The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 is a comprehensive multi-year farm bill that reauthorizes and reforms nearly all major USDA programs through fiscal year 2031. It increases farm loan limits, expands conservation and rural development funding, extends nutrition and SNAP programs, tightens restrictions on foreign adversary land purchases, and adds new initiatives in broadband, renewable energy, forestry, and agricultural research. The bill replaces the previously expired 2023 farm bill authority with updated funding levels, program structures, and eligibility rules across commodity support, crop insurance, rural credit, and food assistance.
Who benefits
Commodity crop farmers and ranchers (extended price supports and loan limits); beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers (reduced experience requirements, higher loan limits, up to 90% federal conservation easement share); specialty crop growers (emergency assistance, mechanization research, crop insurance expansion); dairy producers (extended dairy programs, dairy nutrition incentive funding); orchardists and nursery growers (tree assistance program); organic producers (expanded certification oversight); aquaculture producers (advisory committee, centers of excellence); rural communities (broadband expansion, water and wastewater infrastructure, rural development innovation center); SNAP recipients and low-income households (program extension, online purchasing); school food programs (Buy American requirements, domestic producers benefit); conservation organizations (easements, RCPP, EQIP funding); foresters and timber producers (forest conservation easements, timber loan guarantees, Giant Sequoia programs); beekeepers and livestock producers (disaster assistance framework); small and independent meat processors (meat processing grants); rural health care facilities (technical assistance grants); veterans interested in farming (education grants, loan programs); tribal organizations (self-determination contracts, commodity food programs); rural water system operators (zero/low interest loans, circuit rider program); agricultural researchers and universities (centers of excellence, agricultural innovation corps); bioenergy and sustainable aviation fuel producers (renewable energy programs, biorefinery loan guarantees)
Who pays / loses
Foreign adversaries and state sponsors of terrorism lose ability to purchase U.S. agricultural land; USAID loses administrative authority over Food for Peace Act; commercial greyhound racing operators lose ability to conduct interstate racing; dog importers face new veterinary certification requirements; foreign agricultural trading partners face tighter Buy American requirements for school meals; U.S. taxpayers bear the cost of substantially increased program authorizations across loan guarantees, conservation payments, broadband, nutrition, and research; pesticide manufacturers producing plant biostimulants and certain plant-incorporated protectants face modified regulatory treatment; conventional meat and poultry processors face increased competition from pilot direct-to-consumer slaughter programs
Fiscal note: Major authorized spending includes: $150 million for feral swine eradication (2025-2031); $450 million annually for Regional Conservation Partnership Program (2027-2031); $350 million for ReConnect Broadband (2027-2031); $200 million annually for local farmers feeding communities program (2027-2031); $200 million minimum annually for ready-to-use therapeutic foods (2027-2031); $100 million annually for state soil health assistance (2027-2031); $82 million annually for Distance Learning and Telemedicine (2027-2031); $60 million annually for heirs property legal services (2027-2031); $50 million annually for tree planting grants (2027-2030); $50 million annually for Rural Energy for America Program; $50 million for dairy nutrition incentive projects; $400 million maximum for biorefinery loan guarantees; $220 million maximum for timber production guaranteed loans; $135 million for healthy food financing initiative; $25 million annually for Rural Water and Wastewater Circuit Rider Program (2027-2031); $25-65 million annually for forest conservation easements (2027-2031); $30 million annually reserved for specialty crop mechanization research (2027-2031); $20 million annually for rural decentralized water systems (2027-2031); $15 million annually for international food relief partnership (2027-2031); $10 million annually for international agriculture exchange program (2027-2031); $7.5 million annually for researching transition to organic; $7 million annually for agroforestry centers (2027-2031); $3 million annually for meat processing grants (2027-2031); $1 million annually for Office of Biotechnology Policy (2027-2031); $725,000 annually for rollover protection structure grants (2027-2031). Total new authorizations across all programs represent a substantial multi-billion dollar increase over the prior farm bill period.
Funding & Lobbying Interests
The American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union are the primary broad-based agricultural lobbying groups backing comprehensive farm bills. Commodity-specific groups such as the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Cotton Council, and USA Rice Federation lobby for extended price supports. Dairy interests including the International Dairy Foods Association and National Milk Producers Federation benefit from dairy program extensions. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and rural broadband providers such as CoBank and farm credit system lenders benefit from rural development and broadband provisions. Conservation groups including the Nature Conservancy and Farm Bureau conservation programs benefit from easement and RCPP funding. Crop insurance companies including Zurich North America (Rural Community Insurance), RCIS, and other USDA-approved reinsurers benefit from crop insurance reauthorization. Bioenergy and sustainable aviation fuel producers including Archer Daniels Midland, Valero, and renewable fuel trade groups benefit from energy title provisions. Organic certification bodies, hemp industry groups, and specialty crop growers represented by the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance lobby for their respective provisions. Small and independent meat processors benefit from direct-to-consumer pilot programs.
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