YourVoice.Now Summary
Workers & JobsFarm, community, and career-tech schools would get USDA grants to train students for farm jobs with industry partners
Workers & Jobs
USDA would have to give grants to farm colleges, tribal colleges, community colleges, and career-tech schools, including some high schools. Each school would team up with farm companies, trade groups, apprenticeship programs, or nonprofits to train its students for farm work.
More about this bill
If you study at a farm college, community college, or career-tech school, your school could get federal money to train you for farm jobs. Students would learn through internships, apprenticeships, hands-on classes, and workshops. Schools would build this training with farm companies, trade groups, apprenticeship programs, or nonprofits. The grants would sit inside an existing U.S. Department of Agriculture program for beginning farmers and ranchers (people new to farming). The bill adds no new money, so these grants would share that program's funds. Each school must spend at least 5 percent of its grant on the training itself, such as recruiting students or training teachers. The bill gave USDA until January 31, 2026, to start the program. That date has already passed.
Congressional Summary
This bill directs the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to establish a grant program within its Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program for eligible educational institutions to develop and carry out agriculture workforce training programs. Eligible institutions include U.S. land-grant universities, non-land-grant colleges of agriculture, junior or community colleges with agriculture programs, and area career and technical education schools with agriculture programs. The grants must be used to develop and carry out agriculture workforce training programs to (1) promote the growth of the agriculture industry, (2) foster competitiveness within the industry, and (3) improve the training and retention of workers in the industry. An agriculture workforce training program is a program developed by an eligible institution in collaboration with a targeted industry partner through which the industry partner provides training to enrolled students. This may include training through internships, apprenticeships, experience-based curricula, and educational programs and workshops. The program must be implemented by January 31, 2026.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-09-04
- Date Added
- 2026-09-30
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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