State Dept Relaunches Feed the Future Labs: 7 New, $72M Restored

TL;DR: The State Department on October 15, 2026 announced seven new Feed the Future Innovation Labs at U.S. land-grant universities, bringing the total to eight including the surviving Kansas State University lab. The move reverses 16 of 17 labs closed when USAID was shuttered in July 2025, with funding restored to $72 million per year from FY25 carryover.

Key takeaway

The State Department restored seven Feed the Future Innovation Labs and a $72M annual baseline, reversing most of the research cuts from the July 2025 USAID closure.

What happened

The State Department announced seven new Feed the Future Innovation Labs on October 15, 2026, each housed at U.S. land-grant universities. Including the one surviving Kansas State University lab, the program now operates eight labs.

The relaunch reverses 16 of the 17 labs that closed when USAID was shuttered in July 2025. Funding is set at $72 million per year, drawn from FY25 carryover funds.

Feed the Future Innovation Labs pair U.S. universities with international partners to research crop productivity, pest resistance, livestock, and nutrition in developing countries. The program feeds into the international food aid and agricultural research baseline that the farm bill builds on, as detailed in our full bill summary.

FY26 appropriations status for the labs was not confirmed in the announcement.

What it means

The restored $72 million baseline matters because the farm bill's trade and research titles assume a functioning international agricultural research pipeline. When the labs closed in 2025, that assumption was in doubt. The relaunch stabilizes the baseline H.R. 7567 and the competing Senate draft are negotiated against.

Concrete effects by stakeholder:

• Land-grant universities: Seven institutions regain federal research funding and international partnerships that lapsed in July 2025.
• Agricultural researchers: Projects on crop productivity, livestock, and nutrition in developing countries can resume under the eight-lab structure.
• Farm bill drafters: The trade title no longer has to account for a collapsed Feed the Future program, which affects how the research baseline is scored. See our breakdown of what's new versus the 2018 Farm Bill.

The funding runs through the State Department rather than the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which was shuttered. That administrative shift is new compared to how these labs were historically managed.

What's next

As of October 17, 2026, the near-term question is FY26 appropriations, which were not confirmed in the announcement. The $72 million for the relaunch comes from FY25 carryover funds, so continued operation depends on how Congress funds the program going forward.

The relaunch is expected to influence how the trade and research provisions of the farm bill are finalized, since negotiators now work from a restored baseline rather than a program in collapse. Readers tracking those provisions can follow our funding breakdown and the timeline and status of the bill.

Any further lab announcements or appropriations decisions would likely clarify whether the $72 million figure holds beyond the carryover window.

Frequently asked questions

How many Feed the Future Innovation Labs were relaunched?

The State Department announced seven new Feed the Future Innovation Labs on October 15, 2026. Including the one surviving Kansas State University lab, the program now operates eight labs total. The relaunch reverses 16 of the 17 labs that closed when USAID was shuttered in July 2025. All of the labs are housed at U.S. land-grant universities.

How much funding do the Feed the Future labs get?

The Feed the Future Innovation Labs are funded at $72 million per year, drawn from FY25 carryover funds. This restores the program's prior annual baseline after the labs lost funding when USAID closed in July 2025. FY26 appropriations status for the labs was not confirmed in the October 15, 2026 announcement.

Why did the Feed the Future labs close in the first place?

The labs closed when the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was shuttered in July 2025. That closure ended funding for 16 of the 17 labs; only the Kansas State University lab survived. The October 2026 relaunch reverses those 16 closures and moves program administration to the State Department.

Where are the new Feed the Future Innovation Labs located?

The seven new Feed the Future Innovation Labs are housed at U.S. land-grant universities. Including the surviving Kansas State University lab, eight labs now operate across land-grant institutions. The specific universities for all seven new labs were not detailed in the October 15, 2026 announcement beyond the land-grant designation.

How does this relate to the farm bill?

Feed the Future Innovation Labs feed into the international food aid and agricultural research baseline that the farm bill builds on, through its trade and research titles. Restoring the $72 million annual baseline stabilizes the assumptions that H.R. 7567 and the competing Senate draft are negotiated against, affecting how the research and trade provisions are scored.

Sources

• Agri-Pulse , State Department relaunches Feed the Future Innovation Labs, dated 2026-10-15.