Ag News

Senate Ag Committee releases updated farm bill text

On July 31, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry released revised legislative text for Farm Bill 2.0, the Agricultural Act of 2026, that will deliver vital support to farmers, ranchers, foresters and rural communities.

The updated bill, which the committee is scheduled to mark up at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 6, includes new language authorizing year-round sales of E15 and extending the timeline for states to restore the integrity of SNAP benefits through improved administration that reduces payment error rates.

To watch a live stream of the markup hearing, visit www.agriculture.senate.gov/hearings. 

The text of the 983-page bill can be reviewed here.

A brief review of what’s in the bill:

For farmers and ranchers

• Builds on the farm safety net investments in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, signed into law in July 2025, by further improving existing commodity, dairy, standing disaster and crop insurance programs while expanding opportunities tailored to the unique needs of specialty crop producers.

• Streamlines and strengthens conservation programs while creating two new broadly popular initiatives: the Forest Conservation Easement Program and the State Conservation Assistance Program.

• Fine-tunes the Conservation Reserve Program to improve grazing options, including during drought.

• Bolsters Buy American requirements across nutrition programs.

• Elevates U.S. seafood industry by codifying USDA’s Office of Seafood and expanding credit access for commercial fishing operators.

• Promotes common sense changes for U.S. Forest Service to implement critical forest health

For rural communities

• Supports local and regional meat and poultry processing, including new funding opportunities and additional regulatory guidance for small processors and renderers.

• Improves access to USDA Rural Development programs and private capital so rural communities can strengthen critical utility and community infrastructure to provide vital services including healthcare, education, childcare and workforce development.

• Enhances the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network to expand access to critical mental health care in rural communities.

• Boosts financing, technical assistance, water quality testing and filtration to improve access to safe and reliable drinking water for rural residents.

•Expands reliable high-speed broadband access by strengthening and modernizing USDA connectivity programs.

Other key provisions

• Modernizes farm loan programs to provide the next generation with the capital and tools necessary to keep American agriculture strong and competitive on a global scale.

• Strengthens innovation and market opportunities to increase domestic consumption of American agricultural commodities.

• Creates a new specialty crop mechanization and automation research program with dedicated funding.

• More than doubles funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program using investments made available in the Working Families Tax Cuts.

• Expands opportunities to address emerging, underserved and previously neglected priorities in agricultural research and extension.

• Promotes innovation by creating a regulatory pathway for plant biostimulants.

• Defends the security of U.S. agricultural land and food supply chains by strengthening foreign ownership disclosure requirements and enforcement.

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