Federal grants to expand domestic organic farming and processing capacity

What it does

This bill creates a federal grant program to help domestic organic farmers, processors, and handlers expand their capacity and modernize their operations. Eligible entities—including individual producers, cooperatives, tribal governments, and certified organic businesses—can apply for grants up to $2 million (or $100,000 for equipment-only projects) to build storage, processing, and distribution infrastructure, improve food safety compliance, and reduce reliance on imported organic products. Grantees must match 50% of project costs (25% for equipment-only), though the Secretary may waive this for beginning farmers and veterans.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a straightforward federal grant program to expand domestic organic production and processing capacity. It is a public investment in agricultural infrastructure with clear eligibility criteria and competitive selection, not a tax carve-out, subsidy to a named private party, or deregulation.

What the text implies

• The program may indirectly reduce market share for imported organic products, potentially affecting foreign organic producers and importers, though this is an explicit policy goal rather than a hidden consequence.
• By prioritizing domestic supply-chain bottlenecks, the program may concentrate benefits in regions with existing organic infrastructure, potentially widening geographic disparities in organic farming capacity.
• The Secretary's discretion to designate additional eligible entities and waive matching-fund requirements creates implementation flexibility but also introduces administrative discretion that could affect equitable distribution of funds.

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

Who it affects

The program directly funds expansion of domestic organic production and processing capacity, which increases supply, potentially lowers consumer prices for organic products, and strengthens rural economies and tribal communities. The matching-fund requirement and simplified process for equipment projects ensure accountability while keeping barriers to entry reasonable for small and beginning farmers.

Who stands to gain

• domestic organic farmers and ranchers
• organic producer cooperatives
• organic food processors and handlers
• tribal agricultural enterprises
• equipment manufacturers serving organic sector

Named in the bill

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, National Organic Standards Board, Indian Tribes, beginning farmers and ranchers, veterans

Where it stands

5 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• Dec 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• Dec 10, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry”

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 $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 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.

Tammy Baldwin, the sponsor, reported $183,336 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools (cropp) — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 12, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.