Agriculture Innovation Act of 2025
The Agriculture Innovation Act of 2025 would amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to give the Secretary of Agriculture new authority to improve agricultural productivity, profitability, resilience, and ecological outcomes through modernized data infrastructure and analysis. The core idea is to systematically collect, analyze, and share data on conservation practices and other production practices across a wide range of farming operations, with the aim of better understanding impacts on yields, soil health, ecosystem services, risk reduction, and profitability. The bill would also create a secure data center and a framework for data access, privacy protections, and collaboration with researchers and producers to drive evidence-based program improvements. The measure emphasizes voluntary producer participation, privacy protections, and the use of existing Department resources. It envisions making research and analysis publicly accessible where permissible, while ensuring data security and confidential handling of identifiable information. By linking data across multiple USDA agencies and other sources, the act seeks to accelerate innovation, support ecosystem service markets, and inform Department programs to boost productivity and ecological benefits on working lands.
Key Points
- 1Creates a new data section (Sec. 1248) focused on data collection, analysis, and dissemination related to covered conservation practices and other production practices to improve yields, soil health, ecosystem services, risk reduction, and profitability.
- 2Defines key terms (covered conservation practice and other production practice) and requires data collection across all operation types and sizes, with machine-readable formats and interoperability to facilitate analysis and cross-agency sharing.
- 3Establishes a secure data center and related data governance, including industry-standard security, prohibitions on sale of identifiable producer data, disclosure review for research, aggregation/anonymization for published results, and ongoing security/privacy updates.
- 4Provides for producer tools and technical assistance within 3 years, including internet-based tools that deliver both farm-specific confidential data and general data on the impacts of practices, to help producers adopt sustainable and productive practices.
- 5Requires annual reporting to Congress (Senate and House Agriculture Committees) on analytic activities, data collection, participant involvement, data-use procedures, and progress, using existing Department funding and authorities, and clarifies that participation and data provision remain voluntary.