Congress passed funding legislation for the federal government in what will be the last piece of legislation of the 117th Congress.  Known as the consolidated or omnibus appropriations bill, it provides funding for multiple agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2023, which began on October 1, 2022.  Omnibus appropriations bills have become the norm in recent Congresses—regardless which party controls Congress or either chamber—because appropriators and leadership have been unable to overcome objections and other obstacles to completing the individual appropriations bills in regular order.  The FY2023 appropriations bill measures 4,155 pages of legislative text and is estimated to provide $1.7 trillion in funding. A link to the full text of the bill is C:\Users\rq42062\AppData\Local\Temp\JRQ121~1.LOC (senate.gov)   This article reviews the agricultural funding provisions in the omnibus.

Division A of the omnibus contains the appropriations for USDA, the FDA and related agencies.  Much of the legislative language is standard, funding for salaries and expenses of the myriad agencies and offices in USDA provides, as well as other discretionary accounts.  It provides $25.48 billion for USDA funding[1] and more than $188.5 billion for nutrition programs.  The following table is a high-level look at the funding by agency or program within USDA.

Ag Funding Summary

Agency

Appropriations Amount $ millions

What’s Covered

FSA

$1,200

Salaries & operations

     Farm ownership loans

$3,500 

Guaranteed farm ownership loans

     Farm ownership loans

$3,100

Direct farm ownership loans

     CCC & FCIC

TBD[2]

Net realized losses

RMA

$67

Salaries & operations

NRCS

$941

Salaries & operations & programs

NASS

$211

Salaries and operating expenses

ERS

$93

Salaries and operating expenses

Ag Research (ARS)

$1,744

Salaries & operations

NIFA

$1,094

Salaries, operations & programs

Extension Service

$565

Cooperative payments to states

Rural Development

$351

Salaries & operations

Rural Development Programs

$4,000

Broadband, rural housing, etc.

AMS[3]

$238

Ag marketing program expenses

APHIS

$1,171

Salaries, operations & programs

FSIS

$1,158

Salaries, operations & programs

School Lunch Program & Child Nutrition Programs

$28,500

Operating costs of the program

WIC

$6,000

Operating costs of the program

SNAP[4]

$154,000

Operating costs of the program

Disaster Relief

$3,700

Disaster relief

Climate Change Programs

$78

Programs operations

Title I of Division HH also pertains to agriculture and it includes the Growing Climate Solutions Act (S.1251), which passed the Senate in June 2021 but had not moved in the House.  The bill authorized USDA to establish a voluntary program for greenhouse gas technical assistance and for third-party verification, as well as other efforts to help farmers who seek to participate in efforts to reduce greenhouse gases or address climate change.  The goal is to help reduce entry barriers into voluntary environmental credit markets for farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners.  

Finally, the omnibus also contains the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act of 2022 in Title VI.  The provisions cover pesticide labeling requirements, other registration issues such as service fees, and maintenance fees; last revised in 2018, the provisions were scheduled to expire in September 2023.

Economic analysis provided by David Miller, Consulting Chief Economist, Decision Innovation Solutions on behalf of Iowa Farm Bureau. 

[1] (Senate Appropriations, Agriculture, Bill Summary)

[2] These are the funding mechanisms for all farm program payments and conservation program payments (CCC), as well as the crop insurance program (FCIC).  For example, USDA reported to Congress estimated net realized losses of $14.4 billion for FY2022 and $13.6 billion FY 2023.  RMA reported total indemnities of $13.3 billion for the 2022 crop year to date.  The omnibus does not indicate the totals appropriated to cover the costs from these accounts.

[3] $238 million for agricultural marketing programs, including $20.3 million for the National Organic Program; $25.6 million for oversight and enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act; $20.4 million for the Local Agriculture Market Program to support local food and other value-added agriculture; and $25 million to support dairy innovation.

[4] To put these costs in perspective, SNAP participation would be 43.5 million persons on a monthly average basis during FY2023; it budgeted for 5.6 billion school lunches and snacks in FY2023. Individuals receiving SNAP received on average $231.58 per month, $441.63 per month on average per household, and 4.8 billion school lunches were served to 29 million participants.