The Cybersecurity in Agriculture Act of 2025 would authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers are created to conduct research, development, and education on agriculture cybersecurity. Grants or cooperative agreements would be used to establish the centers, which would form a national network with a coordinating entity.
The centers focus on cybersecurity for seed, horticulture, animal agriculture, and the broader agriculture supply chain. The bill also authorizes funding and directs interagency coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
In practice, the centers will develop technologies such as intrusion and anomaly detection, access control, and device authentication; they will build live testbeds and run attack/defense exercises; and they will train agricultural stakeholders to defend cyber systems. The program is set with a five-year funding horizon of $25 million per year (FY 2026–2030).
At a Glance
What It Does
The Secretary must establish five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers via competitive awards, create a national network, and designate a coordinating entity, with oversight by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and DHS.
Who It Affects
Eligible entities are land-grant colleges or universities with programs in food/ag sciences and cybersecurity, plus regional industry partners and agricultural stakeholders who participate in research, training, and incident response.
Why It Matters
It creates a dedicated, cooperative federal program to advance cybersecurity tailored to farming systems and supply chains, while embedding national security considerations and workforce development into agricultural cybersecurity.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill would create a formal program under the Department of Agriculture to establish five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers. These centers would be funded through competitive grants or cooperative agreements and would operate as part of a national network led by the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, with input from the Department of Homeland Security.
A single entity would be designated to coordinate the network.
Each Regional Center would pursue a broad agenda to secure agriculture-related information technology and operational technology. Responsibilities include conducting research on cybersecurity systems for the agriculture sector, building a security operations center to monitor threats, and developing domain-specific technologies such as intrusion detection and prevention systems, role-based access control and authentication, and secure network architectures.
Centers would also build live testbeds for evaluating technologies and would run attack/defense exercises to validate solutions before field deployment. Training programs would be developed for farmers, suppliers, and other agricultural stakeholders, and a regional research and development collaboration network would be established.A notable policy feature is a requirement that the work be designed to prevent cyberattacks from certain foreign governments, with the Secretary coordinating with Homeland Security to identify other countries as appropriate.
The bill defines an eligible entity as a land-grant university with agriculture and cybersecurity programs that can coordinate with regional industry partners, government authorities, and other stakeholders to strengthen security and resiliency of agricultural systems and to cultivate a skilled workforce. The program would be funded at $25 million annually from 2026 through 2030.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill creates five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers to be funded via competitive awards or cooperative agreements.
Centers must conduct cybersecurity research, operate a security operations center, and develop domain-specific cyber tools (IDS/IPS, RBAC, device authentication, secure networks).
Live testbeds and attack/defense exercises are required, along with cybersecurity training for agricultural stakeholders.
A coordinating entity will oversee the national network, with input from the Department of Homeland Security.
Authorized funding is $25 million per year for FY 2026–2030.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Program establishment and network
The Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish a program to create five Regional Agriculture Cybersecurity Centers. The program will award grants or enter into cooperative agreements with eligible entities to operate the centers, form a national network, and designate one entity to coordinate the network.
Center duties
Regional Centers shall carry out research on cybersecurity for the agriculture sector, establish a security operations center to analyze threats, and develop technologies such as domain-specific IDS/IPS, RBAC and user authentication, and secure network architectures. They will build live testbeds, conduct attack/defense exercises, and run training programs for agricultural stakeholders, ensuring the work supports deployment across the agricultural ecosystem.
Eligibility of entities
An eligible entity is a land-grant college or university with programs in food and agricultural sciences and cybersecurity, with a mandate to coordinate regional industry partners, government authorities, and other stakeholders to improve security, privacy, and resilience of agricultural systems and to develop a skilled workforce.
Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030 to carry out this section.
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Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Land‑grant universities with ag and cybersecurity programs gain competitive funding and a clear mandate to collaborate with industry partners and government entities.
- Regional agricultural producers, processors, and supply-chain operators benefit from improved cybersecurity infrastructure and incident response capabilities relevant to their networks.
- Agricultural stakeholders receive cybersecurity education and training to protect operations and data.
- The agriculture sector gains access to a coordinated national network and standardized testing environments.
- Federal and homeland security agencies gain a structured, sector-specific capability to address cyber threats to the food system.
Who Bears the Cost
- Federal government bears the cost through annual appropriations of $25 million per year (FY 2026–2030).
- Eligible entities and their partner institutions incur administrative overhead and reporting requirements to manage grants and coordinate with regional stakeholders.
- Regional and local agricultural networks may need to invest time and resources to implement recommended cybersecurity practices and participate in exercises.
- Industry partners may contribute staff time, data, and facilities to participate in testing, training, and collaboration activities.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
Balancing a targeted, defense-oriented investment in regional agricultural cybersecurity with broader, sometimes diffuse, needs for farm cybersecurity capability, all within a limited funding window and a framework that relies on select land‑grant institutions to coordinate with private partners and federal agencies.
The bill creates a focused, government-funded program to bolster cybersecurity across the agriculture sector, emphasizing regional collaboration, testbeds, and workforce development. Implementation will depend on interagency coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and on the ability of eligible land‑grant institutions to assemble regional networks with industry partners.
Potential challenges include coordinating across multiple centers, ensuring true interoperability among testbeds and technologies, and avoiding duplication with other federal cybersecurity initiatives. The definition of eligible entities narrows participation to land‑grant universities, which may affect geographic balance and broader institutional involvement.
The five-year funding window (FY 2026–2030) provides a finite runway for program maturation and assessment, after which Congress would need to reauthorize or reallocate resources.
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