Congress expands crop insurance to mushroom farmers, filling a coverage gap.
H.R. 1613 — Protecting Mushroom Farmers Act · Filed by Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 26, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill requires the federal crop insurance system to research and develop an insurance policy for mushroom farmers covering both growing media and mushroom production. If the research succeeds and meets existing insurance standards, the USDA must make mushroom insurance available to farmers, with a report due within two years on findings and recommendations.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a mandate to research and develop federal crop insurance for mushrooms, followed by conditional availability if standards are met. This is a straightforward expansion of an existing public insurance program to a new crop category.
What the text implies
- Mushroom insurance availability depends on meeting section 508(h) standards; if those standards are unmet, the policy need not be offered despite R&D completion—the bill does not guarantee availability, only conditional access.
- The two-year R&D timeline may be insufficient for a complex crop with variable growing conditions, short propagation cycles, and multiple pest/pathogen risks; if research is incomplete, the report may recommend further study rather than immediate policy rollout.
- Mushroom farming is capital-intensive and concentrated among larger commercial operations; smaller or subsistence growers may not benefit equally if insurance pricing or eligibility requirements favor established producers.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Mushroom farmers gain access to federal crop insurance, reducing their financial risk from pests, disease, and weather—a protection currently unavailable to them. The bill imposes no new costs on citizens and expands a public insurance program to an underserved agricultural sector.
Who stands to gain
- mushroom farming operations (access to federal crop insurance)
- USDA Risk Management Agency (expanded program scope)
Named in the bill
USDA Risk Management Agency (Corporation), Federal Crop Insurance Act, House Committee on Agriculture, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, mushroom farmers
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 3 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
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $150,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Chrissy Houlahan, the sponsor, reported $539,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- The Metrohealth System — $150,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,200 characters) on Sep 7, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,398 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-23.
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