DOD and USDA Interagency Research Act

This bill establishes a framework for collaborative research and development activities between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Secretaries of both departments are directed to carry out joint R&D focused on advancing mission requirements and priorities in areas such as agriculture and food defense, national security, agricultural resilience, feedstocks for bioindustrial manufacturing, and natural resource management. A key provision requires the Secretaries to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) or another appropriate interagency agreement to formalize coordination. This agreement must mandate a competitive, merit-reviewed process for selecting projects and provide a framework for entering into public-private partnerships , requiring non-Federal matching funds for grants. The research activities are designed to focus on high-payoff potential technologies that prepare for, prevent, or mitigate threats, while also incentivizing private development and broader market adoption. Specific areas of collaborative research include engineering and technological improvements for the agrifood supply chain, agricultural data architecture utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning, and biological sciences for biosecurity, natural disaster resiliency, and mitigation of PFAS impacts near military bases. Other focuses include management strategies for critical natural resources, supply chain security for defense applications and agrifood systems, and innovations beneficial to both defense objectives and rural agricultural economies, such as precision agriculture and drones. The bill also mandates annual reporting to Congress, public availability of unclassified reports, and regular reviews by the Government Accountability Office to assess the initiative's effectiveness and impact, ensuring research integrity and security.