The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) has set its federal policy priorities for 2026, comprising five areas of focus.

In 2026, NASDA will focus on:

• Agricultural labor reform
• Animal disease preparedness and traceability
• The Farm Bill
• Pesticide regulations
• Regional food procurement and distribution.

Food safety-related issues are central to NASDA's 2026 advocacy work for the Farm Bill, animal diseases and traceability, and pesticides.

The Farm Bill and Food Safety

NASDA’s food safety-related Farm Bill recommendations include:

• Providing resources to assist farmers in complying with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)
• Increasing funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
• Supporting robust animal disease prevention including the development of an early disease detection warning system for coordinated government–industry⁠ outbreak response
• Maintaining the Comprehensive Food Safety Training Network for cybersecurity at the authorized level of $20 million per year
• Strengthening U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pesticide product labeling regulations and EPA pesticide risk mitigation efforts.

Better Federal–State Pesticides Co-Regulation Under FIFRA

Beyond its Farm Bill recommendations, NASDA is advocating for a predictable, enforceable, science- and risk-based pesticide regulatory framework to maintain agricultural productivity while minimizing adverse impacts on human health, the environment, and endangered animal species.

In 43 states and Puerto Rico, the state department of agriculture is a coregulatory partner with EPA and is responsible for administering, implementing, and enforcing the production, labeling, distribution, sale, use, and disposal of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Under FIFRA, EPA is required to assess a wide variety of potential human health and environmental effects when considering a pesticide product for registration or re-registration.

NASDA’s positions on FIFRA implementation support:

• The science-based and comprehensive regulatory framework FIFRA provides for pesticide-related environmental and public health protection
• State primacy in the enforcement of pesticide activities under FIFRA
• EPA’s recognition that states are not stakeholders but are co-regulatory partners under FIFRA and, therefore, must be consulted on any FIFRA regulatory or policy initiatives
• Appropriate and sustained funding for state lead agencies as co-regulatory partners with EPA under FIFRA.

Strengthening Food Animal Disease Outbreak Response

As exemplified through the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) outbreak among U.S. dairy cattle, food animal disease outbreaks can disrupt the U.S. food supply with potential effects on food safety. NASDA commends state and federal regulatory agencies’ collaborative response to minimize the spread of HPAI H5N1, especially the National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS), which has increased the prevention and traceability of the bird flu outbreak and has proven to be an effective tool in combating HPAI H5N1.

Moving forward, to further improve outbreak preparedness and disease traceability, NASDA advocates for:

• Fully funding the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank, the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program, and the National Animal Health Laboratory Network
• Programs that fund state disease surveillance and response activities; invest in research on response and treatment options; and advance the One Health approach to safeguarding animal, human, and environmental health
• The Foreign Animal Disease Prevention, Surveillance and Rapid Response Act, which would fund a three-tiered approach to combating foreign animal diseases as established in the 2018 Farm Bill.