I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1230 
To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act 
of 1998 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program 
under which the Secretary will award competitive grants to eligible enti-
ties for the purpose of establishing and enhancing farming and ranching 
opportunities for veterans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2025 
Mr. VAN ORDEN (for himself and Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, 
and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Edu-
cation Reform Act of 1998 to direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to establish a program under which the Sec-
retary will award competitive grants to eligible entities 
for the purpose of establishing and enhancing farming 
and ranching opportunities for veterans. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agriculture Grants for 
Veterans Education and Training Services Act’’ or the 
‘‘AG VETS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE GRANTS FOR VETERAN EDUCATION 
AND TRAINING SERVICES. 
Title IV of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and 
Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 7624 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 414. AGRICULTURE GRANTS FOR VETERAN EDU-
CATION AND TRAINING SERVICES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 
program under which the Secretary will award competitive 
grants to eligible entities for the purpose of establishing 
and enhancing farming and ranching opportunities for 
veterans (as defined in section 101(2) of title 38, United 
States Code). 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—An entity is eligible for 
a grant under this section if such entity is— 
‘‘(1) a cooperative extension service; 
‘‘(2) a land-grant college or university (as de-
fined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural 
Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 
1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)); 
‘‘(3) a non-land-grant college of agriculture (as 
defined in such section); 
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‘‘(4) a Hispanic-serving agricultural college and 
university (as defined in such section); 
‘‘(5) a State department of agriculture; 
‘‘(6) a nonprofit organization; 
‘‘(7) a community-based organization; or 
‘‘(8) a combination of 2 or more eligible entities 
described in paragraphs (1) through (7). 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity that receives 
a grant under this section shall use the funds received 
through the grant— 
‘‘(1) to provide training and classroom edu-
cation that leads to a comprehensive understanding 
of farm and ranch business operations and manage-
ment practices; 
‘‘(2) to develop or identify curriculum that vet-
eran farmers and ranchers can adopt to help man-
age their enterprise; 
‘‘(3) to offer education, workshops, tours, and 
instructor-supervised field experiences; or 
‘‘(4) to support any other activity, as identified 
by the Secretary, to increase the number of military 
veterans pursuing knowledge and skills development 
in agriculture. 
‘‘(d) MATCHING FUNDS.—An entity that receives a 
grant under this section shall provide non-Federal match-
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ing funds for the purposes of carrying out this section in 
an amount equal to not less than the amount of the grant. 
‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030.’’. 
Æ 
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