Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2024 Appropriations

Updated March 13, 2024 (IN12158)

Status of Agriculture Appropriations

Agriculture appropriations—formally known as the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act—funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture, excluding the U.S. Forest Service. It also funds the Food and Drug Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services and, in even-numbered fiscal years, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The appropriation for FY2024 is Division B of a six-bill minibus, P.L. 118-42, enacted on March 9, 2024, following four continuing resolutions (Table 1).

Table 1. Status of FY2022-FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations

FY2022	FY2023	FY2024
			House		Senate
Enacted^a	Enacted^b	Admin Request	House Cmte	Floor	Senate Cmte	Floor	CR	Enacted
3/15/2022 P.L. 117-103, Division A Cong. Rec. 3/9/2022, Book III	12/29/2022 P.L. 117-328, Division A Cong. Rec. 12/20/2022 S7819	3/13/2023 OMB Appendix USDA FDA CFTC FCA	6/14/2023 H.R. 4368 H.Rept. 118-124 Vote of 34-27	9/28/2023 H.R. 4368 Failed by vote of 191-237	6/22/2023 S. 2131 S.Rept. 118-44 Vote of 28-0	11/1/2023 H.R. 4366, Division B Vote of 82-15	P.L. 118-15 9/30/2023 to Nov. 17 P.L. 118-22 11/16/2023 to Jan. 19 P.L. 118-35 1/19/2024 to Mar. 1 P.L. 118-40 3/1/2024 to Mar. 8	3/9/2024 P.L. 118-42, Division B Votes of 339-85, 75-22 Joint Explan. Statement

Source: CRS using Congress.gov, OMB, and agency websites.

Notes: OMB = Office of Management and Budget; USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture; FDA = Food and Drug Administration; FCA = Farm Credit Administration; CFTC = Commodity Futures Trading Commission; CR = continuing resolution.

a. For FY2022, see House-reported H.R. 4356, H.Rept. 117-82, House-passed H.R. 4502 (Division B), Senate-reported S. 2599, and S.Rept. 117-34.

b. For FY2023, see House-reported H.R. 8239, H.Rept. 117-392, House-passed H.R. 8294 (Division B), and Senate-introduced S. 4661 with unofficial explanation.

Scope of Agricultural Spending

The federal budget treats discretionary and mandatory spending differently. Congress organizes committees around these types of spending and their responsibilities for authorizing and appropriating. Agricultural programs rely on both types of spending.

Discretionary spending is the focus of the appropriations process. Budget enforcement is through resolutions and laws that set spending limits. Discretionary spending typically provides agency operations and grant programs. In FY2024, discretionary Agriculture appropriations are $26.2 billion (Table 2, Figure 1).
Mandatory spending is minimally addressed during the appropriations process and supports entitlement programs. Budget enforcement occurs during the authorization process (e.g., omnibus farm bills, which follow budget rules including Pay-As-You-Go). In FY2024, mandatory agriculture and nutrition spending is $185 billion.

Appropriations Amounts

The House-reported bill proposed $25.9 billion for agency operations, excluding CFTC—a $615 million reduction from FY2023 (-2%, Table 2)—and $8.4 billion of rescissions and scorekeeping adjustments, including $5.8 billion from farm loan debt relief and rural energy programs in the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169) and $1.7 billion from limiting the Commodity Credit Corporation and Section 32 accounts. The total would have been $17.8 billion (-31% from FY2023). The bill failed on the House floor.

The Senate-passed proposal was $26.8 billion for agency operations, a $292 million increase over FY2023 (+1%). The official total would have been $26.0 billion, $517 million above FY2023 (+2%), without CFTC.

The enacted discretionary appropriation totals $26.2 billion, $387 million (1.5%) greater than FY2023. The act includes a $1 billion increase for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and reductions to most other program areas (Table 2). In addition, a repurposing of unobligated appropriations that is not included in Table 2 increases Rural Development Community Facilities by $505 million and Food for Peace by $68 million without increasing the cost of the appropriation.

Table 2. Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2022-FY2024

Budget authority in millions of dollars

	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024				Change from FY2023 to FY2024 Enacted
Agencies and Programs	P.L. 117-103, Div. A	P.L. 117-328, Div. A	Admin. request	House-reported H.R. 4368	Senate-passed H.R. 4366, Div. B	Enacted P.L. 118-42, Div. B	$	%
Discretionary Accounts
Research, Education, and Economics (Agricultural Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Economic Research Service)	3,676	3,823	4,188	3,732	3,868	3,802	-21	-0.6%
Marketing and Regulatory Programs (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Agricultural Marketing Service)	1,341	1,413	1,448	1,355	1,420	1,387	-26	-1.9%
Food Safety and Inspection Service	1,109	1,158	1,290	1,197	1,205	1,190	+32	+2.7%
Farm Service Agency, Risk Management Agency, Business Center	1,868	1,923	2,020	1,904	1,946	1,916	-7	-0.4%
Natural Resources Conservation Service (Conservation Operations, Watershed and Flood Prevention, Watershed Rehabilitation, Healthy Forests, Urban Agriculture)	1,005	1,034	1,227	911	1,015	951	-83	-8.0%
Rural Development (Rural Housing Service, Rural Business Cooperative Service, Rural Utilities Service)	3,970	4,079	4,861	4,038	3,941	3,570^a	-509	-12.5%
Food and Nutrition Service (WIC; Commodity Assistance Programs; Nutrition Programs Administration)^b	6,709	6,741	7,066	6,638	7,027	7,710	+970	+14.4%
Foreign Agricultural Service (Food for Peace, McGovern-Dole)	2,217	2,242	2,311	2,223	2,297	2,097^a	-144	-6.4%
USDA Departmental Administration and other appropriations in General Provisions	666	578	733	416	545	515	-63	-11.0%
Food and Drug Administration	3,317	3,543	3,915	3,504	3,563	3,527	-16	-0.4%
Subtotal: Agency Operations	25,878	26,534	29,059	25,919	26,825	26,666	+132	+0.5%
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)^c	382	[365]	295	345	[365]^d	365	+0	+0.0%
Rescissions, Changes in Mandatory Spending, Scorekeeping Adjustments	-1,139	-1,061	-462	-8,430	-836	-807	+254	-23.9%
Total, Discretionary Budget Authority
Senate Jurisdiction^c	[24,738]	25,471	28,595	[17,488]	25,988	[25,858]	+387	+1.5%
House Jurisdiction^c	25,120	[25,836]	28,890	17,833	[26,353]	26,223	+387	+1.5%
Mandatory Spending
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation	12,281	15,395	14,695	14,695	14,695	15,484	+89	+0.6%
Commodity Credit Corporation	14,402	16,832	10,612	10,612	10,612	12,438	-4,394	-26.1%
Section 32 (Funds for Strengthening Markets, Income, and Supply)	1,391	1,483	1,574	574	1,574	1,574	+91	+6.1%
Child Nutrition Programs^b	26,789	28,456	32,009	31,973	32,001	33,250	+4,794	+16.8%
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Food & Nutrition Act Programs^b	140,438	153,861	149,641	121,992	122,133	122,377	-31,484	-20.5%
Total, Mandatory Spending	195,301	216,027	208,531	179,846	181,015	185,123	-30,904	-14.3%
Loan Authority
Rural Development Programs	46,208	46,870	44,874	45,979	45,884	40,465	-6,405	-13.7%
Farm Loan Program	10,386	10,652	10,686	10,686	10,686	10,686	+33	+0.3%

Source: CRS using appropriations text, reports, and unpublished Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tables.

Notes: Amounts are nominal budget authority. Numbers may not sum to totals shown because of rounding. Excludes supplemental appropriations.

a. A repurposing of unobligated appropriations (§778) that is not included in the table increases Rural Development Community Facilities by $505 million and Food for Peace by $68 million.

b. Reflects that CBO scores a portion of the Child Nutrition Program and SNAP as discretionary spending (less than $100 million).

c. Chamber notation refers to Agriculture appropriations jurisdiction. Bracketed amounts are noted for comparison. Enacted CFTC appropriations rotate annually between Agriculture and Financial Services subcommittees.

d. S. 2309, Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2024.

Figure 1. Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations, FY2024

Budget authority in billions of dollars

Source: CRS, Table 2.

Related Products About Agricultural Spending

CRS Report R47560, Agricultural Conservation: FY2023 and FY2024 Appropriations
CRS In Focus IF12233, Farm Bill Primer: Budget Dynamics
CRS Report R47659, Expiration of the 2018 Farm Bill and Extension in 2024