(WASHINGTON, D.C., October 6, 2026) – Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced a $180 million investment to launch the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Seed Sovereignty Initiative, a major effort to both strengthen U.S. agricultural security by protecting the plant genetic resources that underpin American agriculture and enable breakthroughs in U.S. agricultural innovation.
This initiative will provide much-needed investments in USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS), which houses more than 600,000 accessions representing over 16,000 species. Using this funding, USDA will sequence collections of major crops to unlock the tremendous potential of the plant genetic resources the United States holds and identify critical gaps.
“Since President Trump returned to office, he has made it clear that we are putting American farmers first. For too long, the future of our crops and our seeds has not been a priority. That changes today, because we cannot afford to depend on foreign adversaries for next year’s crop,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “Today’s announcement is another example of this administration focusing on the inputs our agriculture industry depends on and ensuring a future where our farmers are the most productive in the world.”
Foreign competitors are actively acquiring and sequencing plant genetic resources from around the world. Meanwhile, the United States has not yet capitalized on the genetic information within U.S. collections, which is not fully sequenced. The Seed Sovereignty Initiative will help close that knowledge gap and reduce the risk of future foreign dependence.
“America’s agricultural resources are a strategic national asset,” said Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden. “We need to survey our domestic resources, understand where we are vulnerable, and ensure the United States never has to rely on foreign competitors for critical agricultural resources.”
Over two years, USDA will characterize and sequence numerous NPGS collections and use advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, to identify valuable traits. This work will help USDA and American researchers respond more quickly to emerging pests and diseases and support the development of new crop varieties to benefit U.S. farmers and consumers.
“The National Plant Germplasm System contains tremendous untapped potential for American agriculture,” said Dr. Scott Hutchins, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics and Chief Scientist. “Modern sequencing will allow us to unlock that potential and put it to work for American farmers, providing them a strong advantage.”
The Seed Sovereignty Initiative will move USDA from preserving America’s agricultural genetic resources to fully understanding and strategically using the resources to strengthen American agriculture.
USDA is also expanding its existing Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Department of Justice to strengthen competition in agricultural input markets, with a continued robust emphasis on seeds. The expanded partnership will help ensure American farmers have greater transparency, stronger competition, and more choices in the seed marketplace.
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