American Agriculture Resilience & Pest Management Act When Pests Strike, Farmers Can't Wait.
In 2023, grasshoppers ate $52 million worth of crops in Modoc County, California — while the federal government delayed. This bill makes that kind of delay illegal, creates a trust fund to pay farmers back, protects family farms from corporate takeover, and bans seven synthetic food dyes from our children's food. Every dollar tracked. Every deadline written into law.
Modoc County Lost $52 Million. The Government Was Late.
This bill didn't come from a think tank. It came from a real disaster. In 2023, Modoc County, California — one of the most rural and remote counties in the state — was overrun by grasshoppers. Ranchers watched their crops and rangeland disappear while waiting for a federal response that took too long to arrive. The bill names Modoc County directly. That failure is now the law's starting point.
Rangeland grasshoppers swarmed across Modoc County in the summer of 2023. Ranchers who depend on that rangeland for their cattle — families who have worked that land for generations — lost forage, crops, and livestock they couldn't replace. They filed suppression requests with the federal government. The government was authorized to act. The response came too late.
Under current law, there's no compensation when the government is slow. Under this bill, missing the deadline makes producers presumptively eligible for relief. Modoc County farmers would have a clear path to compensation. The same failure can't happen again without consequences for the agency that failed to act.
American Agriculture Is Facing Four Crises at Once.
The bill's congressional findings document four distinct threats to American farming. Each one gets its own solution — and every solution is in the same bill.
When the Government Fails Farmers, Farmers Get Paid Back.
The Agricultural Pest Suppression and Restitution Trust Fund is a dedicated fund — not a general appropriation — that pays out to farmers whose losses were caused or made worse by federal delays. An independent Special Master (not a USDA employee) runs the claims process. Here's exactly how it works.
Five Covered Pests. All Federally Named. All Funded.
The bill names specific pest species as "covered pests" — the category that triggers the trust fund, the response deadlines, and the cost-sharing programs. The Secretary can add more species to the list, but only by meeting strict scientific criteria: $50M in annual national economic damage, spread across 3 or more states, and EPA-registered suppression methods available.
Hard Deadlines. Real Consequences.
The Plant Protection Act of 2000 already gives USDA the authority and the duty to suppress agricultural pests. The problem is there's no deadline and no penalty for being late. This bill adds both.
When a farmer files a suppression request, the clock starts. The agency has to acknowledge, decide, and act — on a published, public timeline. If they miss any deadline, the farmer affected is presumptively eligible for trust fund compensation.
Environmental review — often cited as the reason for delays — is capped at 12 months. The bill also creates a categorical exclusion for pest suppression using EPA-registered pesticides and reduced agent area treatment, which eliminates most NEPA paperwork for routine suppression. But it doesn't waive the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water Act, or FIFRA. Those protections stay.
All survey data on covered pest populations must be made publicly available within 60 days. The agency can't sit on data while pests spread. Annual reports to Congress must include all requests that were denied or delayed — nothing gets buried.
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Four Companies Control 85% of Your Beef. This Bill Starts Fixing That.
Agricultural consolidation isn't an abstract economic problem — it's why farmers get low prices for their crops and consumers pay high prices at the store. The bill documents the collapse in plain numbers and then acts on it.
Seven Synthetic Dyes. Gone by 2030.
The FDA approved the synthetic food dyes in this bill using science from decades ago. A comprehensive 2021 review by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment looked at 27 clinical trials and found that synthetic food dyes can cause or make worse neurobehavioral problems in some children.
These dyes are already banned in the European Union — where food manufacturers replaced them with natural colorings. This bill gives U.S. manufacturers a clear timeline: label by 2028, reformulate by 2030. Small manufacturers get grant money to help with the transition.
The bill is not reckless about this. There are exceptions for drugs and cosmetics, a petition process for cases where no alternative truly exists, and a $50 million grant program specifically for small food manufacturers (under $50M in annual revenue) who need help reformulating.
The Bigger You Are, the More Rules Apply. Small Farms Get More Help.
The bill is designed to put more burden on large operations and more support toward small and family farms. Every threshold in the bill is set to protect small producers — and the constitutional safeguards are written to prevent the government from overreaching onto private land.
Fully Paid For. Hard Caps on Every Dollar.
The bill identifies seven specific sources of offsetting revenue totaling approximately $6.35 billion over 10 years — slightly more than the $5 billion trust fund plus operations costs. No general fund raids, no deficit spending. CBO must certify the numbers before any obligation exceeding $100 million.
| Revenue Source (Sec. 703) | 10-Year Est. |
|---|---|
| Section 32 rescissions (USDA food program savings) | $1,500,000,000 |
| Commodity Credit Corporation unobligated balances | $1,000,000,000 |
| USDA IT modernization savings | $500,000,000 |
| Pest Suppression Assessment ($0.25/acre over 500 acres) | $500,000,000 |
| APHIS budget reallocation within USDA | $1,500,000,000 |
| Agricultural merger filing fee increase | $350,000,000 |
| Food additive petition fees | $50,000,000 |
| Total Identified Offsets | ~$6,350,000,000 |
"Agricultural producers who suffer economic losses due to delayed or denied Federal pest suppression currently have no adequate mechanism for seeking compensation. This bill changes that — and holds the government accountable for the first time."— From the Bill's Findings, Sec. 102(3) · Gregory Burgess for Congress · CA-2 · No Party Preference
Ready to Read the Full Bill?
The complete American Agriculture Resilience and Pest Management Act of 2027 — all eight titles, all fiscal details, all constitutional safeguards — is in the full platform download. Every figure on this page comes directly from the bill text.