To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a program under which the Secretary will award grants to specialty crop producers to acquire certain equipment and provide training with respect to the use of such equipment.

Grants to automate specialty crop farms

This bill would create USDA grants for specialty crop producers to buy automation equipment and related training. You must be engaged in commercial specialty crop production in the United States. Funds could buy tools that boost efficiency or cut labor and pay for worker training to use them. Examples include harvesters, drones, sensors, sorting machines, irrigation automation, and robotics, as approved by USDA. You would need non-Federal matching funds equal to at least 50% of the grant, and USDA would try to make each award cover a significant share of your costs. The program would start upon enactment.