Congress expands farm transition study to include women, minority farmers
H.R. 6385 — Farm Transitions Act of 2025 · Filed by Donald Davis (D-NC) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Dec 3, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill reauthorizes and expands the Commission on Farm Transitions—Needs for 2050, a study body established under the 2018 Farm Bill. It requires the Secretary of Agriculture to formally establish the commission within 60 days (rather than it being automatically established), extends its reporting deadline from 1 year to 2 years, expands its mandate to study farm succession, heirs' property, barriers faced by women and historically underserved farmers, and foreign land ownership trends, and extends the commission's authorization from 2023 to 2029. The bill benefits farmers, particularly women and minority farmers, by ensuring a comprehensive study of farm transition challenges and policy solutions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is reauthorization and scope-expansion of an existing advisory commission, not a direct subsidy, regulation, or market intervention. It is a procedural and investigative measure designed to inform future farm policy.
What the text implies
- The expanded mandate to study 'leasing and ownership trends by foreign persons or entities' may signal emerging congressional concern about foreign agricultural land acquisition, potentially laying groundwork for future restrictions or disclosure requirements.
- Inclusion of 'heirs' property and succession' reflects recognition of a documented legal barrier (unclear title chains in inherited farmland, particularly in minority communities) that may require legislative remedy beyond study.
- The 2-year extension and 2029 reauthorization date align with the next Farm Bill cycle (2025 Farm Bill), suggesting this commission's findings are intended to inform that major legislation.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands a fact-finding commission's scope to address documented gaps in farm transition policy, particularly for women and historically underserved farmers who face documented barriers to land access and succession. The extended timeline and broader mandate increase the likelihood of actionable policy recommendations without imposing direct costs on citizens.
Named in the bill
Commission on Farm Transitions—Needs for 2050, Secretary of Agriculture, Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, Public Law 115–334, women farmers, historically underserved farmers, foreign persons or entities
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Dec 2, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Dec 3, 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, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $0 in lobbying spend. A filing names 9 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.
Donald Davis, the sponsor, reported $1,617,446 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition — $0 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 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 (1,920 characters) on May 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. 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 Jul 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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