I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1326 
To provide for Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture joint 
research and development activities, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2025 
Mr. LUCAS (for himself and Ms. LOFGREN) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 
and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be sub-
sequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of 
such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for Department of Energy and Department of 
Agriculture joint research and development activities, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘DOE and USDA Inter-
agency Research Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND DEPARTMENT OF 
AGRICULTURE JOINT RESEARCH AND DEVEL-
OPMENT ACTIVITIES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy and the 
Secretary of Agriculture (in this section referred to as the 
‘‘Secretaries’’) shall carry out cross-cutting and collabo-
rative research and development activities focused on the 
joint advancement of Department of Energy and Depart-
ment of Agriculture mission requirements and priorities. 
(b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec-
retaries shall carry out and coordinate the activities under 
subsection (a) through the establishment of a memo-
randum of understanding, or other appropriate inter-
agency agreement. Such memorandum or agreement shall 
require the use of a competitive, merit-reviewed process, 
which considers applications from Federal agencies, Na-
tional Laboratories, institutions of higher education, non-
profit institutions, and other appropriate entities. 
(c) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the activities 
under subsection (a), the Secretaries may carry out the 
following: 
(1) Conduct collaborative research over a vari-
ety of focus areas, such as the following: 
(A) Modeling and simulation, machine 
learning, artificial intelligence, data assimila-
tion, large scale data analytics, and predictive 
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analysis in order to optimize algorithms for 
purposes related to agriculture and energy, 
such as life cycle analysis of agricultural or en-
ergy systems. 
(B) Fundamental agricultural, biological, 
computational, and environmental science and 
engineering, including advanced crop science, 
crop protection, breeding, and biological pest 
control, in collaboration with the program au-
thorized under section 306 of the Department 
of Energy Research and Innovation Act (42 
U.S.C. 18644). 
(C) Integrated natural resources and the 
energy-water nexus, including in collaboration 
with the program authorized under section 
1010 of the Energy Act of 2020 (enacted as di-
vision Z of the Consolidated Appropriations 
Act, 2021 (42 U.S.C. 16183)). 
(D) Advanced biomass, biobased products, 
and biofuels, including in collaboration with the 
activities authorized under section 9008(b) of 
the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 
2002 (7 U.S.C. 8108(b)). 
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(E) Diverse feedstocks for economically 
and environmentally sustainable fuels, including 
aviation and naval fuels. 
(F) Colocation of agricultural resources 
and activities and ecosystem services with di-
verse energy technologies and resources. 
(G) Colocation of agricultural resources 
and activities with carbon storage and utiliza-
tion technologies. 
(H) Invasive species management to fur-
ther the work done by the Federal Interagency 
Committee for the Management of Noxious and 
Exotic Weeds. 
(I) Long-term and high-risk technological 
barriers in the development of transformative 
science and technology solutions in the agri-
culture and energy sectors, including in collabo-
ration with the program authorized under sec-
tion 5012 of the America COMPETES Act (42 
U.S.C. 16538). 
(J) Grid modernization and grid security. 
(K) Rural technology development, includ-
ing manufacturing, precision agriculture tech-
nologies, and mechanization and automation 
technologies. 
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(L) Wildfire risks and prevention, includ-
ing the power sector’s role in fire prevention 
and mitigation and wildfire impacts on energy 
infrastructure. 
(2) Develop methods to accommodate large vol-
untary standardized and integrated data sets on ag-
ricultural, environmental, supply chain, and eco-
nomic information with variable accuracy and scale. 
(3) Promote collaboration, open community- 
based development, and data and information shar-
ing between Federal agencies, National Labora-
tories, institutions of higher education, nonprofit in-
stitutions, industry partners, and other appropriate 
entities by providing reliable access to secure data 
and information that are in compliance with Federal 
rules and regulations. 
(4) Support research infrastructure and work-
force development as the Secretaries determine nec-
essary. 
(5) Conduct collaborative research, develop-
ment, and demonstration of methods and tech-
nologies to accomplish the following: 
(A) Improve the efficiency of agriculture 
operations and processing of agricultural prod-
ucts. 
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