President Joe Biden’s budget proposal includes significant investment in important programs for agriculture. The Fiscal Year 2022 budget request contains nearly 17 percent of additional funding support for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Of Biden’s $6 trillion budget proposal, a total of $27.9 billion would be allocated for USDA base discretionary funding. The budget also calls for a 21 percent increase in funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and a 16 percent increase for the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“As the Administration continues to make progress defeating the pandemic and getting our economy back on track, the budget makes historic investments that will help the country build back better and lay the foundation for shared growth and prosperity for decades to come,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a press release. “The President’s budget gives USDA a new set of tools to address the urgent challenges of our time—racial injustice, a changing climate, and hunger.”
Conservation and efforts to mitigate climate change have been a central priority for the Biden Administration. Overall, Biden’s budget includes a total of nearly $1.5 billion in funding to support climate-smart agriculture, climate resilience, and clean energy. Funding would be allocated among a variety of efforts to address climate adaptation, conservation, and ecological resilience. The proposal also includes $4 billion to support USDA research, education, and outreach. An emphasis will be placed on research projects that help advance the implementation and understanding of data-driven technologies and techniques.
The budget request calls for $6.7 billion in funding to support healthy food access and address overall food insecurity. Programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children would be substantially funded under the proposal. Biden’s budget proposal also includes a total of $700 million in funding for the ReConnect program to build out rural broadband infrastructure. The investment will expand on the $100 billion in funding included in the American Jobs Plan.
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