House Votes to Cut Funding for Agriculture Conservation and Renewable Energy Programs

On June 16, the House approved H.R. 2112, the fiscal year 2012 (FY 2012) agriculture appropriations bill, by a vote of 217-203. The House voted to cut nutritional assistance, conservation, and renewable energy programs significantly. Overall, the FY 2012 agriculture appropriations bill would cut $2.7 billion (13.4 percent) in annual discretionary spending from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) below current FY 2011 funding levels. These reductions, if enacted, would follow deep cuts Congress recently enacted in the USDA’s FY 2011 budget. Funding for food and agriculture programs in FY 2012 would be cut more than 25 percent below FY 2010 spending levels on average.

A total of about $1 billion would be cut from conservation programs, including Conservation Stewardship, Watershed Rehabilitation, Environmental Quality Incentives, Farmland Protection, Grassland Reserve, Wetlands Reserve, and Wildlife Incentives. Another $100 million (11 percent) would be cut from the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Rural Energy for America Program would be virtually eliminated – cut $72 million (96 percent) – and the Biomass Crop Assistance Program would be eliminated (cut $112 million).

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) joined with the agriculture conservation coalition in a letter to the House , urging members to oppose the massive cuts to agricultural conservation programs, noting that these and other programs are helping to protect and restore soil, air, water quality, and wildlife habitats across the country. “With increased pressures on working lands to produce food, fuel, and fiber for our nation and the world, both farm bill conservation programs and discretionary funding for technical assistance are needed now more than ever,” the letter states. “These conservation programs are crucial to the health and viability of agriculture and rural America.”

The agriculture appropriations debate next shifts to the Senate, where the leadership, reportedly, is awaiting the outcome of overall deficit reduction negotiations between the Congressional leadership and the White House before proceeding with its own appropriations bills.

Click here to view Senate Appropriations Committee members. Click here to view members of the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on agriculture.