Farmers First Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Farmers First Act amends the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network. It adds crisis lines to the covered stress-assistance activities, raises the authorization from $10 million annually for fiscal years 2019 through 2023 to $15 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, and rewrites provider referral language. Grant recipients may establish referral relationships with certified community behavioral health clinics, health centers, rural health clinics, federally qualified health centers, and critical access hospitals to connect farmers, ranchers, and related agricultural workers to behavioral health counseling, wellness support, mental health treatment, and substance-use treatment and supports.
Who Benefits and How
Farmers and ranchers experiencing stress benefit from crisis lines and stronger referrals to behavioral health counseling and wellness support. Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network grantees benefit from a $15 million annual authorization through fiscal year 2030. Certified community behavioral health clinics and rural health clinics benefit from referral relationships with agricultural stress programs. Critical access hospitals benefit from a recognized role in connecting agricultural communities to mental health and substance-use supports.
Who Bears the Burden and How
USDA must administer the reauthorized Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network and updated eligible activities. Grant recipients must build or manage referral relationships when applicable. Behavioral health and rural health providers may see increased demand from agricultural communities. Federal taxpayers fund the $15 million annual authorization for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
Key Provisions
- Adds crisis lines to Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network activities.
- Authorizes $15 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
- Allows grant recipients to establish referrals with certified community behavioral health clinics, health centers, rural health clinics, federally qualified health centers, and critical access hospitals.
- Supports connections to behavioral health counseling, wellness support, mental health treatment, and substance-use treatment.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Reauthorizes the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network at $15 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, adds crisis lines, and allows grant recipients to build referral relationships with behavioral health and rural health providers.
Key Policy Areas
Agriculture, Mental Health, Rural Health
Primary Purpose
Reauthorizes the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network at $15 million annually for fiscal years 2026 through 2030, adds crisis lines, and allows grant recipients to build referral relationships with behavioral health and rural health providers.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Farmers experiencing stress
- Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network grantees
- Certified community behavioral health clinics
- Critical access hospitals
Identified Costs
- Department of Agriculture
- Grant recipients
- Rural behavioral health providers
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Feenstra (for himself, Ms. Craig, Mr. Bost, Mr. Costa, …
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network grantees, Farmers experiencing stress, Grant recipients
Positive-direction: Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network grantees
Negative-direction: Grant recipients
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology