# Plain Language Summary: Advancing Automation Research and Development in Agriculture Act

This bill creates a new federal grant program focused on helping farmers grow specialty crops more efficiently through automation and mechanization technology. Specialty crops include fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other high-value crops that typically require a lot of manual labor to harvest and process. The bill directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund research projects that develop new machines and automated systems to reduce the amount of hand-picking and manual work these crops require, while also making farming more cost-effective and productive.

The program will award competitive grants to a wide range of organizations—including universities, private companies, research institutions, and farming groups—to develop and test new technologies. These projects might involve creating robotic harvesters for berries, automated sorting systems for produce, or other innovations that help farmers work more efficiently. The bill sets aside $20 million per year in federal funding for this program, and grant recipients must contribute at least 15 percent of the project cost themselves (though the government can waive this requirement if needed). Individual grants can last up to 10 years, giving researchers time to develop and refine new technologies.

An important part of this bill focuses on helping farm workers adapt to these changes. The program gives higher priority to projects that include training programs to teach workers how to operate, repair, and maintain the new automated equipment. This recognizes that while automation reduces manual labor needs, it also creates demand for workers with technical skills. The bill also requires that successful research results be shared with farmers and the public so that new technologies can actually get adopted on farms rather than sitting in laboratories.

Advancing Automation Research and Development in Agriculture Act

LaMalfa, Doug

Advancing Automation Research and Development in Agriculture Act This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to establish within USDA a stand-alone competitive research and extension grant program to increase the competitiveness of specialty crops in the United States through the advancement and acceleration of mechanization and automation. Specialty crops are fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops (including floriculture). The bill provides specified funds for FY2024 and each succeeding year to carry out the program. The grant program includes projects that <ul> <li> create or improve cost-effective technologies to reduce a specialty crop grower's manual labor requirements and increase the efficiency of crop production, resource management, harvesting, processing, post-harvest technologies, and packaging; </li> <li> increase adoption of mechanization and automation technologies; and </li> <li>accelerate automation and mechanization through prototype development, in-field trial testing, ongoing industry engagement, and rapid commercialization. </li> </ul> Entities eligible for the grant program are federal agencies, national laboratories, colleges and universities, research institutions and organizations, private organizations and corporations, state agricultural experiment stations, individuals, and organizations representing specialty crop growers. <ul> <blockquote> <blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote> </ul>