Sponsors (13)
The bill substantially expands federal research, grants, and coordination to accelerate organic production, climate‑resilient practices, and equity for underserved institutions and Indigenous knowledge, but does so at higher taxpayer cost and with added administrative burdens and risks of shifting resources away from other agricultural priorities.
Farmers and organic producers will receive a large, sustained increase in federal research funding (authorized to reach $100M/year) to develop organic practices, alternatives to restricted substances, and applied solutions.
Producers (especially those transitioning) gain access to competitive grants and on‑farm project funding to support conversion to organic production and practical adoption of new practices.
Dedicated research on organic systems will advance environmental outcomes—soil health, GHG mitigation/sequestration, water management, biodiversity, and regenerative practices—helping farms adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Taxpayers will face higher federal spending — including the authorized increase toward $100M/year and additional program allocations ($10M–$20M/year and multicategory allocations) — raising the federal budget cost for organic research and programs.
The bill increases administrative and compliance burdens on USDA, grant applicants, and partner institutions (reporting, new surveys, FPIC and attribution requirements), which could slow project starts and divert staff time from other programs.
Prioritizing organic research and new funding streams risks reallocating limited federal research resources away from other non-organic agricultural priorities, potentially disadvantaging other commodity or cross-cutting research areas.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a USDA coordinating initiative, boosts organic research funding, authorizes transition-to-organic grants, and requires an ERS economic analysis.
Introduced April 9, 2025 by John Karl Fetterman · Last progress April 9, 2025
Establishes a USDA-led initiative to coordinate and expand organic agriculture research across federal agencies, strengthens and increases funding for grants that support organic research and extension (including protections and requirements for use of Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge), creates a new competitive grant program to help transition conventional operations to organic systems, and requires the Economic Research Service to produce an economic impact analysis of organic management. The law sets multi-year funding authorizations, membership and reporting requirements for the coordinating body, grant rules and priorities, and deadlines for plans and reports to Congress.