Sponsors (2)
The bill invests stable federal funding to expand paid education and workforce training in food and agricultural sciences—benefiting students and rural communities—at the cost of increased federal spending and potential distributional and administrative challenges.
Students, trainees, and educators in food and agricultural sciences gain paid work-based learning and teaching-enhancement opportunities, improving hands-on training and career readiness.
Rural communities receive more trained professionals for economic, community, and business development, which can strengthen local services, workforce capacity, and economic growth.
Provides stable federal funding ($60 million annually from FY2026–2035) to expand education and workforce programs in food and agricultural sciences, enabling multi-year program planning and expansion.
Taxpayers face increased federal spending totaling about $600 million over FY2026–2035 to fund these grants, which reallocates federal resources to this priority.
The program could prioritize certain institutions or projects, leaving some regions, institutions, or students without funding and raising equity and access concerns.
New grant requirements and expanded administration may increase USDA program complexity and administrative burden for applicants (including state and local governments and nonprofits) and for the agency.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a grant priority for teaching enhancement and paid work-based learning in food/ag sciences and rural development and authorizes $60M/year for FY2026–2035.
Introduced March 12, 2026 by April McClain Delaney · Last progress March 12, 2026
Creates a new grant priority to fund teaching enhancement projects — including paid work-based learning — that train more professionals in food and agricultural sciences and in rural economic, community, and business development. It also authorizes $60,000,000 per year for each fiscal year 2026 through 2035 to support that priority within the existing grant program. The change amends the current grant statute to add the new priority and the new funding authorization, without changing other program rules in the text provided.