Amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to authorize grants for eligible institutions to carry out agriculture workforce training programs, and for other purposes.
- senate
- house
- president
Last progress September 4, 2025 (3 months ago)
Introduced on September 4, 2025 by Tina Smith
House Votes
Senate Votes
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Presidential Signature
AI Summary
This bill would create federal grants to help colleges and career schools team up with farms, ag companies, apprenticeships, and nonprofits to train people for good jobs in agriculture. The training can include internships, apprenticeships, hands-on classes, and skill-building workshops. The goal is to grow the farm and food workforce, make the industry more competitive, and help workers get trained and stay on the job, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture running the grant program through its National Institute of Food and Agriculture . Schools that get a grant must put at least 5% of the money toward recruiting students into these programs and training teachers so they can better prepare students for ag jobs .
Many types of schools can apply, including land‑grant universities, non‑land‑grant colleges of agriculture, Hispanic‑serving ag colleges, centers of excellence, community colleges with ag programs, and area career and technical education schools with ag programs. Industry partners can include ag companies or associations, registered agriculture apprenticeships, and nonprofits that help people find ag jobs. The Department of Agriculture must get this program up and running by January 31, 2026 .
- Who is affected: Students, teachers, and employers in agriculture; eligible colleges and career schools; industry partners like farms, ag companies, apprenticeships, and nonprofits .
- What changes: New grants support hands‑on training, student recruitment, and teacher development to build the ag workforce; at least 5% of each grant must go to recruitment and faculty training .
- When: The program must be implemented by January 31, 2026 .