The Office of Management and Budget published the Trump Administration’s 2026 Unified Agenda in July, outlining regulatory priorities across multiple federal agencies.
Among the most significant entries, the USDA’s portion of the Unified Agenda covers several rulemakings focused on biobased products and biotechnology sectors.
The Trump USDA published a final rule revising technical guidelines for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the carbon intensity of agricultural commodity crops used in biofuel production.
That final rule, published at 91 Fed. Reg. 39334, came after the Biden USDA had issued an interim final rule establishing requirements for low-carbon, domestic agricultural biofuel feedstocks.
The final rule took effect on July 29, 2026, marking a significant revision to the technical framework established under the previous administration’s interim measure.
USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service published a separate final rule on July 9, 2026, refining the Biorefinery, Renewable Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Loan Program at 91 Fed. Reg. 42335.
That programme provides loan guarantees of up to $250 million to eligible applicants seeking to develop advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals, and biobased-product manufacturing facilities using new and innovative technologies.
On biotechnology regulation, USDA has indicated a proposed rule would create exemptions for plants and microbes already subject to EPA regulation, as well as products previously reviewed and deregulated by USDA.
The proposed biotechnology rule would also provide a permitting exemption for certain modified organisms commonly used in laboratory development, though USDA had intended to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in July 2026 and has not done so to date.
Separately, the Agricultural Marketing Service plans to publish a new request for information seeking public input on foods that may meet criteria to be added to or removed from the List of Bioengineered Foods under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.
USDA notes that AMS may publish a proposed rule to update the List after reviewing comments from both a first and a planned second round of public information requests.
A court remand element of the Unified Agenda also requires USDA to address deficiencies identified in its December 21, 2018, final rule, following a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Natural Grocers et al. v. Rollins handed down on October 31, 2025.
USDA intends to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in August 2026 to respond to that court decision, which concerned mandatory bioengineered food disclosure requirements established under Public Law 114-216.