I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4155 
To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 
to require the Secretary of Agriculture to recognize centers of excellence, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 26, 2025 
Mr. BACON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade 
Act of 1990 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to 
recognize centers of excellence, 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 ‘‘American Agricultural 
Security Research Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE. 
Section 1673 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, 
and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 5926) is amended— 
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(1) by striking subsections (a) through (c) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agri-
culture shall recognize at least one center of excel-
lence for each of the areas of focus described in 
paragraph (2) for the purpose of carrying out re-
search, extension, and education programs. 
‘‘(2) AREAS OF FOCUS.—A center of excellence 
recognized under this subsection may engage in re-
search, extension, and education programs focused 
on the following: 
‘‘(A) AQUACULTURE.—Developing and ap-
plying aquaculture methods, including through 
the propagation and rearing of economically 
and ecologically valuable aquatic and marine 
species. 
‘‘(B) BEGINNING
FARMERS
AND
RANCH-
ERS.—Training beginning farmers and ranch-
ers, including training on farm and agribusiness 
management, mentoring and technical assist-
ance, and access to capital. 
‘‘(C) 
BIOSECURITY
AND
CYBERSECU-
RITY.—Agricultural biosecurity and cybersecu-
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rity efforts to defend the food supply of the 
United States from— 
‘‘(i) a biosecurity or cybersecurity at-
tack; or 
‘‘(ii) other global catastrophic and ex-
istential threats, as defined in section 7302 
of the Global Catastrophic Risk Manage-
ment Act of 2022 (6 U.S.C. 821). 
‘‘(D) BIOSYSTEMS
AND
AGRICULTURAL 
ENGINEERING.—Biosystems and agricultural 
engineering, including precision agriculture 
technologies and mechanization and automation 
technologies for specialty crops. 
‘‘(E) BIOTECHNOLOGY.—Development of 
animal and plant biotechnologies that will in-
crease agricultural productivity. 
‘‘(F) CROP
PRODUCTION, 
PROTECTION, 
AND RESILIENCE.—Crop production and protec-
tion, including the development, manufacture, 
and use of fertilizer, crop protection tools, and 
adjuvants in increasing productivity and pro-
tecting crops from damaging pests and diseases. 
‘‘(G) DIGITAL AGRICULTURE.—Developing, 
evaluating, and deploying digital agriculture, in-
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cluding artificial intelligence and remote sensing 
systems. 
‘‘(H) FARM
BUSINESS
AND
FINANCIAL 
MANAGEMENT.—Farm business and financial 
management activities, including marketing 
plans, production diversification, and cash for-
ward contracting. 
‘‘(I) 
FOOD
QUALITY.—Improving 
food 
quality, including research on the uptake of 
perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in 
food, the presence of microplastics in biosolids, 
and the efficacy and feasibility of reducing lev-
els of inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium, or mer-
cury in food. 
‘‘(J) FOREIGN ANIMAL DISEASE.—Foreign 
animal diseases, including the ecology and eti-
ology of emerging diseases, control methods, 
and implementation strategies to enhance pre-
paredness and response efforts to protect the 
livestock and poultry industry. 
‘‘(K) FORESTRY.—Forest productivity and 
forest health, including invasive species control, 
biochar and pyrolysis development and commer-
cialization, reforestation and restoration of 
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damaged landscapes, and new wood-based ma-
terials. 
‘‘(3) HOST INSTITUTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An institution eligible 
to host or co-host a center of excellence recog-
nized under this subsection means— 
‘‘(i) a 1862 Institution, as defined in 
section 2 of the Agricultural Research, Ex-
tension, and Education Reform Act of 
1998 (7 U.S.C. 7601); 
‘‘(ii) a 1890 Institution, as defined in 
section 2 of the Agricultural Research, Ex-
tension, and Education Reform Act of 
1998 (7 U.S.C. 7601); 
‘‘(iii) a 1994 Institution, as defined in 
section 532 of the Equity in Educational 
Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 
301 note); 
‘‘(iv) a non-land-grant college of agri-
culture, as defined in section 1404 of the 
National Agricultural Research, Extension, 
and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 
3103); 
‘‘(v) a Hispanic-serving agricultural 
college or university, as defined in section 
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1404 of the National Agricultural Re-
search, Extension, and Teaching Policy 
Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103); and 
‘‘(vi) a college or school of veterinary 
medicine accredited by the American Vet-
erinary Medical Association. 
‘‘(B) DISTRIBUTION.—To the maximum 
extent practicable, the Secretary shall ensure 
the geographic diversity of institutions selected 
to host or co-host a center of excellence recog-
nized under this subsection. 
‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—An institution may 
host or co-host only one center of excellence rec-
ognized under this subsection during any given 
period. 
‘‘(D) DUTIES.—A institution selected to 
host or co-host a center of excellence recognized 
under this subsection shall partner with the Ag-
ricultural Research Service, other Federal agen-
cies, State governments, other institutions of 
higher education (as defined in section 101 of 
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1001)), agricultural industry groups, or other 
relevant entities to— 
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‘‘(i) reduce duplicative efforts and 
focus on filling gaps across research, ex-
tension, and education programs by en-
hancing coordination and improving cost- 
effectiveness; 
‘‘(ii) leverage available resources by 
using public-private partnerships; 
‘‘(iii) implement training and edu-
cational initiatives to increase awareness 
and effectively disseminate solutions to tar-
get audiences through extension activities; 
‘‘(iv) increase economic returns to 
rural communities by identifying, attract-
ing, and directing funds to high-priority 
agricultural issues; 
‘‘(v) rapidly respond to emerging 
issues that threaten any sector of the agri-
cultural industry of the United States; 
‘‘(vi) focus on workforce development 
for employers to recruit and retain high- 
quality employees in rural areas; and 
‘‘(vii) engage in assistance for admin-
istrative management and education re-
garding potentially valuable intellectual 
property derived from federally supported 
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research, extension, and education pro-
grams. 
‘‘(4) DURATION.—The term of an award under 
this subsection shall be for a five-year period and 
may be renewed for not more than one additional 
five-year period. 
‘‘(5) 
CONSTRUCTION
PROHIBITED.—Funds 
made available under this subsection shall not be 
used for— 
‘‘(A) the construction of a new building or 
facility; or 
‘‘(B) the acquisition, expansion, remod-
eling, or alteration of an existing building or fa-
cility (including site grading and improvement 
and architect fees). 
‘‘(6) REPORT.—Not later than one year after 
the date of enactment of the American Agricultural 
Security Research Act of 2025, and every year 
thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Agriculture of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
and Forestry of the Senate a report describing— 
‘‘(A) the projects initiated in the preceding 
year by each center of excellence recognized 
under this subsection; 
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‘‘(B) the amount of funding for each such 
project and the funding source; 
‘‘(C) the institutions participating in each 
such project and their shares of the overall 
funding for each project; 
‘‘(D) the level of cost-sharing for each such 
project; 
‘‘(E) any technology transfer and intellec-
tual property management actions taken by 
each such center of excellence, including the 
number of relevant invention disclosures, any 
provisional patents filed, any non-provisional 
patents filed and issued, the number of licenses 
executed, and any start-up companies reg-
istered; and 
‘‘(F) any additional information deemed 
necessary by the Secretary. 
‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION
OF
APPROPRIATIONS.— 
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-
retary $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 
through 2030 to carry out this subsection.’’; 
(2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (b); and 
(3) in subsection (b), as so redesignated— 
(A) in paragraph (1)— 
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(i) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and 
inserting ‘‘In addition to the centers of ex-
cellence recognized under subsection (a), 
the Secretary’’; and 
(ii) by striking ‘‘3’’ and inserting ‘‘8’’; 
(B) in paragraph (2)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 
(I) in the subparagraph heading, 
by striking ‘‘AND WORKFORCE DEVEL-
OPMENT’’ and inserting ‘‘, WORK-
FORCE
DEVELOPMENT, AND
RURAL 
STUDIES’’; and 
(II) by inserting ‘‘economics, psy-
chology, 
rural 
sociology, 
data 
sciences,’’ after ‘‘mathematics,’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (E), by inserting 
‘‘and developing nature-based solutions to 
improve the composition of soil organic 
compounds, including carbon, that are ben-
eficial to soil quality and the environment’’ 
before the period at the end; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(G) FOREST
HEALTH
AND
CONSERVA-
TION.—A center of excellence established under 
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paragraph (1) may focus on forest health, sus-
tainable forest management, agroforestry, en-
hancing forest resilience to catastrophic wild-
fire, supporting rural infrastructure, and urban 
and community forestry programs to promote 
healthy forest ecosystems and resilient commu-
nities. 
‘‘(H) FOOD SAFETY, BIOPROCESSING, AND 
VALUE-ADDED AGRICULTURE.—A center of ex-
cellence established under paragraph (1) may 
focus on food safety, bioprocessing, value-added 
agriculture enterprise development, and innova-
tive food and agriculture product develop-
ment.’’; and 
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘2023’’ 
and inserting ‘‘2029’’. 
SEC. 3. AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PROTECTION GRANT 
PROGRAM. 
Section 1485 of the National Agricultural Research, 
Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 
3352) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 1485. AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PROTECTION GRANT 
PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 
program under which the Secretary will award grants on 
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a competitive basis to eligible entities to support research, 
extension, and education activities that improve the capa-
bility of the United States to protect the food and agricul-
tural system from— 
‘‘(1) a chemical, biological, cybersecurity, or 
bioterrorism attack; or 
‘‘(2) other global catastrophic and existential 
threats, as defined in section 7302 of the Global 
Catastrophic Risk Management Act of 2022 (6 
U.S.C. 821). 
‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 
a grant under this section shall use funds received through 
the grant— 
‘‘(1) to encourage basic and applied research 
on, and the development of, qualified agricultural 
countermeasures; 
‘‘(2) to promote the development and expansion 
of teaching programs in agriculture, veterinary med-
icine, and other disciplines closely allied to the food 
and agriculture system of the United States to in-
crease the number of trained individuals with an ex-
pertise in agricultural biosecurity and cybersecurity; 
‘‘(3) to expand or upgrade facilities to meet bio-
safety and biosecurity requirements necessary to 
protect facility staff, members of the public, and the 
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food supply while carrying out agricultural biosecu-
rity research; 
‘‘(4) to cover costs associated with the acquisi-
tion of equipment and other capital costs related to 
expansion of food, agriculture, and veterinary medi-
cine teaching programs in agricultural biosecurity 
and cybersecurity; or 
‘‘(5) to otherwise improve the capacity of the 
United States to respond in a timely manner to 
emerging or existing threats. 
‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity eligible to re-
ceive a grant under this section is— 
‘‘(1) a State agricultural experiment station; 
‘‘(2) a State department of agriculture; 
‘‘(3) a college or university; 
‘‘(4) a university research foundation; 
‘‘(5) a research institution or organization; 
‘‘(6) a Federal agency; 
‘‘(7) a national laboratory; or 
‘‘(8) any group consisting of 2 or more of the 
entities described in paragraphs (1) through (7). 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.’’. 
Æ 
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