Agricultural Conservation Mentorship Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Agricultural Conservation Mentorship Act amends the Experienced Services Program in the Food Security Act so program services may assist federal cooperative initiatives that improve higher-education teaching programs. The newly eligible work expressly includes paid work-based learning at institutions of higher education.
The bill also moves and clarifies definitions used by the program. An institution of higher education follows the Higher Education Act definition. Land-grant colleges and universities follow the agricultural research and teaching law definition. Work-based learning follows the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act definition.
Who Benefits and How
Students participating in paid agricultural work-based learning benefit from expanded experiential education opportunities. Colleges, universities, and land-grant institutions benefit when cooperative initiatives can use Experienced Services Program capacity to improve teaching. Experienced Services Program participants may gain mentorship and service assignments supporting higher-education programs. Agricultural employers and conservation organizations may benefit indirectly from graduates with more practical training.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Experienced Services Program administrators must determine which cooperative higher-education initiatives qualify and oversee the expanded assignments. College and land-grant program managers must coordinate paid work-based learning and document that activities fit the referenced statutory definitions. Federal agricultural education staff must align the amended program with existing cooperative initiatives. The bill provides no separate appropriation, so expanded activity uses funding available under existing programs.
Key Provisions
- Adds assistance for cooperative higher-education teaching initiatives to the Experienced Services Program.
- Expressly includes paid work-based learning.
- Applies to institutions meeting the Higher Education Act definition.
- Clarifies the definition of land-grant colleges and universities.
- Uses the Perkins Act definition of work-based learning.
- Expands an existing program rather than creating a new standalone grant account.
- Leaves implementation to existing federal agricultural and higher-education cooperative structures.
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
Expands the federal Experienced Services Program to support cooperative initiatives that improve higher-education teaching, including paid work-based learning, and adds definitions for higher-education institutions, land-grant universities, and work-based learning.
Key Policy Areas
Agriculture, Higher Education, Workforce Development, Paid Work-Based Learning, Federal Cooperative Programs
Primary Purpose
Expands the federal Experienced Services Program to support cooperative initiatives that improve higher-education teaching, including paid work-based learning, and adds definitions for higher-education institutions, land-grant universities, and work-based learning.
Policy Domains
Section 2 Experienced Services Program expansion
Identified Gains
- Students in paid agricultural work-based learning
- Agricultural higher-education teaching programs
- Land-grant university teaching programs
- Experienced Services Program participants
- Agricultural workforce employers
Identified Costs
- Experienced Services Program administrators
- College work-based-learning managers
- Land-grant cooperative initiative staff
- Federal agricultural education staff
- Existing program funding accounts
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Introduced in House
Mrs. McClain Delaney (for herself and Mr. Vindman) introduced the …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Agricultural higher-education teaching programs, College work-based-learning managers, Land-grant university teaching programs
Positive-direction: Agricultural higher-education teaching programs, Land-grant university teaching programs, Students in paid agricultural work-based learning
Negative-direction: College work-based-learning managers
Experienced Services Program participants
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "land_grant"
- → Land-grant college or university
- "institution"
- → Institution of higher education participating in a cooperative initiative
- "experienced_services_program"
- → Federal Experienced Services Program under the Food Security Act
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An institution meeting section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Land-grant institutions as defined by the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act.
Work-based learning as defined by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act.
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