USDA to map food-supply cybersecurity gaps, test emergency response

What it does

This bill directs the Secretary of Agriculture to assess cybersecurity threats to farms, food processors, and food distribution networks every two years, and to conduct annual emergency-response simulation exercises (tabletop drills, full-scale exercises) involving federal, state, and private-sector partners to test readiness for food-supply disruptions. The bill authorizes $1 million per year for five years to fund these assessments and exercises.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to mandate systematic assessment and simulation-based preparedness planning for food-supply cybersecurity and resilience. It is a public-safety and infrastructure-resilience measure, not a regulatory mandate or industry carve-out.

What the text implies

• The bill's emphasis on identifying 'intrusive, duplicative, or conflicting regulatory requirements' in the risk assessment (Section 3(a)(6)) may signal intent to later recommend deregulation or consolidation of food-safety oversight, though the bill itself does not impose or remove any rules.
• Annual simulation exercises may reveal operational vulnerabilities in the food supply chain that could become targets for future legislative action, either to strengthen defenses or to relax compliance burdens on private entities.
• The requirement to include 'related equipment suppliers and manufacturers' and 'private sector information security researchers' in exercise design may create informal influence channels for industry input into federal food-security policy.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Citizens depend on food-supply security and resilience; this bill creates systematic assessment and preparedness planning without imposing new regulatory mandates on farmers or food companies. The focus on identifying gaps and testing response capabilities strengthens public safety and national food security.

Who stands to gain

• cybersecurity consulting and simulation firms
• food-industry trade associations (through participation and influence)
• information-sharing organizations (sector-specific ISAC)

Named in the bill

Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Director of National Intelligence, Food and Agriculture-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FA-ISAC), House Committee on Agriculture, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, House Committee on Homeland Security, Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Where it stands

6 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• Feb 26, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 26, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $18,100,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 169 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Brad Finstad, the sponsor, reported $981,433 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. — $17,960,000 on 1 filing
• With Honor Action, Inc. — $140,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.