February 11, 2026 6:30 a.m. 

On Tuesday, Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and 6th District U.S. Representative Andrea Salinas led their colleagues, including Senator Ron Wyden and Representatives Suzanne Bonamici and Val Hoyle, in reintroducing the Soil Conservation and Regeneration Education Act.

A joint release said their bicameral bill would create a training program and curriculum to ensure that farmers and ranchers have access to information and tools to improve long-term soil health management, navigate degraded lands, promote profitability, and increase resilience to what they believe are climate chaos-fueled extreme weather events like floods and droughts.

Merkley said, “Oregon’s world-class agriculture industry deserves strong federal support to continue thriving, and that includes supporting the health of our lands and ecosystems, which have defined our state for generations”.

Salinas said, “From our Christmas trees to our hazelnuts, Oregonians produce some of the best crops in the world. However, with the growing threat of climate change and extreme weather, access to new technologies like regenerative agriculture and soil health management are essential to maintaining our world class products”.

The Soil CARE Act would:

*Develop and deliver curriculum on soil health management systems within one year of passage.

*Develop a nationally available online training curriculum

*Encourage all relevant personnel to complete online training every two years to learn about the latest soil health innovations and scientific and technological advancements.

*Hold annual soil health workshops and training sessions.

*Dedicate resources to provide required continuing education for all National Resources Conservation Service and third-party technical service providers and

*Require NRCS to use the training curriculum to develop soil health education materials for producers.

The legislation is endorsed by a long list of agricultural and other companies and organizations.