Value-Added Producer Grant in House Farm Bill
Since 2001, the Value-Added Producer Grant has helped agricultural producers plan and support value-added marketing ventures in an effort to help those producers earn additional returns. Like other Farm Bill programs, its status has been in limbo while Congress negotiated a Farm Bill.
The House passed a Farm Bill on January 29, 2014; this is the bill that came out of conference committee so final approval by the Senate is pretty much a lock. We took a quick look as it regards the VAPG, and will do more analysis after final approval. The only changes in regard to the VAPG were the effective dates (approving it through 2018) and the mandatory funding portion, which increased from $15mm to $50mm. As in prior years, up to $40mm a year is authorized, though that has to be appropriated annually (same as in previous years).
So we have the VAPG through at least 2018. The specific rules and funding levels can still change from year to year, as has always been the case.
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Brent Morrison is the founding principal at Morrison. To get in touch with Brent, please find contact information for Morrison here.