Sponsors (2)
The bill provides significant federal investment to modernize agricultural research infrastructure and lower local cost barriers for institutions, but increases federal spending and creates allocation caps and procedural complexities that may leave some large-state projects or smaller institutions underserved.
Universities and research centers will receive $1 billion per year (2025–2029) to build and upgrade agricultural research facilities and equipment, accelerating modernization and capacity.
Grantees may obtain up to 100% Federal cost-share on a case-by-case basis, reducing or eliminating local matching costs for institutions and lowering the financial barrier to capital projects.
Funds are required to be distributed equitably across geography, institution types, research areas, and facility sizes, broadening access to investment for rural and smaller institutions.
All taxpayers bear increased federal outlays from mandatory $1 billion annual transfers for five years, which could raise deficit pressures or crowd out other federal priorities.
A 20% per-State funding cap could prevent large-state institutions from receiving funding proportional to need, leaving high-need projects underfunded or delayed.
Heavily resourced universities with strong grant-writing capacity are more likely to secure large awards, disadvantaging smaller community colleges and rural institutions that lack proposal support.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Mazie Hirono · Last progress May 21, 2025
Creates a new competitive grant program run by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to fund construction, renovation, modernization, and equipment for agricultural research and education facilities. The bill requires NIFA to consult its peer-review panels when reviewing proposals, limits awards so no more than 20% of funds go to projects in any single State, and allows the Secretary to waive the federal cost-share up to 100% in individual cases. Funds are provided through mandatory annual Treasury transfers of $1.0 billion on October 1 of each year from 2025 through 2029 (funds remain available until expended). The bill also authorizes additional appropriations as needed for fiscal years 2026–2030 for study, planning, design, and related preconstruction costs.