Advancing Research on Agricultural Soil Health Act of 2025

This bill focuses on measuring and improving how much carbon is stored in America’s farm soils. It directs USDA to publish one clear, science‑based way to measure soil carbon within 270 days, and to offer optional, free guidance and technical help to farmers in multiple languages and in both online and paper formats. Participation is voluntary, and the data should work with USDA’s existing systems.

It also supports on‑farm trials and adds soil‑carbon work to USDA research grants. A new national soil‑carbon inventory will sample cropland, rangeland, pasture, and wetlands and publish combined (non‑identifying) results every 5 years. Landowners must consent before sampling, and personal or farm‑level data is protected.

USDA must also build a user‑friendly tool to estimate how different land management practices affect greenhouse gases and soil carbon. The tool must use real measurements, reflect local soils and weather, be available in multiple languages, and be reviewed and updated regularly, with progress reports to Congress.

• Farmers can choose to measure and report soil carbon with USDA’s free, multilingual guidance; it’s optional.
• USDA must publish a standard measurement method within 270 days; results must work with USDA’s data systems.
• On‑farm trials and demos will test soil‑health systems and cost‑effective measuring tools; trials run 5 years.
• A national soil‑carbon inventory will sample every 5 years and release combined data and methods; a 1‑year strategic plan will guide setup.
• Landowners must consent to sampling; personal and farm‑level data is protected and not sold.
• USDA research grants will include soil‑carbon measurement and verification work.
• A modeling tool will estimate practice impacts; it will be multilingual, user‑friendly, based on real measurements, reviewed yearly, and reported on to Congress (first report due within 2 years, then annually).
• Funding authorized: $2M/year for the standard method and reporting support; $17.5M/year for the national inventory; $0.5M/year for the modeling tool.