The USDA would sprout a new research agency, dedicated to innovative agricultural technologies that will increase economic opportunity in the agriculture sector and rural communities, under legislation announced by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne on Monday. The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Terra would be modeled on a successful Defense Department agency and builds on a pilot program for agriculture that was authorized in the 2018 farm bill, said Bennet and Axne.
ARPA-Terra would provide competitive funding to land-grant universities for early-state research on technologies that companies might deem as unlikely to pay off quickly or that require breaking through technological barriers, said Bennet and Axne. The Democrats are members of the Agriculture Committee in their respective chambers.
The USDA conducts research on its own, with the Agricultural Research Service as its largest scientific agency, and it provides grants to universities and individual researchers through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. ARS spends around $1 billion a year on research and NIFA awards $1.6 billion in grants annually, including $500 million in competitive grants.
Under the Bennet-Axne bill, ARPA-Terra would have a separate budget from the rest of USDA. Its director would report to the agriculture secretary but would coordinate with USDA’s chief scientist “to identify relevant scientific priorities and future trends relating to agricultural technologies.”