Bill funds public seeds to reduce corporate control of farming
S. 5126 — Seeds and Breeds for the Future Act · Filed by Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 23, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the U.S. Department of Agriculture to spend at least $75 million each year. The money pays for crop seeds and livestock breeds owned by the public. Patents on public seeds go only to makers who build products in the United States. The bill sets up a coordinator in the agriculture department to track this work.
Who it affects
Farmers would have access to seeds and livestock they do not buy from big companies. Seed makers and livestock breeders would get access to public seeds. Universities and research groups would get more government money.
One thing to notice
Patents on public seeds can only go to makers who build products in the United States. This may cause problems with trade deals with other countries.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 4 Democrats.
- Jul 23, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jul 23, 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
- coordinator — A person who organizes work across different groups or offices.
- patents — A legal right that stops others from copying an invention.
- public — Owned by the government or people, not by a company.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (10,990 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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