HR1995-119

What This Bill Does

The Securing American Agriculture Act turns agricultural input dependency into an annual USDA reporting duty. The Agriculture Secretary must assess whether U.S. dependence on critical agricultural products or inputs could be exploited if the People's Republic of China weaponized a supply-chain dependency. The assessment must cover domestic production capacity, current and potential bottlenecks, recommendations to mitigate PRC supply-chain threats, and legislative or regulatory steps to onshore or nearshore production. Covered inputs include agricultural equipment, machinery, and technology; fuel; fertilizers; feed and its components such as vitamins, amino acids, and minerals; veterinary drugs and vaccines; crop-protection chemicals; seed; and any other USDA-designated critical agricultural input. USDA may not require private entities to provide information, must use submitted information only for aggregate reporting, and must protect trade secrets and confidential commercial information.

Who Benefits and How

Farmers and ranchers benefit from a recurring federal assessment of input vulnerabilities that could affect planting, livestock health, fuel, fertilizer, and equipment availability. Agricultural input manufacturers benefit if USDA recommendations support onshoring or nearshoring equipment, fertilizer, feed components, veterinary drugs, vaccines, chemicals, or seed. Congressional agriculture committees benefit from annual information about bottlenecks and PRC-linked supply-chain risks. Private agricultural suppliers benefit from confidentiality rules and the ban on mandatory information submissions.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Agriculture must conduct annual assessments, protect submitted business information, and write mitigation recommendations. USDA analysts must evaluate multiple input markets and distinguish aggregate reporting from protected trade secrets. PRC-linked agricultural input suppliers may lose business if Congress or USDA uses the reports to reduce dependence. Federal taxpayers fund the recurring USDA supply-chain review.

Key Provisions

• Requires annual USDA reports on critical agricultural input dependencies exploitable by the People's Republic of China.
• Directs domestic capacity, bottleneck, mitigation, onshoring, and nearshoring analysis.
• Covers equipment, fuel, fertilizers, feed components, veterinary drugs, vaccines, crop chemicals, seed, and other critical inputs.
• Protects trade secrets and bars USDA from forcing private entities to provide information.