Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Creating Reliability for Our Producers Act” or “CROP Act”.
Creating Reliability for Our Producers Act
A BILL
To amend the Federal Crop Insurance Act to support crop insurance for specialty crops, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Advance payments for underserved regions and crops
Section 522(b)(2) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(b)(2)) is amended by striking subparagraph (E) and inserting the following:
“(E) Approval
“(i) In general—The Board may approve up to 75 percent of the projected total research and development costs to be paid in advance to an applicant, in accordance with the procedures developed by the Board for the making of the payments, if, after consideration of the reviewer reports described in subparagraph (D) and such other information as the Board determines appropriate, the Board determines—
“(I) the concept, in good faith, will likely result in a viable and marketable policy consistent with section 508(h);
“(II) in the sole opinion of the Board, the concept, if developed into a policy and approved by the Board, would provide crop insurance coverage—
“(aa) in a significantly improved form;
“(bb) to a crop or region not traditionally served by the Federal crop insurance program; or
“(cc) in a form that addresses a recognized flaw or problem in the program;
“(III) the applicant agrees to provide such reports as the Corporation determines are necessary to monitor the development effort;
“(IV) the proposed budget and timetable are reasonable; and
“(V) the concept proposal meets any other requirements that the Board determines appropriate.
“(ii) Waiver—The Board may waive the cap specified in clause (i) on the advance payment of costs and pay more of the projected total research and development costs in advance if, in the sole discretion of the Board, the Board determines that the concept proposal provides coverage for a region or crop that is underserved by the Federal crop insurance program, including specialty crops.”
Sec. 3 Authority to conduct research and development
In general— Section 522(c) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 U.S.C. 1522(c)) is amended—
in the subsection heading by striking “contracting”;
in paragraph (1), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking “may enter into contracts to carry out research and development to” and inserting “may conduct activities or enter into contracts to carry out research and development to maintain or improve existing policies or develop new policies to”;
in paragraph (2)—
in subparagraph (A), by inserting “conduct research and development or” after “The Corporation may”; and
in subparagraph (B), by inserting “conducting research and development or” after “Before”;
in paragraph (5), by inserting “after expert review in accordance with section 505(e)” after “approved by the Board”; and
in paragraph (6), by striking “a pasture, range, and forage program” and inserting “policies that increase participation by producers of underserved agricultural commodities, including specialty crops”.
in paragraph (2)—
by striking “(A) Authority.—” and inserting “(A) Conducting and contracting for research and development.—”;
in subparagraph (A), by inserting “conduct research and development and” after “the Corporation may use to”; and
in subparagraph (B), by inserting “conduct research and development and” after “for the fiscal year to”;
in paragraph (3), by striking “to provide either reimbursement payments or contract payments”; and
by striking paragraph (4).