Title 7, AgricultureRelease 119-110
§3703 State and Regional Plans
Title 7 › CHAPTER 68 — AGRICULTURAL SUBTERMINAL FACILITIES › § 3703
Summary
The Secretary must offer grants to any State that applies and meets the rules to help write a plan for subterminal facilities (called a State plan). Two or more States can apply together for a regional plan. Grants will pay up to 80% of the plan cost. Colleges and universities that get federal land‑grant funds should be used to help make the plans when possible. Each plan must explain how the State or region will move, store, receive, and load bulk farm commodities from farms to major markets or export points, and how sites will be chosen to help local producers. Plans must include an analysis and short‑ and long‑term projections for marketing, shipping, storage, and production; a statement of needs; reviews of on‑farm storage and effects on small rural elevators; ways to keep good rail service (including contract rates); ideas about using trains and barges; possible ownership or leasing of transport equipment; the status of roads and bridges; and whether farmer cooperatives might run branch rail lines. A plan review commission made up mostly of local producers (or consumers when appropriate), elevator operators, carriers, and others must review the work, suggest locations, and formally say a plan is needed before a State or region can apply. To get a grant, an application must follow the rules, meet Secretary-set production or shipment minimums for a prior period, include a Governor’s certification that serious storage or transport problems occurred in the past three years, and show the State has or is developing an adequate rail service plan. The Secretary will approve a plan only if the commission’s majority agrees and other conditions and regulations are met. Up to $3,300,000 is authorized for each fiscal year ending September 30, 1981, September 30, 1982, and September 30, 1983.
Full Legal Text
Title 7, §3703
Agriculture, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Grants; requisite provisions of plans
(1)The Secretary shall, beginning not more than one hundred and eighty days after October 1, 1980, make financial assistance available to any State that makes application therefor, and that otherwise meets the requirements of this section, for the purpose of assisting such State in the development of a subterminal facilities plan (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the “State plan”) for such State. Assistance under this section shall be made available in the form of a grant. No grant may be made to any State unless the Governor of such State or the appropriate agency of such State makes an application therefor as provided in this section. To the maximum extent practicable, the personnel and resources of the colleges or universities in the State which are eligible to receive funds under the Act of July 2, 1862 (7 U.S.C. 301–305, 307, and 308), or the Act of August 30, 1890 (7 U.S.C. 321–326 and 328), including Tuskegee Institute, shall be utilized in developing the subterminal facilities plan for that State pursuant to this section.
(2)The Secretary may also make grants under this section available to two or more States acting together to develop a coordinated regional subterminal facilities plan (hereinafter in this chapter referred to as the “regional plan”) for such region.
(3)Grants made under this section to any State or region may not exceed 80 per centum of the cost of preparing the State or regional plan.
(4)The State or regional plan shall prescribe in detail the actions such State or region proposes to take in order to (A) facilitate the efficient and competitive movement of bulk agricultural commodities from the points of production within such State or region to major market or export points, (B) provide adequate storage facilities for such commodities between points of production and market, (C) provide adequate receiving, storage, and loading facilities for any bulk agricultural commodity, and (D) assure that such facilities will be located at sites that will result in maximum benefits to local producers.
(5)Each State or regional plan shall include the following:
(A)an analysis of the marketing, shipping, storage, and production of bulk agricultural commodities produced in that State or region and the short- and long-range projections with respect to the marketing, shipping, storage, and production of such commodities in that State or region;
(B)a determination, on the basis of the analysis and projections required under clause (A) of this paragraph, of the needs of the State or region for subterminal facilities;
(C)an assessment of the use of existing on-farm storage facilities located within the State or region and an assessment of the ways in which subterminal facilities can benefit the continued use of on-farm storage facilities;
(D)an evaluation of the effect of the development of new subterminal facilities on small capacity rural shipping and storage facilities within the State or region;
(E)an evaluation of ways to ensure adequate rail service for subterminal facilities described in clause (D) of this paragraph, including an evaluation of the use and feasibility of contract rates;
(F)an assessment of the ways that subterminal facilities can enhance the operation of small capacity shipping and storage facilities within the State or region;
(G)an assessment of other actions being taken or considered in such State or region for the improvement of agricultural transportation, including an evaluation of the use being made of shuttle or collector trains and combinations of rail and barge service;
(H)an evaluation of the potential benefits of subterminal ownership and leasing arrangements for rail rolling stock (including locomotive power), motor trucks, barge equipment, and other bulk agricultural commodity transport equipment that may help achieve maximum benefits from the operation of subterminal facilities within the State or region;
(I)an assessment of the overall transportation system in the State or region and future plans for that overall system, including the adequacy of highways and bridges; and
(J)consideration of the feasibility and advisability of the ownership and operation of rail branch lines by farmer-owned cooperatives, and the role that such cooperatives might play in any overall planning for the restructuring and rehabilitation of rail service and marketing facilities within the State or region.
(b)Plan review commissions
Funds made available to a State or region under this chapter for the purposes of assisting such State or region to develop a plan shall be subject to the condition that the State or region establish a plan review commission composed of local producers, local elevator operators, representatives of affected motor and rail carriers, other interested individuals, and, when appropriate in the judgment of the Secretary, consumers of bulk agricultural commodities used in the production of unprocessed agricultural products. A majority of the members of any plan review commission must be local producers or, when appropriate in the judgment of the Secretary, consumers of bulk agricultural commodities used in the production of unprocessed agricultural products. The plan review commission shall consider the information and analyses developed by the State or region in the development of a State or regional plan and make appropriate recommendations regarding the State or regional plan. The plan review commission shall also make recommendations, based on information developed in the plan, for the most beneficial location of subterminal facilities.
(c)Recommendations of need
No application for planning assistance authorized pursuant to this section may be submitted by a State or region until the appropriate plan review commission established in accordance with this chapter has had the opportunity to make recommendations to the Governor or Governors that a need exists for the development of a State or regional plan, and a majority of the members of such plan review commission concur that such application should be submitted.
(d)Prerequisites for receipt of grant
No State or region may receive a grant under this section unless—
(1)an application therefor has been submitted that complies with the provisions of this chapter;
(2)the average annual production of bulk agricultural commodities produced within such State or region, or shipments of such commodities transported into such State or region, meets minimum levels established by the Secretary for a period the Secretary considers appropriate preceding the year in which application for such grant is made;
(3)the Governor of such State or the Governors of the States in such region certify to the Secretary that producers of agricultural commodities have experienced serious storage and transportation problems within such State or region during the three years preceding the year in which application for such grant is made; and
(4)such State or each State within such region has established an adequate plan, as described in section 22102 of title 49, for rail service in such State or States, or such State or each State in such region is actively developing such a plan.
(e)Approved State plans; approved regional plans
Whenever any State or region has submitted a State or regional plan under this section, the Secretary shall approve such plan only if it has been approved by a majority of the members of the appropriate plan review commission established pursuant to this chapter, and it meets the other conditions specified in this chapter and those prescribed in regulations issued by the Secretary to carry out this chapter. When a plan is approved by the Secretary, such plan shall be known as an “approved State plan” or an “approved regional plan”, as appropriate.
(f)Authorization of appropriations
To carry out the purposes of this section, there are authorized to be appropriated not to exceed $3,300,000 for each of the fiscal years ending September 30, 1981, September 30, 1982, and September 30, 1983.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
Act of
July 2, 1862 (7 U.S.C. 301–305, 307, and 308), referred to in subsec. (a)(1), is act
July 2, 1862, ch. 130, 12 Stat. 503, popularly known as the “Morrill Act” and also as the “First Morrill Act”, which is classified generally to subchapter I (§ 301 et seq.) of chapter 13 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under 301 of this title and Tables. Act of August 30, 1890 (7 U.S.C. 321–326 and 328), referred to in subsec. (a)(1), is act Aug. 30, 1890, ch. 841, 26 Stat. 417, popularly known as the Agricultural College Act of 1890 and also as the Second Morrill Act, which is classified generally to subchapter II (§ 321 et seq.) of chapter 13 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 321 of this title and Tables. Codification In subsec. (d)(4), “section 22102 of title 49” substituted for “section 5(j) of the Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. 1654(j))” on authority of Pub. L. 103–272, § 6(b), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1378, the first section of which enacted subtitles II, III, and V to X of Title 49, Transportation. Previously, section 5 of the Department of Transportation Act was amended generally by Pub. L. 101–213, § 2(c), Dec. 11, 1989, 103 Stat. 1843, and, as so amended, provisions of subsec. (j), relating to an adequate State plan, were set out in subsec. (a).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
Section effective Oct. 1, 1980, see section 6 of Pub. L. 96–358, set out as a note under section 3701 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
7 U.S.C. § 3703
Title 7, Agriculture
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110