White House Releases 2025 Federal Budget That Boosts USDA Funding

Just days after signing into law the USDA’s Fiscal Year 2024 appropriation, the White House this week released its overall budgetary framework for the new fiscal year that starts October 1. This is an annual exercise by the Executive Branch that is more about signaling priorities than actual governance as these annual budget proposals are, without exception, dead on arrival on Capitol Hill.

That said, under this proposal, the USDA’s discretionary budget would be funded at $31.6 billion for the next year, an increase of about 8% over FY 24. The new funding will cover departmental operations as well as agricultural research, conservation technical assistance and other programs. The annual budget does not include commodity programs, crop insurance, school meals or SNAP funding, which are mandatory categories beyond the annual approval process.

The budget blueprint emphasizes a number of items that are farm bill priorities for the Biden Administration. These include additional investments in conservation, climate-smart agriculture and forestry, and clean energy. The FY25 budget proposes spending $6.01 billion on research, conservation assistance and climate programs, up from the $5.04 billion in FY2023, but less than the $7 billion the White House had requested for FY24.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will be testifying next Thursday on the budget before the House Agriculture-FDA Appropriations Subcommittee.