119-hr5138

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5138 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 5138

To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to 
 authorize grants for eligible institutions to carry out agriculture 
 workforce training programs, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 September 4, 2025

 Mr. Finstad (for himself and Ms. Pingree) introduced the following 
 bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to 
 authorize grants for eligible institutions to carry out agriculture 
 workforce training programs, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Agriculture Skills Preparation for 
Industry Recruitment Efforts Act'' or the ``ASPIRE Act''.

SEC. 2. AGRICULTURE WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAM GRANTS.

    (a) In General.--

Section 2501
            (d) of the Food, Agriculture, 
Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 2279
            (d) ) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (16) Agriculture workforce training program grants.--
 ``
        (A) === Definitions. ===
-In this paragraph:
 ``
            (i) Agriculture workforce training 
 program.--The term `agriculture workforce 
 training program' means a training program 
 developed by an eligible institution in 
 collaboration with a targeted industry partner 
 through which students enrolled at that 
 eligible institution receive training from that 
 targeted industry partner, including through--
 ``
            (I) internships;
 ``
            (II) apprenticeships;
 ``
            (III) experience-based curricula; 
 and
 ``
            (IV) educational programs and 
 workshops to promote technical skills.
 ``
            (ii) Eligible institution.--The term 
 `eligible institution' means--
 ``
            (I) an 1862 Institution (as 
 defined in 

section 2 of the 
 Agricultural Research, Extension, and 
 Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 
 7601));
 ``
            (II) an 1890 Institution (as 
 defined in that section);
 ``
            (III) a 1994 Institution (as 
 defined in 

section 532 of the Equity in 
 Educational Land-Grant Status Act of 
 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note; Public Law 
 103-382));
 ``
            (IV) a non-land-grant college of 
 agriculture (as defined in 

section 1404 
 of the National Agricultural Research, 
 Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 
 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103));
 ``
            (V) Hispanic-serving agricultural 
 colleges and universities (as defined 
 in that section);
 ``
            (VI) a center of excellence 
 recognized under 

section 1673;
 ``
            (VII) a junior or community 
 college (as defined in 

section 312 of 
 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
 U.S.C. 1058)) that offers a program of 
 study in agriculture; and
 ``
            (VIII) an area career and 
 technical education school (as defined 
 in 

section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins 
 Career and Technical Education Act of 
 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302)) that offers a 
 program of study in agriculture.
 ``
            (iii) Targeted industry partner.--The 
 term `targeted industry partner' means 1 or 
 more of the following entities:
 ``
            (I) A member of the agriculture 
 industry, such as a company or industry 
 association.
 ``
            (II) An apprenticeship program in 
 agriculture registered under the Act of 
 August 16, 1937 (commonly known as the 
 `National Apprenticeship Act') (50 
 Stat. 664, chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et 
 seq.).
 ``
            (III) A nonprofit organization 
 that aims to help individuals gain 
 employment in the agriculture industry.
 ``
        (B) Authorization of grants.--The Secretary, 
 acting through the Director of the National Institute 
 of Food and Agriculture, shall award grants in 
 accordance with this subsection to eligible 
 institutions to develop and carry out agriculture 
 workforce training programs--
 ``
            (i) to promote the growth of the 
 agriculture industry;
 ``
            (ii) to foster competitiveness within the 
 agriculture industry; and
 ``
            (iii) to improve the training and 
 retention of workers in the agriculture 
 industry.
 ``
            (C) Use of grant funds.--An eligible institution 
 awarded a grant under this paragraph shall use not less 
 than 5 percent of the funds received through the grant 
 to carry out an agriculture workforce training program, 
 including--
 ``
            (i) preliminary recruitment measures to 
 encourage students to participate in the 
 agriculture workforce training program; and
 ``
            (ii) professional development sessions to 
 train faculty to prepare students for 
 employment in the agriculture industry.''.

    (b) Implementation.--Not later than January 31, 2026, the Secretary 
of Agriculture shall implement paragraph

    (16) of 

section 2501
            (d) of the 
Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 
2279
            (d) ) (as added by subsection

    (a) ).
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