The White House has proposed a 19pc cut to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) discretionary funding in the budget released late Friday, and which would put several organic programs at risk.
USDA discretionary funding would total $20.8bn in the 2027 fiscal year, down $4.9bn from a year earlier. The White House described the USDA as "a bloated Washington, DC bureaucracy" and said it wants to eliminate funding for programs that "do not serve a core mission".
Mike Lavender, policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said the smaller budget is a "staggering disinvestment" in American farmers facing rising financial issues that would "radically reduce USDA's ability to serve farmers".
The proposal requests $50mn to implement the USDA's reorganization plan, which would move much of the agency's staff from Washington, DC, to smaller hubs across the country. As part of the plan, the USDA will vacate and sell the South Building, its largest headquarters site, which currently houses the National Organic Program (NOP). Moving the NOP away from Washington would separate its staff from lawmakers based in the area.
The budget would cut $61mn from the Agricultural Marketing Service, which includes the NOP. The White House said it wants to eliminate "annual, taxpayer-funded carve-outs for the same grantees every year without proper competition", and argued that the industry should fund these needs through check-off programs.
The proposal would also strip $510mn from National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) formula grants. These automatic, non-competitive grants fund research and extension at the state level. The loss of this funding would reduce university research and extension support for farmers, including organic producers. The budget proposal said NIFA funds should be competitively awarded to "projects in the national interest".
The plan also eliminates discretionary spending for NIFA's Organic Transitions Research, Education, and Extension Program, which funds research, extension and education to support US-based organic producers and farmers transitioning to organic. It also removes discretionary funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program, which supports research and extension related to sustainable agriculture, including organic farming. The loss of this funding would reduce research supporting organic production.
Outside the USDA, the budget proposes creating a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The AHA would expand access to nutrition services and nutritional education. The budget also includes HHS funding to remove "unsafe chemicals" from the US food supply, which could support organic production, which uses fewer chemicals.
The proposal calls for increased funding for apprenticeships and Pell Grants for short-term workforce education programs within the Department of Education, which could help address labor shortages for US farms and processing facilities.
