Securing American Agriculture Act

The Securing American Agriculture Act mandates the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct an annual assessment regarding the United States' reliance on critical agricultural products and inputs sourced from the People's Republic of China. This assessment aims to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited if China were to weaponize these dependencies, posing a risk to American agricultural supply chains. The annual assessment must detail the current domestic production capacity for specified critical inputs and pinpoint potential bottlenecks in their supply chains. It also requires the Secretary to provide recommendations to reduce U.S. dependency on China, including strategies to mitigate threats and propose legislative or regulatory actions to encourage onshore or nearshore production of these essential items. Critical inputs include, but are not limited to, agricultural equipment, fertilizers, feed components, veterinary drugs, crop protection chemicals, and seed. For information gathering, the bill specifies that private entities are not required to provide data, ensuring participation is on a voluntary basis . Any information collected must be aggregated to protect the identity of suppliers, and the Secretary is prohibited from disclosing trade secrets or confidential information. Furthermore, collected data can only be used for the purpose of this assessment, ensuring strict confidentiality and limiting its use.