Bill Amendment: IL HB4922 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: EMERGING FARMER GRANT PROGRAM

Status: 2026-05-26 - Added as Alternate Co-Sponsor Sen. Javier L. Cervantes [HB4922 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB4922-Senate_Amendment_001.html

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Sen. Mattie Hunter

Filed: 5/15/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4922
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4922 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois
is amended by adding Section 605-1106 as follows:
(20 ILCS 605/605-1106 new)
Sec. 605-1106. Emerging and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers
Infrastructure and Market Access Grant Program.
(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that:
(1) Emerging and socially disadvantaged farmers
continue to face systemic and structural barriers that
constrain agricultural production, business viability, and
participation in local and regional food systems. Yet
these farmers are often at the front lines of serving
communities facing food insecurity, diet-related disease,

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and economic hardship.
(2) Targeted investment in these farmers will increase
food security and rebuild local economies in communities
where that investment is needed most.
(3) Deploying funds through a flexible, accessible
grant program will strengthen Illinois' agricultural
economy and improve public health outcomes across urban,
suburban, and rural communities.
(b) As used in this Section:
"Department" means the Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity.
"Eligible applicant" means an applicant for a grant under
this Section who meets the criteria set forth in subsection
(e).
"Emerging farmer" means a farmer who is a member of or
represents one or more of the following groups and who has had
their access to land, credit, capital, insurance, technical
assistance, education, training, markets, or participation in
public or private agricultural programs diminished as compared
to others in comparable economic circumstances as a result of
their membership in that group:
(1) women;
(2) veterans;
(3) persons with disabilities;
(4) American Indian or Alaska Native persons;
(5) members of communities of color;

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(6) farmers under 40 years of age;
(7) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer,
intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA+) persons; and
(8) urban farmers.
"Food desert" has the meaning given in Section 5 of the
Grocery Initiative Act.
"Heirs' property operator" means a person who farms real
property that is held as heirs' property, including land to
which title is held by multiple heirs without a formal
partition or probate.
"Infrastructure" means facilities, improvements, and
systems necessary for agricultural production and market
access, including land preparation, on-farm utilities,
post-harvest handling, processing, storage, aggregation, and
distribution.
"Social disadvantage" means diminished opportunity and
disproportionate barriers to entering, operating, sustaining,
or expanding a farm business that are reasonably linked to
discrimination and not solely attributable to individual
business resources and decision-making.
"Socially disadvantaged farmer" means an individual farmer
or aspiring farmer who has experienced, or whose farming
operation has experienced, social disadvantage as a result of
systemic or chronic discrimination or bias in access to land,
credit, capital, insurance, technical assistance, education,
training, markets, or participation in public or private

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agricultural programs, on the basis of one or more actual or
perceived characteristics, including race, color, ethnicity,
national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy or
childbirth-related status, sexual orientation, gender identity
or expression, religion, age, disability, marital or familial
status, or immigration or citizenship status.
"Underserved community" means a census tract,
municipality, or geographic area in which at least 20% of
residents live below the federal poverty guidelines published
by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or that
meets criteria for disproportionate economic hardship, limited
access to essential services, or historic disinvestment,
including barriers related to income, race or ethnicity,
disability, age, language access, or educational attainment.
(c) Subject to appropriation, the Department shall
establish the Emerging and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers
Infrastructure and Market Access Grant Program to provide
grants to eligible applicants for:
(1) improving access to local food in communities
experiencing food insecurity;
(2) strengthening local and regional food systems; and
(3) increasing farm productivity and resilience among
emerging farmers and socially disadvantaged farmers.
(d) The Department shall, subject to appropriation, make
grants for the purposes described in subsection (c) in
accordance with the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act.

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Nothing in this Section shall limit the Department's ability
to implement this program through one or more grant
administrators, as determined by the Department.
The Department may also provide technical assistance
grants to support emerging farmers or socially disadvantaged
farmers. That support shall include information requisite to
support program applicants and awardees, including, but not
limited to, translation and accessibility support, training on
application completion and compliance, and assistance with
project planning and implementation to ensure projects meet
program requirements.
(e) An eligible applicant must (i) be an Illinois-resident
farmer or a not-for-profit farm based in Illinois, (ii) have
operated a farm for less than 10 years immediately before the
date of submission of an application for funding under this
program, and (iii) meet at least one of the following
criteria:
(1) the farm is located within a food desert;
(2) the farm is located within an underserved
community;
(3) the farm earns less than $350,000 in gross income
annually; or
(4) the farm comprises less than 5 acres.
(f) In awarding grants, priority shall be given to: (i)
socially disadvantaged farmers; (ii) emerging farmers; (iii)
heirs' property operators; and (iv) cooperatives or

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collectives controlled or governed by one or more emerging or
socially disadvantaged farmers. Awards to not-for-profit
entities may not exceed 50% of the total grants awarded unless
grant funds would otherwise go unawarded for that funding
opportunity. The Department may give additional preference to
applicants that have not previously received a State grant
from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity or a
federal Value-Added Producer Grant.
(g) Grant funds may be used for:
(1) capital and infrastructure, including greenhouses,
high and low tunnels, hoop houses, cold storage,
refrigeration, freezers, wash-pack stations, processing
equipment, irrigation systems, fencing, on-farm utilities,
soil remediation, land purchase, and land preparation;
(2) equipment and supplies, including tractors,
implements, hand tools, harvest and post-harvest
equipment, and food safety and quality control equipment;
(3) operations and working capital, including seeds,
livestock, feed, fertilizer, soil testing and soil inputs,
labor, payroll, payroll taxes, stipends, employee
benefits, workforce training, apprenticeships, seasonal
staffing, insurance, certifications (including Good
Agricultural Practices (GAP), organic, or Certified
Naturally Grown), licensing, fuel, utilities, and
operating supplies;
(4) market access and distribution, including vehicles

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and refrigerated vehicles, aggregation and food hub
participation costs, branding, packaging, labeling, market
fees, and e-commerce or direct-to-consumer infrastructure;
and
(5) other expenditures the Department determines are
prudent and necessary to meet the goals of this Act.
(h) If a violation of a grant agreement is not cured within
the period set forth in the notice of violation, the
Department may use any procedures set forth in the Grant
Accountability and Transparency Act and the Grant Funds
Recovery Act.
(i) The Department shall adopt rules to implement this
Section and may allow eligibility verification through
self-attestation or other reasonable methods.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.".