three out of 36 months without working or participating in a work program to six out of 24 months. Qualifies certain job search activities under the work requirement.

(Sec. 422) Prohibits a State from removing a recipient's electronic benefit transfer access unless the account has been inactive for at least 180 days. Requires recipient notice of reinstatement procedures when an account is taken off-line.

(Sec. 423) Eliminates the requirement that electronic benefit transfer systems not cost the Federal Government more than paper issuance systems.

(Sec. 424) Authorizes a State to provide a standardized monthly benefit to residents of group homes and substance abuse centers, which shall be issued to the facility as representative of the residents.

(Sec. 425) Authorizes program benefit redemptions through group living arrangements under specified circumstances.

(Sec. 426) Requires a State that has a program website to make on-line applications available in each language in which printed applications are available.

(Sec. 427) Revises program eligibility certification provisions.

(Sec. 428) Directs the Secretary to make descriptions of successful State nutrition education programs available on the Department's website.

(Sec. 429) Authorizes a State agency to provide up to six months of transitional program benefits to households moving from the temporary assistance for needy families program (TANF).

(Sec. 431) Revises program quality control provisions.

(Sec. 433) Provides high performance bonus payments beginning in FY 2003 to the six States with the highest or most improved performance.

(Sec. 434) Extends employment and training program funding allocations through FY 2006. Allocates additional FY 2002 through 2006 amounts to States that ensure availability of specified work opportunities.

Repeals: (1) the 80 percent set-aside for able-bodied adults without dependents; (2) the maintenance-of-effort requirement to access new unmatched funds; and (3) the limits on the amount States are reimbursed for each work slot offered. Increases from $25 to $50 the monthly cap on the amount States may reimburse participants for transportation and other work expenses for FY 2002 through 2009.

(Sec. 435) Extends: (1) reductions in program administrative payment provisions through FY 2006; (2) cash payment pilot programs through October 1, 2006; (3) grants to improve program participation through FY 2006; and (4) program authorization of appropriations through FY 2006.

(Sec. 436) Authorizes States to use TANF funds for program information costs.

(Sec. 437) Authorizes the Secretary to grant waivers to non-governmental entities for program research.

(Sec. 438) Directs the Secretary to provide matching grants to States and non-government organizations to improve program access and outreach. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2005 appropriations.

(Sec. 439) Consolidates, and extends through FY 2006, the funding structure for nutrition assistance in American Samoa and Puerto Rico. Provides for inflation adjustments. Authorizes Puerto Rico to use specified FY 2002 grant amounts for data processing and benefit transfer modernization. Authorizes additional appropriations upon submission of a specified report by the Comptroller General.

(Sec. 440) Extends community food project funding through FY 2006. Increases Federal cost- sharing from 50 percent to 75 percent.

(Sec. 441) Extends commodity purchase funding for the emergency food assistance program through FY 2006. Authorizes specified fund use for State processing, storing, transporting, and distribution costs.

(Sec. 442) States that the Secretary shall not prohibit the use of approved food safety technology in acquiring commodities for the program and other specified food programs, including the school lunch and child nutrition programs.

(Sec. 443) Directs the Secretary to contract with a qualifying non-governmental organization to develop innovative programs to address common community problems, such as the loss of farms, rural poverty, hunger, welfare dependency, and crime. Provides specified program funding.

(Sec. 444) Directs the Secretary to report on the difficulties, including fraud, in using electronic benefit transfer systems for food stamp issuance.

(Sec. 445) Authorizes program purchase of vitamin and mineral supplements. Directs the Secretary to contract with a scientific research organization to evaluate related nutritional, health, economic, and other consequences of allowing such program purchases. Authorizes specified appropriations.

Subtitle B: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to: (1) extend the Secretary's authority to provide commodities for nutrition assistance programs though FY 2006; and (2) extend the commodity supplemental food program through FY 2006, and redistribute administrative and program funds to provide an inflation-indexed grant per assigned caseload slot for administrative costs.

Amends the Agriculture and Food Act of 1981 to extend the distribution of surplus commodities to special nutrition projects through FY 2006.

Amends the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to authorize appropriations for State reimbursement in processing, transporting, storing, and distributing emergency food assistance through FY 2006.

(Sec. 452) Amends the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to make all legal immigrant children, regardless of U.S. entry date, eligible for the supplemental security income (SSI) and food stamp programs, beginning in FY 2004.

Makes legal immigrants who are able to demonstrate 16 (currently 40) quarters of work history eligible for such programs.

Eliminates the seven-year eligibility limit for: (1) food stamp benefits for refugees and asylees; and (2) SSI benefits for blind or disabled aliens who were lawfully residing in the United States on August 22, 1996.

(Sec. 453) Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to: (1) revise from October 1, 2001, to October 1, 2003, the beginning period for which commodities other than those under a direct commodity expenditure provision may be used to meet a minimum 12 percent commodity assistance school lunch program requirement; and (2) exclude from FY 2002 and 2003 income calculations certain military housing allowances in determining eligibility for free and reduced-price meals school meals.

(Sec. 455) Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to exclude certain military housing allowances from income eligibility calculations for the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children (WIC).

(Sec. 456) Directs the Secretary to report on an analysis of the conversion of WIC from a discretionary program to an individual entitlement program.

(Sec. 457) Amends the Commodity Distribution reform Act and WIC Amendments Act of 1987 to permit commodity donations to other specified programs.

(Sec. 458) Directs the Secretary to encourage institutions participating in the school lunch and breakfast programs to purchase locally produced foods. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 459) Directs the Secretary to carry out a senior farmers' market nutrition program. Provides for the transfer of specified funds for the program through October 1, 2005.

(Sec. 460) Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to provide for the transfer of specified funds for the farmers' market nutrition program.

(Sec. 461) Directs the Secretary to carry out a fresh fruit and vegetable distribution program during the 2002 school year in each of four States (25 primary or secondary schools in each State) and on one Indian reservation. Directs: (1) participating schools to publicize the program; and (2) the Secretary, through the Economic Research Service, to evaluate such program..

(Sec. 462) Congressional Hunger Fellows Act of 2002 - Establishes the Congressional Hunger Fellows Program and the Congressional Hunger Fellows Trust Fund in order to establish Bill Emerson and Mickey Leland Hunger Fellowships, respectively, to address hunger and other humanitarian needs in the United States and abroad. Authorizes specified appropriations.

(Sec. 463) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a nutrition information and awareness pilot program in up to 15 States to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and convey related health promotion messages. Authorizes specified FY2002 through 2006 appropriations.

Title V: Credit: Subtitle A: Farm Ownership Loans - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to make direct farm ownership loans available to a farmer or rancher who has participated (currently, operates) in the business operations of a farm or ranch for at least three years.

(Sec. 502) Authorizes the use of a direct farm ownership loan to refinance a "bridge loan'' made by a commercial lender to a beginning farmer or rancher who has been approved for, but has not yet received, a farm ownership loan.

(Sec. 503) Increases the limit on direct farm ownership debt for a beginning farmer or rancher to $250,000, and indexes the amount to inflation.

(Sec. 504) Sets the interest rate in a joint financing arrangement for beginning farmers and ranchers at 50 basis points less than the rate for non-beginning farmers and ranchers.

(Sec. 505) Requires (currently authorizes) the Secretary to provide beginning farmers and ranchers who participate in the farmland down payment loan program with a 95 percent guarantee on ownership and operating loans.

(Sec. 506) Authorizes the Secretary to guarantee loans made under State beginning farmer or rancher programs.

(Sec. 507) Increases the loan term to 20 years and Department financing to 40 percent as part of the down payment program for beginning farmers and ranchers.

(Sec. 508) Directs the Secretary to carry out a FY 2003 through 2006 pilot program in at least ten States to guarantee up to five loans in each State made by a private land seller to a beginning farmer or rancher on a contract land sale basis.

Subtitle B: Operating Loans - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to eliminate the prohibition on direct operating loans for farmers who have operated a farm or ranch for more than five years.

(Sec. 512) Provides with respect to Indian farmers or ranchers on Indian reservation land for: (1) 95 percent operating loan guarantees; and (2) term limit waivers where commercial credit is not generally available.

Subtitle C: Administrative Provisions - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development to make limited liability companies eligible to receive farm ownership loans, farm operating loans, and natural disaster emergency loans.

(Sec. 522) Eliminates: (1) the requirement that county committees certify that certain loan reviews have been conducted; and (2) authority to contract with private entities for loan service and debt collection.

(Sec. 524) Includes among interest options on a direct loan that is being rewritten the interest rate in effect on the date that a borrower applies for servicing.

(Sec. 525) Eliminates the requirement that county committees certify that certain annual reviews of borrower credit histories have been conducted.

(Sec. 526) Increases the loan amount for which a simplified loan guarantee application may be used to $100,000.

(Sec. 527) Increases to 135 days the preference period for a beginning farmer or rancher to purchase Department inventory farmland. Directs the Secretary to: (1) combine or divide property parcels to maximize such purchases and (2) offer to sell or grant farmland preservation easements on inventory land.

(Sec. 528) Increases to 30 percent the amount of land that an applicant may own under the definition of a "qualified beginning farmer or rancher." Excludes from the definition of` "debt forgiveness'' any write-down as part of a discrimination complaint resolution against the Secretary.

(Sec. 529) Increases FY 2002 through 2006 loan authorization levels for the direct and the guaranteed loan programs.

(Sec. 530) Makes the interest rate reduction program permanent. Provides a maximum four percent subsidy for beginning farmers and ranchers, and a maximum three percent subsidy for other farmers and ranchers. Replaces the current aggregate funding limit with a specified fiscal year limit.

(Sec. 531) Sets forth recapture amount repayment options.

(Sec. 532) Authorizes the Secretary to waive borrower training certification requirements.

(Sec. 533) Requires annual (currently biannual) borrower review.

Subtitle D: Farm Credit - Amends the Farm Credit Act of 1971 to eliminate certain prior approval requirements for multi-lender Farm Credit System institutions.

(Sec. 542) Authorizes cooperative banks to finance the export of "agricultural supplies." (Current law is limited to farm supplies.)

(Sec. 543) Authorizes the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation to reduce premiums for Government Sponsored Enterprise-guaranteed loans (as defined by this Act).

(Sec. 544) Increases from 15 to 17 the number of Board of Directors of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation. Makes other Board- related amendments.

Subtitle E: General Provisions - Amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to make the finality of decision rule inapplicable to an agricultural credit decision made by a State, county, or area committee.

Title VI: Rural Development - Subtitle A: Empowerment of Rural America - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to establish a new subtitle which shall be cited as the "National Rural Cooperative and Business Equity Fund Act."

Authorizes qualifying private investors (including insured depository institutions) to establish a non-Federal entity to be known as the National Rural Cooperative and Business Equity Fund to generate and provide equity capital for rural businesses.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) make specified funds available to the Fund upon equal private investment in the Fund; (2) guarantee 50 percent of each investment; and (3) guarantee principal and interest investor repayment on Fund-issued debentures. Limits the Secretary's aggregate private investment liability to $300 million.

States that an investor: (1) may redeem a guarantee five years after initial investment, or annually thereafter; and (2) upon such redemption shall be prohibited from making future Fund investments.

Authorizes: (1) the Fund to generate additional capital through debt security issuance, which shall be 100 percent guaranteed by the Secretary (aggregate of the lesser of twice the value of Fund assets or $500 million); and (2 ) debt security purchases by authorized private investors. Makes the Secretary a priority creditor for guarantee payments.

Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 602) Directs the Secretary to establish a Rural Business Investment Program under which the Secretary may: (1) enter into participation agreements with rural business investment companies to promote rural economic development and to establish venture capital programs; and (2) make grants to and guarantee debentures of rural business investment companies. Sets forth Program provisions.

(Sec. 603) Establishes in the Treasury the Rural America Infrastructure Development Account, which shall fund rural development loans, loan guarantees, and grants for: (1) community facility direct loans; (2) community facility grants; (3) water or waste disposal grants or direct loans; (4) rural water or wastewater technical assistance and training grants; (5) emergency community water assistance grants; (6) business and industry guaranteed loans; and (7) solid waste management grants.

(Sec. 604) Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to authorize the Secretary to establish the Rural Endowment Program which shall provide matching grants to: (1) enhance comprehensive rural community development, including leveraging of public and private resources; (2) make Federal agency personnel available to directly assist the community development efforts of an approved program entity or eligible rural area; and (3) strengthen the asset base of an eligible rural area to further long-term community development. Limits grants to a maximum of $6 million, based upon specified criteria of size, population, and social and economic stress.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) encourage regional applications from program entities serving more than one rural area; and (2) give preference to a joint application submitted by a private, nonprofit community development corporation, and a local government or Indian tribe.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make supplemental grants to conditionally-approved program entities for development of a comprehensive community development strategy; and (2) make grants to private intermediaries for technical and capacity building assistance.

Requires an approved program entity to establish an endowment fund.

Provides for the transfer of FY 2002 and 2003 funds for the Program.

(Sec. 605) Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to direct the Secretary to make: (1) grants and loans (and loan guarantees) for construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment for rural broadband service (as defined by this Act); and (2) grants for broadband planning and feasibility studies.

Authorizes loan use to refinance a telecommunications loan that will improve rural broadband deployment.

Prohibits grants, loans, or loan guarantees from being made after September 30, 2006.

(Sec. 606) Amends the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 to define ``value-added agricultural product'' as any agricultural commodity or product that: (1) has undergone a change in physical state, or was produced in a manner that enhances its value, as demonstrated through a business plan; and (2) as a result of such change the customer base has been expanded, and a greater portion of the revenue derived from the processing of the agricultural commodity or product is available to the producer of such commodity or product.

Directs the Secretary, for each of FY 2002 through 2006, to use specified funds transferred from the Treasury for grants ($500,000 maximum per recipient) to independent producers and nonprofit entities to develop business plans and marketing strategies for value-added agricultural products. Gives preference to: (1) proposals for less than $200,000; and (2) entities located in Indian reservations or cities, towns, or areas with populations of not more than 5,000 people.

Obligates specified amounts for grants to assist producers of certified organic agricultural products to market or process their products through business or cooperative ventures.

Revises funding limits for the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center from $5 million under current law to 7.5 percent of the funding made available under this section.

(Sec. 607) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to direct the Secretary to establish the National Rural Development Information Clearinghouse. Obligates specified funds for Clearinghouse operations.

Subtitle B: National Rural Development Partnership - National Rural Development Partnership Act of 2002 - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act establish the National Rural Development Partnership composed of the National Rural Development Coordinating Committee (established by this Act) and State development councils (authorized by this Act). Includes among Partnership purposes: (1) enhancement of State and local rural development capacities; and (2) engagement of Federal, State, local, tribal, and private and nonprofit sectors in such efforts.

Authorizes appropriations. Provides for State rural development council matching requirements.

Terminates the Partnership five years after enactment of this Act.

Subtitle C: Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to increase the authorization of appropriations for water, waste disposal, and wastewater facility grants from $590 million to $1.5 billion.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to private entities to capitalize revolving funds for water and wastewater projects. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 622) Authorizes appropriations for rural business opportunity grants through FY 2006.

(Sec. 623) Directs the Secretary to establish a national rural water and wastewater circuit rider program modeled after the national rural water association rural water circuit rider program. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 624) Directs the Secretary to make grants to multijurisdictional regional planning and development entities for grants (75 percent maximum Federal share) to local governments to improve their infrastructure, services, and development capabilities. Gives priority to an organization that: (1) serves a rural area that is undergoing out-migration, or has a median household income that is less than the nonmetropolitan household income of the applicable State; and (2) has a history of providing substantive assistance to local governments and economic development organizations. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 625) Sets forth criteria for a nonprofit organization to be certified to provide rural development technical assistance. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 626) Authorizes the Secretary to guarantee, and sets forth requirements for, loan guarantees for water, wastewater, and essential community facilities loans, including loans financed by bonds issued respecting first-time farmer property.

(Sec. 627) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to local governments and Indian tribes to train rural firefighters and emergency medical personnel in firefighting, emergency medical practices, and hazardous material and bioagent response. Permits fund use for training center improvement and construction. Obligates specified amounts for training scholarships. Provides funding through October 1, 2005.

(Sec. 628) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants (75 percent maximum Federal share) to tribal colleges and universities for essential community facilities in rural areas. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2005 appropriations.

(Sec. 629) Authorizes appropriations for the emergency community water assistance grant program through FY 2006.

(Sec. 630) Authorizes appropriations for water and waste facility grants for Indian tribes.

(Sec. 631) Authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for water systems for rural and Native villages in Alaska.

(Sec. 632) Makes a nonprofit or other tax exempt entity whose principal office is located on an existing or former Indian reservation, or in a city or town of fewer than 5,000 people eligible for rural business grants.

(Sec. 633) Authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for: (1) rural cooperative development grants; and (2) broadcasting system grants.

(Sec. 635) Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make business and industry loan guarantees for the purchase of start-up capital stock for a venture that will process agricultural commodities or otherwise process value-added agricultural products; and (2) make or guarantee such loans to a metropolitan-based cooperative if used for a rural project. Permits refinancing use of such loans under specified circumstances.

(Sec. 636) Provides for a value-added intermediary relending program. Gives preference to bioenergy projects. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 637) Allows the use of rural development loans and grants for other purposes .if the Secretary determines that the original circumstances have sufficiently changed to make the project no longer appropriate.

(Sec. 638) Directs the Secretary to provide simplified guarantee applications for specified loan circumstances.

(Sec. 639) Defines "rural' and "rural area" for purposes of: (1) water and waste disposal grants and direct and guaranteed loans; (2) community facility loans and grants; (3) business and industry direct and guaranteed loans; (4) multijurisdictional regional planning organizations and national rural development partnership; and (5) the rural entrepreneurs and microenterprise assistance program, the national rural cooperative and business equity fund, and the rural business investment program.

(Sec. 640) Directs the Secretary to establish a rural entrepreneur and microenterprise (an entity with five or fewer employees that is unable to obtain sufficient credit) program to help low- and moderate- income individuals acquire small business skills. Provides such assistance (75 percent Federal share) through qualifying microenterprise development organizations or programs. Requires at least 50 percent of funding for low-income individuals. Provides program funding through October 1, 2005.

(Sec. 641) Directs the Secretary to establish an interagency coordinating committee for rural seniors.

Directs the Secretary to make grants (20 percent Federal maximum) to nonprofit organizations (including cooperatives) for programs that (1) provide facilities, equipment, and technology for seniors in a rural area; and (2) may be replicated in other rural areas. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2006 appropriations.

Obligates funds for: (1) senior facilities; and (2) children's day care facilities.

(Sec. 643) Directs the Secretary to make grants (50 percent Federal share through year three, zero percent for years four and five) to establish and operate a regional rural telework institute which shall: (1) serve as a clearinghouse for telework research and development and information-sharing; (2) conduct outreach activities; (3) develop and share best practices within the region and throughout the United States; (4) develop telework projects and joint ventures with the private sector; (5) support private sector businesses that are transitioning to telework; and (6) assist telework projects and individuals at the State and local level.

Directs the Secretary to make grants for equipment and facilities to expand and operate rural telework locations. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations, with a specified obligation for the rural telework institute.

(Sec. 644) Directs the Secretary to establish a historic barn preservation program. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants, or enter into contracts with State departments of agriculture or certain nonprofit organizations for historic barn preservation. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 645) Authorizes: (1) the Secretary to make grants (75 percent Federal maximum) to public and private nonprofit entities for rural emergency weather radio transmitters; and (2) FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 646) Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible organizations to train farm workers in agricultural technology and higher value crop skills. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 647) Extends and authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for the Delta Regional Authority.

Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for state-of-the-art technology in animal nutrition and value-added manufacturing to promote economic development in the Lower Mississippi Delta region. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations. Includes within such region the Alabama counties of Butler, Conecuh, Escambia, and Monroe.

(Sec. 648) Establishes the SEARCH Grant Program under which the Secretary shall, upon State request, award environmental grants to qualifying States for communities of not more than 2,500 persons. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 649) Establishes the Northern Great Plains Regional Authority which shall develop programs and approve grants for the economic development of the region encompassing Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Allows the Authority to: (1) approve grants to States, local governments, Indian tribes, and public and nonprofit entities for approved economic development projects (such as transportation, job training, and public services); (2) use funds to supplement Federal grant requirements under specified circumstances; and (3) make grants to local development districts (as defined by this Act).

States that Northern Great Plains Inc., a Minnesota nonprofit entity, shall serve as a primary regional resource for the Authority.

Directs the Authority to designate annually, and obligate funds for, distressed counties and areas.

Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations. Establishes a minimum State allotment.

Terminates the Authority as of October 1, 2006.

Subtitle D: Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 - Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to repeal the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Act of 1990. (Terminates the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation, related grants, and the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Revolving Fund, and transfers assets to the Secretary.)

(Sec. 652) Authorizes appropriations for rural area telemedicine and distance learning services through FY 2006.

Subtitle E: Rural Electrification Act of 1936 - Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to direct the Secretary to guarantee bonds or notes issued by non-profit cooperative or other lender if the proceeds of the bonds or notes are used for electrification or telephone projects eligible for assistance under this Act (including the refinancing of bonds or notes issued for such projects). Prohibits a guarantee on a bond or note whose proceeds are to be used for electricity generation. Authorizes appropriations. Terminates program authority as of September 30, 2006.

(Sec. 662) Authorizes the Secretary to make telephone loans to State or local governments, Indian tribes, or other public entities for expansion of rural 911 access. Authorizes appropriations.

Title VII: Agricultural Research, Education, and Extension and Related Matters - Subtitle A: National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to define: (1) "insular area'' as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Virgin Islands of the United States; and (2) ``State'' as any of the States, the District of Columbia, and any insular area.

(Sec. 702) Extends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board through September 30, 2006.

(Sec. 703) Authorizes appropriations for grants and fellowships for food and agricultural sciences education through FY 2006. Includes rural economic, community, and business development degrees within the program.

(Sec. 704) Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to State cooperative or Hispanic-serving institutions for the construction, acquisition, or renovation of food and agricultural research facilities. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 705) Authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for: (1) grants for research on the production and marketing of alcohols and industrial hydrocarbons from agricultural commodities and forest products; (2) policy research centers; (3) the human nutrition intervention and health promotion research program; (4) the pilot research program to combine medical and agricultural research; (5) the nutrition education program; (6) animal health and disease research programs; (7) research on national and regional animal health or disease problems; (8) education grant programs for Hispanic-serving institutions; (9) competitive grants for international agricultural science and education programs; (10) agricultural research programs; (11) extension education; (11) aquaculture; and (12) rangeland research.

(Sec. 714) Revises the indirect cost cap from 19 percent to the indirect cost rate established for an institution by its cognizant Federal audit agency, except for certain Small Business Act awards.

(Sec. 715) Authorizes the Secretary to make grants for the acquisition of special purpose scientific research equipment for use in the food and agricultural sciences programs of institutions of higher education. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 718) Makes funds for competitive agricultural research, education, or extension grant programs available for obligation for a two-year period beginning on October 1 of the fiscal year for which the funds are made available.

(Sec. 719) Authorizes the Secretary to issue joint requests for proposals, or to award grants with other agencies including the National Science Foundation, to eliminate duplication of research, review, and evaluation resources.

(Sec. 720) Extends supplemental and alternative crop research project authority through FY 2006.

(Sec. 723) Establishes in the Treasury an Agriculture Infrastructure Security Fund which shall provide funding to protect and strengthen the Federal food safety and agricultural infrastructure.

Directs the Secretary to establish the Agriculture Infrastructure Security Commission which shall: (1) advise the Secretary on Fund use; (2) review all agricultural research facilities for research and infrastructure security importance, and identify facilities that should be closed, consolidated, or modernized; and (4) evaluate the agricultural research facilities acquisition and modernization systems.

Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

Authorizes additional FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations for biosecurity planning and response activities to: (1) reduce U.S. food and agricultural system vulnerability; (2) continue joint research initiatives between the Agricultural Research Service and other entities; and (3) make grants to universities for counterbioterrorism research.

Directs the Secretary to make construction grants (50 percent Federal share) to land grant colleges and universities for bioterrorism research facility construction and modernization. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2005 appropriations.

Expresses the sense of Congress that funding for the Agricultural Research Service, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and other Department agencies with responsibilities for biosecurity should be increased as necessary.

Subtitle B: Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 - Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to authorize appropriations for the national genetic resources program through FY 2006.

(Sec. 732) Directs the Secretary to give priority for biotechnology risk assessment research grants to institutions whose goals include: (1) forming interdisciplinary teams to review or conduct research: (2) conducting studies on the biosafety of genetically modified agricultural products; (3) evaluating identity preservation systems; (4) establishing international partnerships; and (5) reviewing the nutritional enhancement and environmental effects of genetically modified agricultural products.

(Sec. 733) Directs the Secretary, through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, to establish: (1) a rural electronic commerce extension program for small businesses and microenterprises; (2) an Office of Rural Electronic Commerce; and (3) a grant program at land grant colleges and universities to assist such businesses, and to develop innovative electronic commerce business strategies. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 734) Authorizes appropriations for high-priority research and extension initiatives through FY 2006. Includes in such program grants for: (1) animal infectious disease control; (2) childhood obesity control; (3) integrated pest management; (4) beef cattle genetics; (5) prevention of dairy pipeline cleaner; and (6) development of publicly held plant and animal varieties.

(Sec. 735) Authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for the: (1) nutrient management research and extension initiative; (2) organic agriculture research and extension initiative; (3) agricultural telecommunications program; and (4) assistive technology program for farmers with disabilities.

Subtitle C: Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 - Amends the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to extend funding for the initiative for future agriculture and food systems through October 1, 2005.

Authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for: (1) the partnerships for high-value agricultural product quality research; (2) the Thomas Jefferson initiative for crop diversification; (3) biobased products (extends pilot program authority through FY 2006); (4) the integrated research, education, and extension competitive grant program (limits grants to five-year terms); (5) research regarding certain wheat and barley diseases; and (6) the Office of Pest Management Policy.

(Sec. 747) Authorizes appropriations for precision agriculture activities through FY 2006. Includes horticulture within such program.

(Sec. 748) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a bovine Johne's disease control program. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 749) Directs the Secretary, through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, to make grants to the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, the National 4-H Council, and the National FFA Organization to establish pilot projects to expand their rural and small town activities. Authorizes FY 2003 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 750) Directs the Secretary, through the Foreign Agricultural Service, to provide grants to historically black land-grant institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, or tribal institutions to develop agricultural biotechnology for developing countries. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 750B) Establishes in the Department of Agriculture the Senior Scientific Research Service.

Subtitle D: Land-Grant Funding - Chapter 1: 1862 Institutions - Amends the Hatch Act of 1887 to allow unexpended funds provided to a State agricultural experiment station to be carried over to the following fiscal year. States that if any of such amounts are not expended by the end of the second fiscal year an equal amount shall be deducted from the State's next annual allotment.

(Sec. 752) Requires land grant institutions to report on technology transfer activities.

(Sec. 753) Amends the Smith-Lever and Hatch Acts, respectively, to require a State to have spent on multistate extension activities and integrated research and extension activities, from all sources of cooperative extension and research funding, an amount equal to 25 percent of the Federal funds provided to the State in the prior fiscal year, before receiving its annual allocation of research or extension funding. Exempts from such provision funds provided to: (1) Puerto Rico, Guam, or the Virgin Islands; or (2) 1994 (Native American) Institutions.

Chapter 2: 1994 Institutions - Amends the Smith-Lever Act to authorize appropriations, beginning in FY 2002, for extension activities at 1994 Institutions.

(Sec. 755) Amends the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 with respect to such Institutions to: (1) revise the list of Institutions; (2) require accreditation in order to receive research grants; (3) revise the full-time Indian student count formula; (4) increase the authorization of appropriations for institutional payments; (5) authorize institutional capacity building grants and appropriations through FY 2006 (uncaps FY 20002 authorizations); and (6) authorize appropriations for institution research grants through FY 2006.

(Sec. 756) Amends the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to allow 1994 Institutions to participate in the integrated grants program.

Chapter 3: 1890 Institutions - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 with respect to1890 Institutions to revise the authorization of appropriations formulas for extension and research activities.

(Sec. 758) Allows unexpended fiscal year funds provided to an Institution to be carried over for the following fiscal year. States that if any of such carried-over amounts are not expended by the end of the second fiscal year an equal amount shall be deducted from the Institution's next annual allotment.

(Sec. 759) Requires Institutions to report on technology transfer activities.

(Sec. 760) Authorizes appropriations for grants to upgrade agricultural and food sciences facilities through FY 2006. (Increases the FY 2002 authorization.)

(Sec. 761) Authorizes appropriations through FY 2006 for national research and training virtual centers (as redesignated by this Act).

(Sec. 762) Revises the State matching fund formula for FY 2003 (60 percent) through 2006 (110 percent of the preceding year). Authorizes the Secretary to waive such requirement for any amount above the 50 percent level.

Chapter 4: Land-Grant Institutions - Subchapter A: General - Amends the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to require the Department to establish minimum stakeholder review requirements that ensure transparency and opportunity for stakeholder input.

(Sec. 772) Terminates 60 days after enactment of this Act Federal Schedule A civil service appointments for extension workers at land-grant institutions who hold dual government appointments. Provides continued eligibility for specified Federal health, life insurance, retirement, employment credit, and thrift savings benefits, subject to specified limitations.

Subchapter B: Land-Grant Institutions in Insular Areas - Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 to authorize the Secretary to: (1) make grants to land-grant institutions in insular areas for digital network distance food and agriculture programs; and (2) establish matching requirements. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 776) Amends the Hatch Act of 1887 and the Smith-Lever Act, respectively, to create a 50 percent matching requirement (which the Secretary may waive) for research and extension formula funds for insular area land grant institutions.

Subtitle E: Other Laws - Amends the Critical Agricultural Materials Act to authorize appropriations for critical agricultural materials research through FY 2006.

(Sec. 782) Amends the Research Facilities Act to authorize appropriations for agricultural experiment stations research facilities through FY 2006.

(Sec. 783) Amends the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act Amendments of 1985 to authorize appropriations for Federal agricultural research facilities through FY 2006.

(Sec. 784) Amends the Competitive, Special, and Facilities Grant Act to authorize appropriations for competitive, special, and facilities research grants through FY 2006.

(Sec. 785) Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to specify that risk management education grants may also be made to beginning farmers and ranchers.

(Sec. 786) Amends the National Aquaculture Act of 1980 to authorize appropriations for aquaculture policy, planning, and development through FY 2006.

(Sec. 787) Amends the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 to authorize appropriations for carbon cycle research through FY 2006.

Subtitle F: New Authorities - Requires the Secretary to: (1) consider the most practicable and cost-effective public or private source to meet the Department's research and inspection needs; and (2) establish conflict of interest guidelines.

(Sec. 793) Authorizes the Secretary to transfer up to two percent ($5 million fiscal year maximum) of any extension- or education-related appropriation to address imminent threats to animal and plant health, food safety, or human nutrition, including bioterrorism.

(Sec. 794) Requires the Secretary to evaluate the purpose and impact of the Agricultural Research Service on agricultural research. Provides FY 2002 through 2004 funding.

(Sec. 795) Directs the Secretary, through the Rural Business-Cooperative Service and the Agricultural Research Service, to establish a program to promote rural technology transfers.

(Sec. 796) Directs the Secretary to establish a grant program to foster training, education, outreach, and technical assistance for beginning farmers or ranchers. States that such grants shall: (1) be made to a collaborative State, local, or regionally-based network or partnership of public or private entities; (2) not exceed a three-year term; (3) have a 25 percent matching requirement; and (4) obligate not less than 25 percent of funds for farm workers, and limited resource and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers or ranchers.

Directs the Secretary to establish beginning farmer and rancher education teams to conduct educational programs in diverse geographical areas of the United States.

Provides specified funding for two fiscal years.

(Sec. 797) Expresses the sense of Congress that Federal investments in food and agricultural research should double over the next five years.

(Sec. 798) Establishes a Rural Research Fund Account in the Treasury from which the Secretary shall make grants for rural policy research regarding: (1) sociology; (2) demographic changes, (3) infrastructure, and community and business development; (4) education and extension programs; and (5) health.

(Sec. 798A) Directs the Secretary to: (1) give on-farm research or extension priority to farmers or ranchers participating in conservation programs; (2) collect and disseminate organic industry market data; (3) report on the national organic standards program impact on small farms; (4) facilitate research and extension professionals' access to organic research conducted outside the United States; and (5) report on handlers and producers of organic products.

Title VIII: Forestry - Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to authorize appropriations for the Office of International Forestry through FY 2006.

(Sec. 802) Expresses the sense of Congress reaffirming the McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Act.

(Sec. 803) Amends the Renewable Resources Extension Act of 1978 to extend program authority and authorization of appropriations for renewable resources extension activities through FY 2006.

Directs the Secretary to establish the sustainable forestry outreach initiative to educate landowners about the value of practicing sustainable forestry, and related resources available to them.

(Sec. 804) Amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to authorize appropriations for the forestry incentives program through FY 2006.

(Sec. 805) Directs the Secretary to establish the sustainable forestry cooperative program to develop forestry cooperatives: (1) owned and operated by nonindustrial private forest landowners; and (2) comprised of at least 51 percent farmer or rancher membership. Provides specified funds through October 1, 2005.

(Sec. 806) Directs the Secretary to establish a sustainable forest management program which shall provide grants to nonindustrial private forest landowners who agree to develop a management plan and implement approved activities for at least ten years. Includes among approved activities: (1) timber production; (2) water quality protection; (3) forest habitat, wetland, and riparian area enhancement; (4) energy conservation; (5) hazardous fuels reduction; and (6) invasive species control. Provides funding through October 1, 2005.

(Sec. 807) Amends the Cooperative Forestry Management Act of 1978 to authorize a State to permit local governments or qualified organizations to acquire forest legacy program conservation easements.

(Sec. 808) Amends the Forest Rangeland Renewable Resources Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary to establish at least two forest fire research centers at institutions of higher learning. Requires one to be in California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, or Washington, and the other in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, or Wyoming. States that such centers shall: (1) conduct research into the ecological, socioeconomic, and environmental impact of fire control; and (2) develop new fire control technologies. Directs the Secretary to establish an advisory committee. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 809) Directs the Secretary or the Secretary of the Interior to provide wildfire prevention and hazardous fuel purchase pilot program grants to: (1) a person, community, Indian tribe, business, or nonprofit organization that operates a biomass-to-energy facility to offset costs incurred in purchasing hazardous fuels derived from public and private land adjacent to eligible communities (as defined by this Act); and (2) a person in a rural community seeking to add value or improve the use of hazardous fuels. Limits fiscal year grants to $1.5 million per facility, with an exemption for small facilities. Directs the Secretary to monitor such treatments' effects upon the environment and public land. Authorizes the Secretary to enter into stewardship contracts for the removal of hazardous fuels from National Forest System land in order to implement the National Fire Plan.

Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations. Terminates authority under this section on September 30, 2006.

(Sec. 810) Amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to: (1) direct the Secretary, through the Forest Service, to establish the Chesapeake Bay watershed forestry program to provide technical assistance to the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council, Bay-area States (including the District of Columbia), local governments, and eligible nonprofit organizations; and (2) direct the Secretary to designate a Forest Service employee as the Director for Chesapeake Bay watershed forestry efforts.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) make Chesapeake watershed forestry grants (75 percent Federal maximum); and (2) establish a Chesapeake Bay urban watershed forestry research cooperative program.

Authorizes specified appropriations for FY 2002 through 2006.

(Sec. 811) Amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to authorize the Secretary to cooperate with State foresters and officials to enhance community fire protection and tree and forest growth and resource conservation.

Directs the Secretary to establish the community and private land fire assistance program which may include: (1) fuel hazard mitigation and prevention; (2) invasive species management; (3) multisource wildfire and community protection; (4) community and landowner education, including the FIREWISE program; and (5) market development.

Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 812) Directs the Secretary to establish a watershed forestry assistance program, including a watershed forestry cost-sharing program, to provide States with technical, financial, and related assistance to: (1) expand forest stewardship capacities; and (2) prevent water quality degradation on non-Federal forest land. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 813) Establishes within the Forestry Service the suburban and community forestry and open space initiative which shall provide grants (50 percent Federal maximum) to: (1) conserve private forest land and maintain working forests in suburban environments; and (2) address suburban sprawl. States that land purchases may be made only from willing sellers. Authorizes appropriations beginning in FY 2003.

(Sec. 815) Includes the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as a component of each State Forest Stewardship Coordinating Committee.

(Sec. 816) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 rename the Semiarid Agroforestry Research Center as the USDA National Agroforestry Research Center. Revises program purposes.

(Sec. 817) Amends the Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act of 1978 to direct the Secretary to establish in the Forest Service the Office of Tribal Relations. Sets forth operational and administrative provisions.

(Sec. 818) Authorizes the Secretary to provide financial, technical, educational, and related assistance to Indian tribes for: (1) Forest Service coordination respecting resource management, tribal land interests, and traditional and cultural matters; (2) conservation activities; and (3) tribal acquisition of conservation interests from willing sellers. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 819) Directs the Secretary to conduct sudden oak death syndrome programs respecting: (1) research, monitoring, and treatment; (2) management and fire prevention; and (3) outreach and education.

Directs the Secretary to establish a Sudden Oak Death Syndrome Advisory Committee.

Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 820) Requires the Inspector General of the Department to conduct an investigation independent of the Forest Service whenever a firefighter employed by the Service is killed because of wildfire entrapment or burnover.

(Sec. 821) Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) an Ecological Restoration Institute in Flagstaff, Arizona; and (2) an Institute at a college or university in New Mexico. Provides for Institute cooperation with Federal agencies, universities, and regional entities. Authorizes specified appropriations.

Title IX: Energy - Amends the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act to require Federal purchasing of biobased products if they are: (1) on a Department biobased products list; and (2) comparable in price, performance and availability to non-biobased products. Directs the Secretary to develop a labeling program for biobased products similar to the EPA's Energy Star program. Provides program funding through October 1, 2005.

Directs the Secretary to make grants (30 percent Federal maximum, with exceptions) to eligible entities to develop and construct biorefineries for projects that demonstrate the commercial viability of biomass conversion to fuels or chemicals. Provides funding through October 1, 2005.

Directs the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities for a biodiesel fuel education program. Authorizes specified FY 2003 through 2006 appropriations.

Directs the Secretary, through he Rural Business Cooperative Service, to: (1) make grants, loans, and loan guarantees (50 percent Federal maximum) to assist cooperatives and business ventures (at least 51 percent farmer- or rancher-owned) produce and market electricity from renewable energy sources; and (2) make grants to assist farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses increase energy efficiency and renewable energy use. Provides funding through October 1, 2005.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) make additional loans, loan guarantees, and grants to farmers, ranchers, and rural small businesses to purchase renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements; and (2) make grants and enter into contracts for projects to demonstrate farm and rural applications of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Provides funding through October 1, 2005.

Authorizes the Secretary, through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, to provide farmers and ranchers with technical and educational assistance to develop and market renewable energy resources.

Directs the Secretary to establish a carbon sequestration research and development program to promote understanding of: (1) the net sequestration of organic carbon in soil and plants and trees; and (2) the net emissions of other greenhouse gases from agriculture. Directs the Secretary, through the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, to carry out a related grant program.

Directs the Secretary, through the Agricultural Research Service, to collaborate with Federal agencies to perform research concerning: (1) carbon losses and gains in soil and plants; and (2) net emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from cultivation and animal management activities.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) carry out carbon sequestration-related research in the areas of agronomy, agricultural economics, forestry, and other agricultural sciences; and (2) develop benchmark standards for measuring soil and plant carbon content.

Authorizes the Secretary to designate up to two research consortia.

Directs the Secretary to convene a carbon sequestration conference to: (1) establish benchmark standards for measuring soil and plant carbon content and net emissions of other greenhouse gases; (2) designate measurement techniques and modeling approaches; and (3) evaluate results of analyses on baseline, permanence and leakage issues.

Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations for carbon sequestration research and programs.

Directs the Secretary to develop: (1) programs to monitor the carbon sequestration benefits of conservation practices and net changes in greenhouse gas emissions; and (2) related outreach programs. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 903) Amends the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000 to: (1) revise funding provisions to provide funding through October 1, 2005, through Treasury transfers, and authorize additional specified appropriations for FY 2002 through 2006; and (2) extend authority through September 30, 2006.

(Sec. 904) Amends the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 to direct the Secretary to make grants, loans, and loan guarantees to rural electric cooperatives and other rural electric utilities to develop renewable energy, or for rural economic development. Authorizes: (1) grant use for renewable energy project feasibility studies and technical assistance; and (2) loan subsidies. Provides funding through October 1, 2005.

(Sec. 905) Amends the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 to direct the Secretary to: (1) make grants to qualifying agricultural producers, non-industrial private forest owners, and farmer-owned cooperatives to test the methodologies by which private parties pay farmers and foresters to store carbon and to otherwise reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases; and (2) establish a related Internet site. Sets forth priority criteria. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations, with a specified set-aside for farmer-owned projects.

(Sec. 906) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) a national renewable fuels program, including motor fuels, should be adopted; (2) the Department should ensure that its policies and programs promote fuel production from renewable fuel sources; (3) ethanol and biofuel production capacity will be needed to phase out use of methyl tertiary butyl ether in gasoline and U.S. dependence on foreign oil; and (4) the Department's bioenergy program should be expanded.

Title X: Miscellaneous - Subtitle A: Country of Origin and Quality Grade Labeling - Amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require a retailer of a covered commodity (beef, lamb, pork, wild or farm-raised fish, perishable agricultural commodities or peanuts, but not processed beef, lamb and pork items or frozen entrees containing beef, lamb and pork) to inform consumers at the final point of sale of a commodity's country of origin. States that U.S. designation of origin may be used only if the article is exclusively from an animal, fish, peanut, or perishable commodity that is, as appropriate, born, hatched, produced, raised, harvested, and slaughtered, or processed in the United States. Exempts food service establishments from such requirements.

Prohibits the Secretary from using a mandatory country of origin identification system, but permits use of certain current certification programs. Provides for violation warnings and fines.

Prohibits an imported carcass or part, meat, or meat food product from bearing a Department quality grade label.

Subtitle B: Crop Insurance - Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act to provide crop insurance for sweet potatoes.

(Sec. 1012) Removes the time limit on the prohibition of continuous coverage.

(Sec. 1013) Requires that certain quality loss adjustment procedures be made by the 2003 reinsurance year.

(Sec. 1014) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to include: (1) indemnity payments among the benefits that a person who produces commodities on highly erodible land is ineligible for, and (2) farm storage facility loans, disaster payments, and indemnity payments among the benefits that a person who produces commodities on converted wetland is ineligible for. Removes production flexibility benefits from the category of such benefits.

Amends the Controlled Substances Act to expand the list of loans and payments for which persons convicted of cultivating controlled substances are ineligible.

Subtitle C: Animal Health Protection - Animal Health Protection Act - Authorizes the Secretary to restrict the importation, entry, or further movement in the United States, or order the destruction or removal, of animals (including livestock) and related conveyances and facilities for reasons of: (1) livestock pest or disease control; or (2) humane treatment. Authorizes related activities respecting exportation, interstate movement, cooperative agreements, enforcement and penalties, seizure, and quarantine and disease and pest eradication.

Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) establish a veterinary accreditation program; (2) produce and sell sterile screwworms to foreign countries and international organizations; and (3) enter into reimbursable fee agreements for preclearance abroad of animals or articles for movement into the United States.

Sets forth criminal and civil penalties for violations of such provisions.

Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Secretary to transfer necessary funds in a livestock pest or disease-related emergency.

Subtitle D: General Provisions - Amends the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act to: (1) revise and increase specified pesticide registration fees; (2) unify registration fees; (3) redefine "small business" for fee purposes; and (4) extend specified fee authorities.

(Sec. 1042) Directs: (1) EPA to develop a sample school pest management plan; and (2) States and local educational agencies to develop school pest management plans as part of cooperative enforcement agreements with EPA. Includes among plan components: (1) mitigation of health risks through integrated methods, pest inspections and monitoring; (2) notification during the school year and related registry of staff members and parents; and (3) use of certified applicators.

(Sec. 1043) Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for a packer to own, feed, or control livestock intended to be slaughtered for: (1) a cooperative whose majority membership owns, feeds, or controls the livestock that the cooperative slaughters; or (2) a packer, owned or controlled by producers of a type of livestock, that slaughters less than two percent of such livestock slaughtered annually in the United States. Sets forth exceptions.

(Sec. 1044) Includes "livestock contractor" as a covered entity under such Act.

Authorizes a party to a contract for the sale of livestock or poultry to discuss confidential information with: (1) a legal adviser; (2) a lender; (3) an accountant; (4) an executive or manager; (5) a landlord; (6) a family member; or (7) a Federal or State enforcement or administrative agency.

(Sec. 1045) Makes it unlawful for any stockyard owner, market agency, or dealer to buy, sell, give, receive, transfer, market, hold, or drag any nonambulatory livestock unless such livestock has been humanely euthanized. Provides exceptions for: (1) farms not subject to animal care provisions of the Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration; and (2) veterinary care intended to make the livestock ambulatory.

(Sec. 1046) States that a person seeking to resolve a dispute in a livestock or poultry production or sale contract may elect: (1) arbitration in accordance with the contract; or (2) any other lawful method of dispute resolution, including mediation and civil action.

(Sec. 1047) Amends the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act to extend cotton classification services through FY 2006.

(Sec. 1048) Amends the Food Security Act of 1985 to revise specified protection provisions for purchasers of farm products.

(Sec. 1049) Amends the Animal Welfare Act to: (1) include among humane standards for animal treatment provisions respecting socialization of dogs and breeding initiation and frequency of female dogs; (2) revise temporary license suspension provisions; and (3) establish mandatory suspension provisions.

(Sec. 1050) Amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to provide FY 2003 through 2006 funding for State marketing and marketing research programs, with priority given to small farms and limited resource farmers.

Amends the Farmer-to-Consumer Direct Marketing Act of 1976 to direct the Secretary to: (1) work to train, and share information among, managers of farmers' markets; (2) train extension service employees in the development of direct marketing techniques; and (3) work with producers to develop farmers' markets.

Directs the Secretary to carry out a Farmers' Market Promotion Program to make grants (60 percent Federal maximum) to establish and promote farmers' markets. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 1051) Amends the Animal Welfare Act to exclude birds, rats, and mice bred for research from coverage under such Act.

(Sec. 1052) Revises provisions prohibiting animal fighting to: (1) increase monetary and prison penalties for violations; (2) include within "intrastate or foreign commerce" movement from a State into a foreign country; and (3) replace the State-law based prohibition on live bird fighting ventures with a prohibition on the sale, purchase, transport, or delivery in interstate or foreign commerce of any animal for fighting purposes.

(Sec. 1054) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to direct the Secretary to carry out an outreach and technical assistance program to assist socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in: (1) owning and operating farms and ranches; and (2) participating in Department programs. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to, and enter into contracts with, eligible entities to provide related information and technical assistance. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations. Includes gender within the definition of "socially disadvantaged group."

(Sec. 1055) Amends the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 to authorize the Secretary to permit certification and labeling of salt water-harvested wild fish and wild shellfish as organic.

(Sec. 1056) Amends the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to direct the Secretary to establish within the Department the position of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights.

(Sec. 1057) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to ensure compilation and disclosure of data to assess and hold the Department accountable for the nondiscriminatory participation of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers in Department programs.

(Sec. 1058) Amends Federal criminal law with respect to animal enterprise terrorism to: (1) redefine such offense; (2) revise penalties for economic damage (up to six months' imprisonment and /or fined), major economic damage (up to three years' imprisonment and /or fined), serious bodily injury (up to 20 years' imprisonment and /or fined), and death (up to life imprisonment and/or fined); and (3) allow restitution for other economic damage.

(Sec. 1059) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to extend the pseudorabies eradication program through FY 2006.

(Sec. 1060) Amends Federal law to make permanent the provision allowing the Postal Service to require air carriers to accept day-old poultry as mail if the air carrier allows the shipment of any live animals as cargo.

(Sec. 1061) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to authorize specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations for emergency grants to assist low-income migrant and seasonal farm workers. Eliminates: (1) the permanent authorization of appropriations; and (2) the annual grant cap.

(Sec. 1062) Amends FAIRA to authorize the Secretary to provide assistance (replanting assistance and/or seedlings) to eligible commercial orchardists who have suffered qualifying tree losses (greater than 15 percent mortality rate) caused by a natural disaster. Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations. Applies such provision to losses incurred after January 1, 2000.

(Sec. 1063) Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to require that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service conduct airport preclearance quarantine inspections of persons, baggage, cargo and other items destined from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Directs that such provision shall not be implemented unless the Service's appropriation for inspection, quarantine, and regulatory activities is increased by $3 million in a non-agriculture FY 2002 appropriations Act.

(Sec. 1064) Amends the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000 regarding loans to seed producers who were unsecured creditors of a seed company that filed for bankruptcy in 2000 to lengthen such loans from 18 months to 54 months.

(Sec. 1065) Directs the Secretary, through the Agricultural Marketing Service, to use specified FY 2002 through 2005 CCC funds to establish a national organic certification cost-share program (75 percent Federal maximum).

(Sec. 1066) Establishes the Food Safety Commission, which shall be composed of 15 members from consumer groups; food processors, producers, retailers; public health professionals; food inspectors; former or current food safety regulators; members of academia; or any other interested individuals.

Directs the Commission to make recommendations to implement a specified National Academy of Sciences report which shall serve as the legislative basis to improve the food safety system and public health. Authorizes $3 million to carry out such activities. Terminates the Commission 60 days after submission of required recommendations and reports.

(Sec. 1067) Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the Secretary should resume violation tracking and reporting under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958, fully enforce such Act to ensure humane livestock slaughter and worker safety, and bring about improvement of products and economies in slaughtering operations; and (2) U.S. policy should be that livestock handling and slaughter should be carried out only by humane methods.

(Sec. 1068) Amends the Plant Protection Act to revise penalties provisions, including: (1) criminal and civil forfeiture; and (2) categories of criminal offenses for major violations, multiple violations, and intent to harm U.S. agriculture.

(Sec. 1069) Amends Federal law to extend congressional consent to the interstate compact respecting restoration of Atlantic salmon to the Connecticut River Basin and creation of the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Commission for an additional 20 years. Authorizes specified appropriations for the Commission through FY 2010.

(Sec. 1070) Bear Protection Act of 2002 - Prohibits any person from: (1) importing bear viscera into, or exporting it from, the United States; or (2) selling bear viscera, bartering, offering for sale or barter, or purchasing, possessing, transporting, delivering, or receiving it in interstate or foreign commerce. Subjects violators to specified criminal and civil penalties. Waives such prohibition for wildlife law enforcement purposes where a valid permit has been issued.

Requires the Secretary of the Interior to continue discussions concerning trade in bear viscera with the appropriate representatives of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and with representatives of non-CITES countries that are leading importers, exporters, or consumers of such products.

Declares that nothing in this Act shall affect State regulation of bear populations or the lawful hunting of bears under State law.

(Sec. 1071) Reenacts family farmer bankruptcy provisions.

(Sec. 1072) Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for a packer to own, feed, or control livestock intended for slaughter, with exceptions for: (1) animals held for not more than 14 days before slaughter; (2) a cooperative whose majority membership owns, feeds, or controls the livestock that the cooperative slaughters; or (3) a packer, owned or controlled by producers of a type of livestock, that slaughters less than two percent of such livestock slaughtered annually in the United States.

(Sec. 1073) Amends the Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and Information Act to require the Secretary to: (1) review seat allocation on the Hass Avocado Board; and (2) allow avocado importers to pay the assessment not less than 30 days after customs clearance, unless deemed not feasible by the Commissioner of Customs and the Secretary.

(Sec. 1074) Expresses the sense of the Senate that no Social Security surplus funds should be used to make currently scheduled tax cuts permanent or for wasteful spending.

(Sec. 1075) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the repeal of the estate tax should be made permanent by eliminating the sunset provision's (December 31, 2010) applicability to the estate tax.

(Sec. 1076) Appropriates specified additional FY 2002 funds for emergency disaster assistance for the commercial fishery failure with respect to Northeast multispecies fisheries. Directs such funds' use to support a voluntary fishing capacity reduction program in the Northeast multispecies fishery that: (1) is certified by the Secretary of Commerce; and (2) permanently revokes multispecies limited access permits so as to obtain expedited fishing capacity reduction and prevent capacity replacement. Requires that the program be: (1) carried out in accordance with a specified Interim Final rule; and (2) terminated one year after enactment of this Act.

(Sec. 1077) Directs the Secretary to conduct a comprehensive review of each State's meat and poultry inspection program. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1078) Authorizes FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations for: (1) studies on the transmission of spongiform encephalopathy in deer, elk, and moose, and chronic wasting disease; (2) a research and extension grant program to develop prevention and control methodologies for infectious animal diseases of livestock, and laboratory tests to expedite detection of infected livestock and presence of disease in herds or flocks; (3) a vaccine storage and shortfall study; and (4) a veterinary training program to ensure State and Federal capacities to recognize and diagnose exotic and endemic animal diseases.

(Sec. 1079) Authorizes the President to establish within the Office of Science and Technology Policy a position of Veterinary Advisor to provide expertise in: (1) food safety; (2) exotic and endemic animal disease prevention; and (3) animal agriculture.

(Sec. 1079A) Directs the Secretary to review the operation of agricultural and natural resource programs on tribal and trust land, including natural resource management, incentive, and farm income support programs.

(Sec. 1079B) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to assist geographically disadvantaged farmers (as defined by this Act) in owning and operating farms and participating equitably in Department programs. Authorizes the Secretary to make grants and enter into contracts with eligible entities to provide information and technical assistance. Authorizes specified FY 2002 through 2006 appropriations.

(Sec. 1079C) Expresses the sense of the Senate that the Food and Drug Administration should ensure that the name ``ginseng'' or any name that includes the word ``ginseng'' shall be used in reference to an herb or herbal ingredient that: (1) is part of the plant of one of the species of the genus Panax; and (2) and is produced in compliance with U.S. pesticide laws.

(Sec. 1079D) Amends the Federal Crop Insurance Act require the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to expand for the 2003 reinsurance year the adjusted gross revenue insurance pilot program into at least eight counties in the State that produces the highest quantity of specialty crops for which adjusted gross revenue insurance is not available. Directs the Corporation to carry out such program through at least the 2004 reinsurance year.

(Sec. 1079E) Defines "pasteurization" for any provision of Federal law under which a food or food product is required to undergo pasteurization.

Subtitle E: Studies and Reports - Directs the Secretary to report respecting: (1) the promotion, marketing, and purchasing of U.S. poached and canned salmon under Department food and nutrition programs; (2) the creation of a Department litter bank at the University of Arkansas for the purpose of enhancing health and viability of watersheds in areas with large concentrations of animal producing units; (3) the feasibility of expanding crop insurance and noninsured crop assistance eligibility to agricultural producers experiencing disaster conditions caused primarily by Federal agency action; and (4) (through GAO) the implications of including birds, rats, and mice in the definition of ``animal'' under the Animal Welfare Act.

(Sec. 1083) Expresses the sense of Congress that the Secretary should report on Department implementation of recommendations made by the Committee on Genetically Modified Pest-Protected Plants (of the Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources of the National Research Council) regarding: (1) food safety, ecological research, and monitoring needs for transgenic crops with plant incorporated protectants; and (2) operational enhancements to the biotechnology regulatory framework. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1086) Directs the Administrator of EPA to report on EPA regulation of the sale and use of agricultural pesticides through electronic transactions.

(Sec. 1088) Directs the Secretary to establish a task force to evaluate the merits of establishing one or more National Institutes for Plant and Agricultural Sciences.

Subtitle F: Organic Products Promotion - Organic Products Promotion, Research, and Information Act of 2002 - Authorizes the Secretary to issue an order providing for a program of organic product promotion, research, and information. Applies such program to producers, first handlers and other marketers, and importers of organic products. Requires the order to establish a National Organic Products Board that shall effectuate such program. Sets forth provisions respecting: (1) administration and operations; (2) assessments; (3) referenda; (4) enforcement authority; (5) petition and review of orders; and (6) suspension or termination of orders.

Authorizes appropriations.

Subtitle G: Administration - Authorizes the Secretary to promulgate necessary implementing regulations.

(Sec. 1099A) States that amendments made by the Act shall not affect the Secretary's authority to carry out current price support or production adjustment programs as in effect before the date of enactment.