H.R. 1326 — DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “DOE and USDA Interagency Research Act.”

This section directs the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out cross-cutting, collaborative research and development activities focused on Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture mission requirements and priorities. It requires the Secretaries to coordinate those activities through a memorandum of understanding or other interagency agreement that uses a competitive, merit-reviewed process open to Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher education, nonprofit institutions, and other appropriate entities. This section authorizes the Secretaries to conduct collaborative research across 12 focus areas, including: (1) modeling, simulation, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data assimilation, large-scale data analytics, and predictive analysis for agriculture and energy; (2) agricultural, biological, computational, environmental, and engineering research, including crop science, crop protection, breeding, and biological pest control, in collaboration with the Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act program under 42 U.S.C. 18644; (3) integrated natural resources and the energy-water nexus, including in collaboration with the program under 42 U.S.C. 16183; (4) advanced biomass, biobased products, and biofuels, including in collaboration with the program under 7 U.S.C. 8108(b); (5) diverse feedstocks for sustainable fuels, including aviation and naval fuels; (6) colocation of agricultural resources and ecosystem services with diverse energy technologies; (7) colocation of agricultural resources with carbon storage and utilization technologies; (8) invasive species management; (9) long-term and high-risk technological barriers in transformative agriculture and energy science, including in collaboration with the program under 42 U.S.C. 16538; (10) grid modernization and grid security; (11) rural technology development, including manufacturing, precision agriculture, mechanization, and automation; and (12) wildfire risks and prevention, including the power sector’s role in fire prevention and mitigation and wildfire impacts on energy infrastructure. This section also authorizes the Secretaries to: (1) develop methods to accommodate large voluntary standardized and integrated data sets on agricultural, environmental, supply chain, and economic information with variable accuracy and scale; (2) promote collaboration, open community-based development, and data and information sharing among Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher education, nonprofit institutions, industry partners, and other appropriate entities by providing secure access to data and information consistent with Federal rules and regulations; (3) support research infrastructure and workforce development as necessary; and (4) conduct collaborative research, development, and demonstration to improve the efficiency of agricultural operations and processing and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with those operations and processing. This section authorizes reimbursable agreements between the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, and other entities to maximize the effectiveness of research and development, and it authorizes collaboration with other Federal agencies as appropriate. It requires the Secretaries, not later than 2 years after enactment, to submit a report to the