{"id":48560,"date":"2026-05-22T19:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/48560\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:34:12","slug":"usda-would-get-more-ai-grants-research-farmer-education-under-new-senate-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/48560\/","title":{"rendered":"USDA would get more AI grants, research, farmer education under new Senate bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Department of Agriculture would receive more grant opportunities for artificial intelligence and educating farmers on the technology under a bipartisan Senate bill introduced Thursday.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said current barriers to AI access can cause American producers to fall behind and be less competitive in the global market.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrecision technologies have the potential to enhance innovation and productivity in farming and ranching, but outdated USDA programs are holding this potential back from reaching our rural communities,\u201d Budd, the bill\u2019s lead sponsor, said in a statement.<\/a><\/p>\n

The bill<\/a> would make AI research eligible for the USDA\u2019s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grant and a priority for the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority. It would also include responsible AI use education for farmers through the USDA\u2019s Cooperative Extension System, in addition to an expansion of food and agricultural science fellowships and grants for AI.<\/p>\n

An \u201cAI in Ag\u201d advisor would also be nominated to tailor existing programs and grants for AI adoption, and work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish AI standards.<\/p>\n

The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jim Banks, R-Ind., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmerging technologies, like Artificial Intelligence, offer an opportunity to advance innovation across all industries, but not without access to proper resources and training,\u201d Blunt Rochester said in the statement. \u201cThe FARM AI Act will increase investments in the agricultural industry\u2019s use of AI and ensure rural communities are empowered to successfully harness its promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Life Sciences Organization also support the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill addresses two critical gaps facing farmers: a lack of capital to adopt AI tools and a shortage of trained workers in rural communities to implement them,\u201d NCLifeSci President Laura Gunter said. \u201cThe act strengthens the U.S. food supply chain and positions American farmers to compete internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2026 farm bill<\/a>, which passed the House 224-200 and is awaiting Senate action, includes few opportunities for AI use in research. Budd\u2019s bill does not have a House counterpart but has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"K.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWritten by K. Sophie Will
\n\t\t\tK. Sophie Will is a reporter at FedScoop. Previously, she was an investigative data reporter at Bloomberg Industry Group. An award-winning journalist and Utah native, she graduated from Boston University and formerly worked with CQ Roll Call, the Utah Investigative Journalism Project, the Deseret News, USA Today, Reuters, HuffPost, WGBH, and more. Reach her on Signal at ksophiewill.66 or by phone at 617-888-0900.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Agriculture would receive more grant opportunities for artificial intelligence and educating farmers on the technology…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28872,28873,28874,24,25,111,28875,28876,8759,28877,28878,28879,16783,26257,28880,28881,18018,28882],"class_list":["post-48560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ai","tag-adam-schiff","tag-agriculture-advanced-research-and-development-authority","tag-agriculture-and-food-research-initiative","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-catherine-cortez-masto","tag-cooperative-extension-system","tag-department-of-agriculture-usda","tag-farm-bill","tag-jim-banks","tag-lisa-blunt-rochester","tag-mike-rounds","tag-national-institute-of-standards-and-technology-nist","tag-north-carolina-life-sciences-organization","tag-north-carolina-state-university","tag-ted-budd","tag-usda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}