YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyTransparency & AccountabilityA new USDA office for small farms — with grants up to $25,000 for equipment, land, and losses.
Your Money
Operators could apply for up to $25,000 for equipment and infrastructure repairs, uninsured losses, business planning, conservation work, or a land down payment.
Transparency & Accountability
Farmers could report trouble getting into department programs without giving their name. The office would also have to review which rules push small operations out.
The money is authorized only through fiscal year 2031. Congress would have to pass something new to keep the office and its grants running past then.
More about this bill
If you run a small farm, ranch, or forest, a new USDA office would help you reach federal programs. Grants of up to $25,000 could pay for repairs, uninsured losses, soil and water work, or a down payment on land. Small means under 180 acres and under $350,000 in yearly gross farm income. Each state would get a staff contact for small farms. A hotline would take complaints about trouble getting into USDA programs, with no name attached. Funding runs $25 million a year through 2031.
Congressional Summary
Office of Small Farms Establishment Act of 2026This bill requires the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish the Office of Small Farms within the farm production and conservation mission area. The office must coordinate, review, and implement various programs and activities related to small farms, ranches, and forest operations. Under the bill, a small farm, ranch, or forest operation (1) is less than 180 acres or meets another USDA-determined, acreage-based definition of small; and (2) has an annual gross cash farm income of less than $350,000.Among other things, the activities of the office related to small farms, ranches, and forest operations must includecoordinating USDA efforts to improve support for these operators;providing or coordinating technical assistance for these operators for USDA grant, cost-share, and loan programs; andproviding grants of not more than $25,000 to these operators directly or through cooperative agreements with other entities for areas including equipment and infrastructure repairs and upgrades, uninsured losses, business planning, and conservation practice adoption.In addition, the Office of Small Farms must designate a small farms coordinator in each state.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-02-12
- Date Added
- 2026-08-25
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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