RELEASE: 2026 House Farm Bill Advances Innovation Priorities, but Senate Action Still Needed

Washington, DC — March 6, 2026 — The House Agriculture Committee voted early Thursday morning to advance the Republican-authored Farm Bill. Seven Democrats joined all the committee’s Republican members to approve the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. The farm bill included many policies that can scale and improve research, development, and deployment of agricultural technologies.

Interagency Research

The farm bill’s research title includes the reauthorization of the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AGARDA). Modeled after the successes of DARPA and ARPA-E, AGARDA is designed to tackle high-risk, high-reward research that the private sector cannot address alone.

The bill seeks to further optimize federal research spending by directing the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into memoranda of understanding with the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of the National Science Foundation. This cross-cutting approach to R&D is essential for solving complex challenges. The bill would strengthen the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) collaboration with the Department of Energy on research related to advanced crop science, maximizing carbon storage, and precision agriculture technologies, and with the Department of Defense on those at the agriculture and national security nexus.

USDA recently announced a collaboration with DARPA to advance the innovation priorities in its National Farm Security Action Plan. It is critical that Congress codify interagency agreements between the Departments of Agriculture and Defense so collaborative research efforts continue regardless of future changes in administration. It is also more important than ever that Congress continue to support AGARDA to lead collaboration with other ARPA-style agencies across the federal government.

Advancing Biotechnology and Precision Agriculture

Regulatory clarity and targeted research are the twin engines of the bioeconomy. The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 addresses both by establishing an Office of Biotechnology Policy at USDA. As recommended by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, this office will coordinate USDA’s efforts to advance biotechnology through research, development, regulations and labeling, commercialization, and trade.

The bill also reauthorizes existing biotechnology research efforts, like the Genome to Phoneme research initiative, and authorizes a new research Center of Excellence dedicated specifically to biotechnology. The new center would foster the next generation of animal and plant biotechnologies that will increase agricultural productivity.

To ease regulatory burdens facing developers, the bill offers much-needed clarification of EPA’s oversight of disease- and pest-resistant crops called plant incorporated protectants and puts forward the first federal definition of a plant biostimulant.

Additionally, the bill expands support for the on-the-ground deployment of technologies that enable farmers to use inputs, like pesticides or fertilizer, more efficiently. By integrating precision agriculture into the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program, and the Conservation Loan Program, the bill ensures that farmers have the financial backing to adopt data-driven tools that reduce input dependence and improve farmer profitability without sacrificing yields.

Bolstering the Middle of the Supply Chain

Beyond the farm gate, the legislation addresses critical vulnerabilities in the American food supply chain. The bill moves to reestablish the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program. From 2021 until 2023, the program successfully extended nearly $1 billion in loan guarantees to expand food processing, manufacturing, and other activities in the middle of the supply chain. Restoring this program will make federally backed financing available to companies to build out infrastructure, scale operations, and improve national food security and supply chain resilience.

Looking Ahead

Any final Farm Bill package must include robust funding for the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR), which the House bill would leave unfunded. As an independent non-profit funded by the federal government since 2014, FFAR builds research programs in partnership with commodity farm groups, industry, non-profits, universities, and other agricultural stakeholders. FFAR leverages private sector funding to achieve more than a $1:$1.40 match for every federal dollar, making renewed investments in FFAR a powerful way for Congress to reverse current downward trends in public support for U.S. agricultural research.

As attention turns to the Senate to respond with a bill that can pass with bipartisan votes, it is imperative lawmakers in the upper chamber ensure innovation priorities absent from the House farm bill are not left behind.

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Media Contact:

Emily Bass

Director of Federal Policy, Food and Agriculture

emily@thebreakthrough.org