Sponsors
The bill expands assistance, risk‑management tools, and market access for farmers—especially small and non‑English‑speaking producers—at the cost of higher federal spending, potential program complexity, and uncertainty about new payment limits and fairness.
Farmers (including non-English speakers) and rural communities gain expanded technical assistance—including language translation—and support for risk‑mitigation practices (soil health, irrigation, agroforestry, composting), increasing resilience and capacity to adopt climate- and risk-reducing practices.
Approved crop insurance providers and producers receive targeted education and technical assistance to improve implementation and uptake of whole‑farm diversified risk management plans, which could increase program effectiveness and insurance utilization.
The bill authorizes $20 million per year beginning FY2026 for outreach and assistance programs, providing a dedicated funding stream to sustain expansion of services and outreach.
Changing payment limits to an unspecified multi‑year cap—and excluding other Federal funds from that cap—creates uncertainty for producers about available aid and may increase total federal support to some recipients, raising fairness and budget‑impact concerns.
New and expanded appropriations (the $20M/year authorization plus existing program spending) increase federal outlays, which could raise taxpayer costs or crowd out other budget priorities.
Expanding eligible activities and recipients (including insurers) increases administrative complexity and may strain USDA and state capacity, risking slower, uneven, or more costly implementation.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Expands an education/technical assistance program under the Federal Crop Insurance Act to add providers and translation services, broaden eligible climate and diversification activities, revise payment limits, and authorize funding starting FY2026.
Introduced March 16, 2026 by Chellie Pingree · Last progress March 16, 2026
Expands an existing federal crop insurance education and technical assistance program to add approved crop insurance providers and language translation services as recipients, broaden the list of eligible outreach topics and on-farm/climate risk activities, change how payment limits are measured, and authorize new annual funding beginning in FY2026. The changes aim to support soil health, water management, perennial crops, agroforestry, livestock integration, composting, production and marketing diversification (including market development and food-safety/organic certification), and other Secretary-determined climate-risk practices. The provision also revises payment-limit language from an annual cap to a limit measured over a five-year period (the statutory text appears to omit the specific numeric amount for that five-year limit) and includes authorization of appropriations (text references both $30 million in one clause and authorizes $20 million annually starting FY2026, available until expended).