USDA must study why organic farms can't use federal programs.
S. 4951 — Opening Programs to Organic Farms Act · Filed by Adam Schiff (D-CA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jul 13, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the USDA to find out what stops organic farms from using federal programs. These programs help with conservation, credit, disaster aid, crop insurance, and rural development. The USDA must write a report in 180 days. The report must list problems, suggest fixes, and recommend new rules. The USDA must send updated reports every year for three years.
Who it affects
Organic farms and farms switching to organic farming are affected. The bill makes the USDA explain what barriers keep these farms from getting federal help.
One thing to notice
The bill does not create new programs or money for organic farms. It only requires the USDA to study and report on barriers to existing programs.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jul 13, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 13, 2026 — 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.
Words to know
- organic farms — Farms that grow food without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and follow federal rules.
- conservation — Protecting soil, water, and wildlife on farmland.
- crop insurance — Insurance that pays farmers if their crops fail or are damaged.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (3,674 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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