119-s1713

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1713 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 S. 1713

 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Secretary of 
 Agriculture to improve agricultural productivity, profitability, 
 resilience, and ecological outcomes through modernized data 
 infrastructure and analysis, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 May 12, 2025

 Ms. Klobuchar (for herself and Mr. Thune) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To amend the Food Security Act of 1985 to authorize the Secretary of 
 Agriculture to improve agricultural productivity, profitability, 
 resilience, and ecological outcomes through modernized data 
 infrastructure and analysis, 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 Innovation Act of 
2025''.

SEC. 2. DATA ON CONSERVATION AND OTHER PRODUCTION PRACTICES.

 Subtitle E of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 
3841 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``

SEC. 1248. DATA ON CONSERVATION AND OTHER PRODUCTION PRACTICES.

 ``

    (a) 

=== Purpose ===
-The purpose of this section is to improve 
conservation outcomes, increase agricultural productivity and 
resilience, and accelerate the development of ecosystem service markets 
by collecting, analyzing, and providing data--
 ``

    (1) to better understand how covered conservation 
 practices and suites of covered conservation practices and 
 other production practices impact farm, ranch, and other 
 working land productivity and profitability (such as crop 
 yields, soil health, and other risk-reducing factors);
 ``

    (2) to support the measurement and quantification of 
 ecosystem services provided by working land, such as soil 
 health, water filtration, and habitat, that result from covered 
 conservation practices and other production practices; and
 ``

    (3) to improve the implementation of Department programs 
 to optimize productivity, profitability, and ecological 
 benefits.
 ``

    (b) 

=== Definitions. ===
-In this section:
 ``

    (1) Covered conservation practice.--The term `covered 
 conservation practice' means a specific conservation practice 
 or enhancement that is designed to protect soil health, farm 
 and ranch productivity, or both (including the protection of 
 wildlife habitat) while maintaining or enhancing crop yields in 
 an economically sustainable manner (including such a 
 conservation practice or enhancement that is supported by the 
 Department or used independently by a producer), as determined 
 by the Secretary.
 ``

    (2) Department.--The term `Department' means the 
 Department of Agriculture.
 ``

    (3) Other production practice.--The term `other 
 production practice' means a practice used to produce a crop or 
 livestock, including pest control, nutrient management, manure 
 management, water and irrigation management, seed, feed and 
 nutrition, and crop residue management.
 ``
            (c) Data Collection, Review, Analysis, and Technical 
Assistance.--The Secretary, acting through the 1 or more applicable 
Under Secretaries that head mission areas relating to farm and ranch 
productivity and conservation, in coordination with the Chief Data 
Officer of the Department, the Chief Economist, and the Under Secretary 
for Research, Education, and Economics, shall carry out the following 
activities:
 ``

    (1) Identify in the data inventory maintained by the 
 Secretary under 

section 3511 of title 44, United States Code, 
 data relating to the impacts of covered conservation practices 
 and other production practices on enhancing crop yields, soil 
 health, and ecosystem services, reducing risk, and improving 
 farm, ranch, and other working land profitability generated or 
 collected by the Department, including the Farm Service Agency, 
 the Risk Management Agency, the Natural Resources Conservation 
 Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the 
 Economic Research Service, the Forest Service, and any other 
 relevant agency, as determined by the Secretary.
 ``

    (2) Collect or acquire, using other authorities of the 
 Secretary, and using technology and a modernized survey system, 
 to the greatest extent practicable, or another appropriate 
 method, any additional producer data, baseline data, or other 
 data relating to the impacts of covered conservation practices 
 and other production practices on enhancing crop yields, soil 
 health, and ecosystem services, reducing risk, and improving 
 farm, ranch, and other working land profitability necessary to 
 achieve the purpose described in subsection

    (a) , ensuring that 
 data is collected from all types and sizes of operations.
 ``

    (3) Ensure that producer data identified or collected 
 under paragraph

    (1) or

    (2) are collected in a compatible format 
 that is machine-readable (as defined in 

section 3502 of title 
 44, United States Code) at the field- and farm-level and in a 
 manner that places the lowest practicable burden on producers 
 and improves the interoperability of the data collected by the 
 Department for the purposes of this section and optimizes the 
 interoperability, to the extent practicable, with data relating 
 to conservation practices generated by other organizations and 
 other activities of the Department.
 ``

    (4) Establish procedures for producers to voluntarily 
 provide supplemental data that may be useful in statistical 
 activities (as defined in 

section 311 of title 5, United States 
 Code) and activities to build evidence (as defined in that 
 section) of the impacts of covered conservation practices on--
 ``
        (A) enhancing crop yields, soil health, and 
 ecosystem services;
 ``
        (B) reducing risk; and
 ``
            (C) improving farm, ranch, and other working land 
 profitability.
 ``

    (5) Integrate, collate, and link, to the greatest extent 
 practicable, data identified or collected under this subsection 
 with other government or nongovernmental data sources that 
 include crop yields, soil health, covered conservation 
 practices, and other production practices.
 ``

    (6) Establish a conservation and farm productivity secure 
 data center designed to carry out the purposes of this section 
 that ensures the security, privacy, and integrity of data.
 ``

    (7) Make available data through the secure data center 
 established under paragraph

    (6) to academic institutions and 
 researchers that meet the user permission requirements 
 described in subsection
            (d) (2)
        (A) for the provision of 
 technical assistance.
 ``

    (8) Analyze, consistent with the scientific integrity 
 policy of the Department, the data identified or collected 
 under this subsection to consider the impacts of covered 
 conservation practices and other production practices on 
 enhancing crop yields, soil health, and ecosystem services and 
 improving farm, ranch, and other working land profitability.
 ``

    (9) Use the results of the analyses under paragraph

    (8) to improve the implementation and efficiency of Department 
 programs to increase productivity, profitability, and 
 ecological benefits of farm, ranch, and other working land, 
 including relating to issues identified in the evidence-
 building plan of the Department required under 

section 312 of 
 title 5, United States Code.
 ``

    (10) Promptly make available on the public-facing 
 component of the secure data center established under paragraph

    (6) the research, analysis, evaluation products, and other 
 information generated in carrying out this section (including 
 open Government data assets (as defined in 

section 3502 of 
 title 44, United States Code), to the extent permissible by 
 law)--
 ``
        (A) that demonstrates the impacts of covered 
 conservation practices and other production practices 
 on enhancing crop yields, soil health, and ecosystem 
 services, reducing risk, and improving farm, ranch, and 
 other working land profitability; and
 ``
        (B) in a manner that is easily accessed by 
 producers, researchers, and other stakeholders.
 ``
            (d) Secure Agricultural Data Center Establishment.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--The Secretary may enter into 1 or more 
 agreements with 1 or more academic institutions, organizations, 
 government agencies, or other experts determined necessary by 
 the Secretary to provide technical assistance, expertise, and 
 technology infrastructure, as needed, to develop the secure 
 data center under subsection
            (c) (6) .
 ``

    (2) Requirement to modernize data security, storage, and 
 access.--
 ``
        (A) In general.--In establishing the secure data 
 center described in paragraph

    (1) , the Secretary shall 
 use industry-standard data security protocols and user 
 permissions to protect the security and confidentiality 
 of proprietary producer data while automating and 
 standardizing data collection, storage, and sharing, to 
 the greatest extent practicable, for the purpose of 
 carrying out this section and encouraging agriculture 
 innovation.
 ``
        (B) Requirements.--In carrying out subparagraph
        (A) , the Secretary shall establish procedures for the 
 operation and use of the secure data center that 
 include--
 ``
            (i) prohibiting the sale of any 
 individual or identifiable producer data;
 ``
            (ii) a method to provide disclosure 
 review of research resulting from data for 
 which access is provided prior to public 
 release to ensure that no information that is 
 otherwise protected from disclosure by law is 
 disclosed;
 ``
            (iii) requiring any published research to 
 release only aggregated and anonymized data, 
 consistent with best practices for disclosure 
 avoidance and reducing the risk of re-
 identification; and
 ``
            (iv) periodically consulting with experts 
 and stakeholders to consider necessary 
 modifications to security protocols or 
 confidentiality protections for identifiable 
 data accessed or maintained by the secure data 
 center and improvements to access for approved 
 users.
 ``
            (C) Additional requirements.--In carrying out 
 subparagraphs
        (A) and
        (B) , the Secretary shall 
 establish measures to ensure proposals to use data made 
 available through the secure data center to academic 
 institutions and researchers--
 ``
            (i) would have statistical results that 
 pose no risk of unauthorized disclosure of 
 protected data;
 ``
            (ii) are feasible given the features of 
 the data; and
 ``
            (iii) would be consistent with the 
 purposes for which the data were collected, 
 including for developing evidence that can be 
 used for technical assistance and assessment of 
 program outcomes.
 ``

    (e) Producer Tools.--
 ``

    (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date of 
 enactment of this section, the Secretary shall provide 
 technical assistance, including through internet-based tools, 
 based on the analysis conducted in carrying out this section 
 and other sources of relevant data, to assist producers in 
 improving sustainable production practices that increase yields 
 and enhance environmental outcomes.
 ``

    (2) Internet-based tools.--Internet-based tools described 
 in paragraph

    (1) shall provide to producers, to the greatest 
 extent practicable--
 ``
        (A) confidential data specific to each farm or 
 ranch of the producer; and
 ``
        (B) general data relating to the impacts of 
 covered conservation practices on enhancing crop 
 yields, soil health, and otherwise reducing risk and 
 improving farm and ranch profitability.
 ``

    (f) Effect on Privacy Protection Laws.--Nothing in this section 
affects the applicability to this section of--
 ``

    (1) section 1770;
 ``

    (2) section 1619 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy 
 Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8791);
 ``

    (3) section 502
            (c) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (7 
 U.S.C. 1502
            (c) );
 ``

    (4) section 552a of title 5, United States Code; or
 ``

    (5) any other applicable privacy law that protects 
 personally identifiable information of producers.
 ``

    (g) Reporting.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this section, and each year thereafter, the Secretary shall submit 
to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate 
and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives a 
report that includes--
 ``

    (1) a summary of the analysis conducted under this 
 section;
 ``

    (2) the number and regions of producers that voluntarily 
 provided data under subsection
            (c) (4) ;
 ``

    (3) a description of any additional or new activities 
 planned to be conducted under this section in the next fiscal 
 year, including--
 ``
        (A) research relating to any additional 
 conservation practices;
 ``
        (B) any new types of data to be collected;
 ``
            (C) any improved or streamlined data collection 
 efforts associated with this section; and
 ``
            (D) any new research projects;
 ``

    (4) a summary of the procedures for the operation and use 
 of the secure data center under subsection
            (c) (6) , including 
 procedures for protecting the security and confidentiality of 
 proprietary producer data; and
 ``

    (5) in the case of the first 2 reports submitted under 
 this subsection, a description of the current status of the 
 implementation of activities under subsection
            (c) .
 ``

    (h) Funding and Administration.--The Secretary shall use the 
existing funds and authorities of the Department to carry out this 
section.
 ``
            (i) Effect.--Nothing in this section authorizes the Secretary to 
compel a producer--
 ``

    (1) to provide data to the Department; or
 ``

    (2) to receive technical assistance.''.
 <all>