DOD and USDA Interagency Research Act

Overview

HR 7547, the DOD and USDA Interagency Research Act, would authorize and structure collaborative research and development between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to address mission requirements in agriculture, food defense, and related national security priorities. The bill establishes interagency coordination, a competitive funding framework, private partnerships, and a structured reporting and oversight regime.

Main purpose and intent

• Promote joint DOD-USDA research and development activities to strengthen national security, agricultural resilience, and defense-related capabilities.
• Focus areas include agriculture and food defense, biosecurity, feedstocks for bioindustrial manufacturing, and natural resource management.
• Encourage private-sector and non-federal participation through public-private partnerships, with matching funds and competitive processes.

Key provisions and changes

• General scope (Section 2(a)): Requires Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Agriculture to pursue collaborative R&D aligned with mission priorities in agriculture, food defense, national security, resilience, feedstocks for defense, and natural resource management.
• Interagency agreement (Section 2(b)):
  • Establish a memorandum of understanding (or interagency agreement) to coordinate joint projects.
  • Implement a competitive, merit-reviewed process involving Federal agencies, national labs, higher education, nonprofits, industry, etc.
  • Allow public-private partnerships with grants; require non-Federal matching funds equal to the grant amount.
  • Leverage existing bilateral/multilateral agreements where appropriate.
  • Emphasize high-payoff, mission-aligned research with initial Federal investment to catalyze private development and market adoption.
  • Adopt a comprehensive risk management approach addressing national security, cybersecurity, supply chain, due diligence, information sharing, and risk mitigation.
• Coordination of activities (Section 2(c)):
  • Topics for joint research include:
  • Engineering/technological improvements to address agrifood supply chain capacity.
  • Agricultural data architecture and AI/ML applications for defense and agricultural systems.
  • Biological sciences (plant, animal, microbial genetics) covering disaster resilience, biosecurity, threat mitigation, PFAS-related impacts near military bases, and invasive species management.
  • Resource management (water, energy, soil, forests, food) to reduce civilian/military scarcity risks.
  • Supply chain security for bioindustrial materials (propellants, explosives, fuels, precursors).
  • Agrifood supply chain security and food resilience for military feeding.
  • Defense-relevant innovations (precision agriculture, drones, remote sensing, GNSS timing).
  • Operational resilience to natural disasters and other threats.
  • Wildfire prediction, prevention, mitigation, and impacts on productivity and readiness.
  • Other topics determined relevant by the Secretaries.
  • Promote secure information sharing with capable stakeholders and support market adoption.
  • Ensure access to secure data for authorized analysis entities; data used will be protected from public disclosure.
  • Establish and fund research through mechanisms like the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority and DOD’s R&E offices.
  • Support workforce development and interagency personnel exchanges.
  • Conduct applied R&D and field-testing to transition successful technologies into real-world use.
• Agreements and funding (Section 2(d)-(e)):
  • Allow reimbursable interagency agreements and collaboration with intelligence communities as appropriate.
  • Permit use of unobligated funds from related authorities to support the act.
• Reporting and oversight (Section 2(f)):
  • Annual reports to Congress starting one year after enactment, with details on coordination, opportunities, achievements, research security practices, expenditures, and future priorities.
  • Public-facing report version, sanitized for safety per applicable information control standards.
  • Compliance with Research security provisions and periodic GAO reviews (every five years).
• Definitions (Section 2(h)):
  • Clarifies key terms, including “agriculture and food defense” and “appropriate congressional committees” (House and Senate armed services, agriculture, science/space/tech, energy/natural resources panels as applicable).

Who would be affected

• Primary: Department of Defense and Department of Agriculture, plus their respective researchers, laboratories, and program offices.
• Secondary: Federal agencies, National Laboratories, universities, nonprofit institutions, industry partners, and private-sector participants engaged via grants and partnerships.
• Data and information governance implications, with emphasis on protecting sensitive data related to national security and agricultural infrastructure.

Procedural and timeline aspects

• Requires an interagency memorandum of understanding to formalize cooperation.
• Annual reporting cycle beginning within one year of enactment.
• Five-year (and longer) horizon for GAO reviews to assess effectiveness and impact.
• Authority to utilize unobligated funds and enter reimbursable agreements to maximize efficiency.

Overall, the bill aims to bridge DoD and USDA research through structured collaboration, private-sector participation, and rigorous oversight to bolster defense-relevant agricultural resilience and security.