The Senate has passed the bipartisan U.S. Grain Standards Reauthorization Act of 2020.

The United States Grain Standards Act (USGSA) of 1916 (P.L. 64-190), as amended (7 U.S.C. 71 et seq.), authorizes the Federal Grain Inspection Service of the USDA to establish official marketing standards for certain grains and oilseeds. The covered crops are barley, canola, corn, flaxseed, oats, rye, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, triticale, wheat, and mixed grain.

The U.S. Grain Standards Reauthorization Act of 2020 passed out of committee on June 24. It passed the Senate on Nov. 16.

“The Senate has unanimously approved the Grain Standards Reauthorization Act, which will allow America to continue fostering a healthy domestic grain market and positive relationships with our trading partners,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “As is tradition in the Senate Agriculture Committee, we worked in a bipartisan fashion to deliver certainty, predictability, and transparency for the federal grain inspection system and its stakeholders.”

“As our farmers face unprecedented uncertainty and trade instability, it is vital that we maintain the integrity of our grain inspection system,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “This bipartisan bill protects the interests of American farmers and ensures our credibility as a reliable producer of high-quality crops.”

The U.S. Grain Standards Reauthorization Act of 2020 has wide industry support from national and state agriculture groups.

“This legislation, which would reauthorize the U.S. Grain Standards Reauthorization Act for another five years, provides certainty while improving the official inspection and weighing system through more transparency, information-sharing, and better data,” said National Grain and Feed Association President and CEO Randy Gordon. “This legislation is foundationally important in providing for official grain inspection and weighing services through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Grain Inspection Service, as well as that agency’s maintenance of the U.S. grain standards that are relied upon by buyers, sellers and end-users to merchandise grains and oilseeds in domestic and international markets.”

"We commend your leadership in bringing this legislation forward in a bipartisan manner especially amid the difficulties presented by the current pandemic," wrote Thomas Dahl, president, American Association of Grain Inspection and Weighing Agencies. "We believe American agriculture from producer to grain handler to processor and exporter will benefit from passage of this legislation."

Click here to read letters of support.  

Click here to read the summary.

Click here to read the section-by-section.