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Government Relations & Washington Update

August 2022

Senate Releases FY 2023 Agriculture Appropriations

On July 28, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its proposed versions of all 12 annual appropriations bills for fiscal year 2023, including agriculture appropriations. The Senate bill provides discretionary funding of $27.072 billion, an increase of $2.3 billion or 9 percent over fiscal year 2022. 

Total funding for agriculture research is $3.9 billion, or a $248 million increase over fiscal year 2022. 

NIFA is funded at $1.7 billion, an increase of $100 million over fiscal year 2022. It also includes a $10 million increase for the popular Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and a $5 million increase for the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education program. The bill doubles the funding available for women and minorities in STEM fields, and it increases funding for both the Federally Recognized Tribes Extension program and for Children, Youth, and Families at Risk.

For the Economic Research Service (ERS), the bill provides an appropriation of $96 million, which represents an increase of more than $8 million over fiscal year 2022.  The Senate version includes an increase of $500,000 directing USDA to establish a honeybee economist position at ERS to adequately inform USDA disaster, conservation, forage, research, and other programmatic efforts to support the specialty crop and honey industry supply chains. The Senate Report also directs ERS to provide reports or conduct studies on agricultural commodity trade, incentives for voluntary carbon sequestration, life cycle analysis for biobased products, organic data analysis and rural tract codes.

For the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the bill provides an appropriation of $213.5 million, an increase of over $23 million from FY 2022.  $66.4 million would be provided for the Census of Agriculture.

Below is a summary of some key accounts and how they compare to the House version, President’s budget and final FY 2022 levels:

ACCOUNT     FY 2022 FINAL          FY 2023 President    FY 2023 House         FY 2023 Senate

ERS                   $87.8 million               $99.5 million               $90.6 million               $96 million

NASS                $190.1 million            $217.4 million            $211 million                $213.5 million

OCE                  $27.2 million               $32 million                  $30.2 million               $30.2 million

ARS Salaries     $1.633 billion             $1.9 billion                  $1.736 billion             $1.755 billion

ARS Buildings  $127.8 million            $45 million                  $71.3 million               $166.4 million

Hatch               $260 million                $265 million               $265 million                $265 million

AFRI                 $445 million                $564 million                $500 million                $455 million

Smith Lever      $320 million                $320 million               $330 million                $325 million

HOUSE                                       SENATE                  

Bill Summary                                        Bill Summary

Bill Text                                               Bill Text

Report                                                  Report

AAEA Participates in Listening Session on White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

The White House has announced that it will hold a Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. During the summer, the White House held a series of listening sessions to gather input from stakeholders on five pillars that have been identified as key to the success of the initiative.  The five pillars are:

  1. Improve food access and affordability
  2. Integrate nutrition and health
  3. Empower all consumers to make and have access to healthy choices
  4. Support physical activity for all
  5. Enhance nutrition and food security research

Representatives from AAEA participated in the listening sessions to discuss the importance of agricultural and applied economics to advancing each of the pillars. AAEA also stressed the need for increased investments in economic research to support sound hunger and nutrition policies. AAEA is continuing its engagement with the White House as the process moves forward.