Washington Roundup - June 2026

By: Lowell Randel

Senate Releases Farm Bill 2.0 Draft

One June 23, the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry released legislative text of the Agricultural Act of 2026, also known as Farm Bill 2.0. The move comes after the House of Representatives approved its version of Farm Bill 2.0, entitled the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, which passed the House on April 30th. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman (R-AR) has indicated plans for the committee to act on the bill before the August recess.

Much of the mandatory spending related to the Farm Bill was included last year through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Farm Bill 2.0 focuses more on reauthorizing programs and addressing policy changes and updates to the 2018 bill. The Senate’s version of the Research Title is very similar to the House version and reauthorizes major research and education programs such as the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), capacity programs, and more focused programs including the Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative. 

Notable differences between the House and Senate versions of the Research Title include not reauthorizing the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, not revising the Centers of Excellence program, not including House provisions related to Memorandums of Understanding between USDA and the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, or Department of Energy and not establishing a Commission on National Agricultural Statistics Service Modernization to improve data collection and quality of statistics.

More information on the Senate bill can be found below:

Click HERE for legislative text.

Click HERE for a title-by-title summary.

Click HERE for a section-by-section.

Click HERE for an overview.

USDA Announces Research Infrastructure Funding Availability

On June 15th, USDA announced the announced the opening of the FY2026 funding opportunity for the Research Facilities Act program. The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act included $125 million annually for the Research Facilities Act program to help address decades of deferred maintenance and accelerate modernization of agricultural research facilities across the country. The USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will administer this competitive funding opportunity, and the funding will support renovation, expansion, and construction projects that strengthen research capacity and ensure America's agricultural research enterprise remains equipped to meet the challenges facing America’s farmers, ranchers, and producers. Applicants must provide a dollar-for-dollar non-federal cash match to ensure strong local investment and stewardship of taxpayer resources and eligible entities may receive funds for only one project at a time. 

Projects will be funded at four levels:

• Level I—Planning Grants: $100,000 to $200,000 for activities like needs assessments, site surveys, preliminary designs, and cost estimates
• Level II—Small Facility Upgrades: $250,000 to $2 million for activities like renovations and lab modernization
• Level III—Mid-Scale Construction/Expansion: $2 million to $10 million for expansions, specialized research wings, and major retrofits
• Level IV—Large-Scale Research Complex: $10 million to $30 million for entire new buildings, specialized labs, and controlled environment research facilities

The deadline for applications is July 17, 2026. For more information, visit the Research Facilities Act Program page on the NIFA website or email ree.nifa.rfap@usda.gov.

Senate Appropriations Committee Postpones Agriculture Appropriations Markup

The Senate Appropriations Committee was scheduled to consider its version of the fiscal year 2027 Agriculture Appropriations bill on June 25th. The markup, which was also scheduled to cover the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act; Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act; and Legislative Branch bills had to be postponed. The postponement was due in part to Sen. McConnell’s absence due to a health issue but also related to broader discussions around the overall spending plan for the fiscal year. It is expected that the committee will take action on these appropriations bills when the Senate returns from the July 4th recess.