The 2026 Farm Bill Just Cleared Committee. Here Are the Grants It Creates, Expands, and Kills.

Fourteen billion dollars in conservation funding almost disappeared. When the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, it poured unprecedented money into agricultural conservation programs — more than the Farm Bill itself had ever provided. The 2025 reconciliation package tried to claw most of it back. And then, on March 5, the House Agriculture Committee voted 34–17 to advance the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, preserving virtually all of that IRA conservation baseline while creating new grant programs, expanding rural development funding, and overhauling nutrition assistance in ways that will reshape the funding landscape for farmers, nonprofits, rural communities, and research institutions through 2031.

H.R. 7567 is the most consequential piece of agricultural legislation in nearly a decade. The 2018 Farm Bill has been running on extensions since it expired, and the current extension dies on September 30. If Congress doesn't act, commodity programs, conservation incentives, nutrition assistance, and rural development grants all face disruption — the kind that cascades from Washington to county extension offices to individual landowners waiting on cost-share approvals.

Here's what grant seekers across every title need to know.

The Conservation Title: $14 Billion Preserved, but Redistributed

The single most important fact about the 2026 Farm Bill's Conservation Title is what didn't happen: the roughly $14 billion in unspent IRA conservation funding survived. The American Farmland Trust called this "the single largest baseline increase for conservation programs in over 20 years." But survival doesn't mean the money flows where it used to.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) sees its annual baseline increase by over $1.2 billion, even after a $1 billion reallocation to other conservation programs. For farmers and ranchers applying for cost-share on cover crops, nutrient management, irrigation efficiency, or livestock waste systems, this means the program remains well-funded — but expect heightened competition as the bill also incorporates precision agriculture technology into working lands programs.

The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) gets a significant boost: $650–700 million annually from FY2027 through FY2031, up from $450 million under the 2018 bill. Federal cost-share on agricultural land easements rises from 50 percent to 65 percent for general projects and 90 percent for projects involving socially disadvantaged landowners. The adjusted gross income requirement — a frequent stumbling block for farm families — is eliminated entirely. And easement sale income is now excluded from AGI calculations, removing a tax penalty that discouraged landowner participation.

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) baseline increases to $1.375 billion for future farm bills, cementing its role as the primary vehicle for rewarding farmers who adopt advanced stewardship practices across their entire operation.

Two entirely new programs deserve attention:

The Forest Conservation Easement Program (FCEP) replaces the Healthy Forests Reserve Program and creates a dedicated easement mechanism for forest protection. If you work in forestry, watershed conservation, or land trust management, this is a new funding stream that didn't exist under the 2018 law.

A federal matching grant for state and tribal soil health initiatives allocates $100 million annually. State agricultural agencies and tribal governments can apply for matching funds to build soil health programs — a significant opportunity for organizations that have been running unfunded or underfunded soil health work at the state level.

Rural Development: Childcare, Broadband, and Behavioral Health

The Farm Bill's Rural Development Title typically gets overshadowed by commodity programs and SNAP debates. That's a mistake this cycle. H.R. 7567 makes three structural changes that open funding pathways for organizations working in rural communities.

First, the bill expands USDA's priority funding framework to include projects addressing substance abuse, behavioral health, maternal health, and mental health services. This applies across multiple programs simultaneously — the Community Facilities Loan and Grant Program, the Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program, the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, and the Intermediary Relending Program. If your organization operates in any of these areas in a rural community, you just moved up the priority queue.

Second, through FY2029, the bill creates a dedicated funding priority for rural childcare projects across those same programs. Head Start providers are explicitly recognized as eligible entities. The timing matters: the HHS freeze on child care and family grants in five states has thrown federal childcare funding into confusion, and the Farm Bill's rural childcare provisions offer an alternative pathway for communities caught in that crossfire.

Third, broadband eligibility standards jump from 25/3 Mbps to 50/25 Mbps, and the bill integrates the standalone ReConnect Rural Broadband Program with the Farm Bill's existing broadband authorities. The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) maximum loan guarantee increases to $50 million — a significant expansion that opens the door to larger renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in rural areas.

The bill also codifies the Rural Hospital Technical Assistance Program with expanded health access provisions and reauthorizes rural water and wastewater infrastructure programs, including the Water, Waste Disposal, and Wastewater Facility Grants Program and the Solid Waste Management Grants Program.

Nutrition Programs: SNAP Extended, but Watch the Fine Print

H.R. 7567 extends SNAP and related nutrition programs through September 30, 2031. That baseline extension is critical for the 42 million Americans who depend on the program. But the fine print contains changes that will affect both program participants and the organizations that serve them.

New authorities allow states to outsource SNAP certification operations — a structural shift that could change how eligibility is determined in states that choose to use the provision. The bill requires SNAP payment error reporting without a margin of error, tightening the compliance burden on state agencies.

On the positive side for food banks and community organizations, the bill includes discretionary funding for local food purchases for food banks and other entities, and allows states to redirect up to 20 percent of Emergency Food Assistance funds to Department of Defense produce programs. The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) is reauthorized with expanded eligibility — the bill prioritizes applications for projects that incentivize all forms of fruits and vegetables, not just fresh, and eliminates matching fund requirements for grantees in counties with persistently high poverty.

These nutrition provisions exist in a charged political context. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act's projected $186 billion reduction in food assistance over the next decade means that even as the Farm Bill extends program authorizations, the overall funding trajectory for nutrition programs is declining. Organizations that rely on federal nutrition funding should be planning for constrained budgets even as new program authorities open.

Research, Trade, and the HBCU Boost

The Research Title increases funding for 1890 land-grant institutions — the historically Black colleges and universities that anchor agricultural research and extension in communities across the South. New matching fund certification requirements from state governors create both an opportunity and a compliance burden: HBCU agricultural programs gain access to more federal dollars, but must demonstrate state matching commitments.

The Trade Title makes a structural change that could affect international food aid organizations: USDA assumes administration of Food for Peace Title II from USAID, and agricultural trade promotion funding increases to $533 million annually for FY2028 through FY2031.

A new Center of Excellence for food quality research explicitly includes PFAS investigation, creating a dedicated federal research home for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance contamination in agriculture. The bill also mandates a USDA–Department of Defense partnership on military PFAS contamination affecting farmland — a provision that creates opportunities for researchers working at the intersection of environmental contamination and agricultural productivity.

Energy and Solar: New Restrictions and New Money

The bill restricts USDA funding for utility-scale solar installations on productive farmland, with exceptions for projects under five acres or projects under 50 acres that power farm operations with local government approval. For solar developers who've targeted agricultural land, this is a significant constraint. But the bill simultaneously directs USDA to study agrivoltaics — dual-use solar installations that allow farming to continue beneath or between panels — and requires best practices for soil protection and panel decommissioning.

The Biomass Crop Assistance Program is reauthorized through 2031, and REAP's expanded loan guarantee provisions create new pathways for on-farm renewable energy investments.

What Happens Next

The House Agriculture Committee advanced H.R. 7567 after more than 20 hours of deliberation and over 100 amendments. Chairman Thompson is targeting a House floor vote before the summer recess. The Senate Agriculture Committee has not yet released its own version, and any Senate bill will need 60 votes to clear the filibuster.

The current 2018 Farm Bill extension expires September 30, 2026. If Congress misses that deadline — as it has twice before — another extension becomes likely, which would preserve existing programs but block all of the new authorities, expanded funding, and structural changes in H.R. 7567 from taking effect.

For grant seekers, the positioning window is now. Conservation programs will see updated solicitations as soon as the bill is signed. EQIP, ACEP, and CSP applications from organizations that understand the new priority frameworks and expanded eligibility criteria will have an advantage over those scrambling to catch up after enactment. Tools like Granted can help you identify which of these programs match your work and start building a proposal before the starting gun fires.