Farm Bill Providing Big Boost to Agri-Tech Gains Momentum in Congress

Congress is finally trading the tractor for the algorithm. 

A new and overdue farm bill (dubbed the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2026) is gaining momentum in Washington, and it features a major boost in spending to help the US agriculture industry get with the AI-ified times.

USDA-RPA

While comprehensive farm bills are typically passed every five years, Congress has been quietly extending certain terms and provisions of the 2018 Agriculture Improvement Act since it expired in 2023, which means that the Republican-authored 2026 bill, which advanced through the House Agriculture Committee with bipartisan support earlier this month, has plenty of room to offer a major firmware update to the farming sector.

The wide-ranging bill seeks to accelerate agri-tech adoption through a multipronged approach: 

• Like most agricultural policies, subsidies are central to the 2026 farm bill’s agri-tech clauses. One key provision would fold “precision agriculture” (a.k.a., agri-tech tools ranging from software to internet-of-things-connected devices to AI systems) into an existing incentive program designed to help farmers de-risk conservation efforts, covering up to 90% of the costs of adopting precision agriculture technologies.
• Meanwhile, another provision would reauthorize the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority (AGARDA), a DARPA-style research agency for farm tech. Another part of the legislation would establish an “Office of Biotechnology Policy” at USDA to boost research initiatives and streamline the regulatory environment.

Tough Times: The bill is expected to receive a full vote in the House of Representatives before Easter. It comes at a critical time for the US farming industry writ large, which continues to buckle under the weight of low prices, high input costs (fertilizer prices have spiked, again, amid disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz), and a labor shortage. Nearly 300 farmers or farm operations filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy in the first nine months of 2025, according to court filings analyzed by Reuters, a 36% increase from the entire year of 2024.