House Farm Bill Overview: Key Areas of Interest
Image Credit: Getty Images, Unsplash+
On Friday, February 13, 2026, House Agriculture Committee Republicans released the text of the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, a draft of the long-overdue farm bill that has the potential to significantly shape US agriculture, conservation, funding, and research policy for the next five years. The House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a markup of the bill to begin February 23, 2026, kicking off a critical phase of committee debate and amendment proposals. These dates mark the first major procedural steps in what is typically a months-long legislative journey.
While House Agriculture Committee Republicans are aiming to reach a floor vote on the bill in April, House Agriculture Democrats have signaled strong opposition. Specifically, Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-MN-02) has indicated that it would be “very difficult, if not impossible” for her to support advancement of the bill as is, arguing that it contains poison pills (e.g., protections for pesticide manufacturers) and does not go far enough to support struggling farmers. In the Senate, Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman (R-AR) is expected to introduce a more bipartisan bill, with indications that certain controversial provisions may be excluded.
***
Check out the full bill text, a section-by-section 92-page summary, a title-by-title 35-page summary, and an even shorter title-by-title 5-page overview.
***
Key Areas of Interest: Summary by Title
Our initial review shows that there are soil health-related sections across the bill in the conservation, credit, research, forestry, crop insurance, and nutrition programs.
What follows is a brief summary, organized by Farm Bill Title, of key sections impacting soil health and resilient agriculture systems.
Within the Conservation Title (Title II), the bill primarily proposes programmatic updates to major conservation programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (Subtitle C), the Conservation Stewardship Program (Subtitle D), and the Conservation Reserve Program (Sec. 2101), rather than making adjustments to funding levels, as funding for these programs has largely been set via last year’s spending bills (FY26 Appropriations and the “reconciliation” bill). The bill does, however, provide funding authorizations for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (Subtitle I) at $450 million per year for FY 2027-2031. Title II also includes other provisions related to state assistance for soil health (Sec. 2302), grazing lands (Sec. 2401), and watershed protection (Secs. 2403, 2405).
Title IV (Nutrition) addresses the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables for distribution to schools and service institutions (Sec. 4301), the Local Farmers Feeding Our Communities Program (Sec. 4306), and the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (Sec. 4307). This bill also updates the process of development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Sec. 4308).
The Credit Title (V) proposes changes related to beginning and veteran farmers (Secs. 5401, 5403).
Title VII (Research) includes proposals related to supplemental and specialty crops (Secs. 7122, 7305), the Agriculture Advance Research and Development Authority (Sec. 7125), sustainable agriculture research (Sec. 7201), organic agriculture research (Sec. 7205), high-priority research extension initiatives including soil health, biochar, and microplastics/PFAs on farmland (Sec. 7204), and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (Sec. 7503).
Title VIII, which focuses on Forestry, includes provisions related to National and Regional Agroforestry Centers that support research on systems, such as riparian buffers, that can improve soil health (Sec. 8301), includes soil restoration as an objective on National Forest System Lands (Sec. 8407), and establishes a Biochar Application Demonstration Project (Sec. 8434).
Title IX (Energy) directs research on the effects of solar panel installations on covered farmland, and their impacts on soil protection (Sec. 9015).
Additional provisions in Title X (Horticulture, Marketing, and Regulatory Reform) address specialty crop block grants (Sec. 10001), the Local Agriculture Market Program (Sec. 10102), organic certification support (Sec. 10105), and reporting on procurement activities (Sec. 10106).
The bill, through Title XI (Crop Insurance), increases crop insurance support for beginning and veteran farmers (Sec. 11007), and directs research on evaluating double and rotational cropping policies for certain covered oilseed crops, as well as their risk management benefits to soil health (Sec. 11014).
Stay tuned for additional analysis and updates to our Federal Soil Health Bill Tracker in the coming weeks.
Land Core is a 501(c)3 organization with a mission to advance soil health policies and programs that create value for farmers, businesses and communities. The organization is building the missing infrastructure and market-based incentives that will make the rapid adoption and scalability of soil health possible.