Senate Committee Approves FY 2026 Agriculture Appropriations Bill
Bill passes Committee by a vote of 27-0
Washington, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Appropriations today approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, to invest in America’s rural communities, support our nation’s farmers and ranchers, keep our food supply secure, and maintain nutritional support for low-income American families.
The measure, which was advanced by a unanimous vote of 27-0, provides $27.1 billion in discretionary funding.
“This important bill supports our farmers and rural communities, the safety of our food supply, critical federal nutrition programs, and medical research and advancements. This bill also provides much needed investments in rural housing programs to help address severe affordable housing shortage felt in Maine and states across the country,” said Senator Collins, Chair of the Appropriations Committee. “As the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to champion this funding as the appropriations process moves forward.”
“Our farmers and ranchers provide the highest quality, lowest cost food supply in the world, and this legislation makes important investments to ensure they can continue this good work,” said Senator John Hoeven, Chair of the Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee. “As Chairman of Agriculture Appropriations, we made it a priority to support our nation’s producers with tools like better access to capital, marketing assistance and funding to prevent pest and disease like the avian flu and chronic wasting disease. At the same time, we invest in agriculture research, food safety and other programs to strengthen rural America.”
Bill Highlights:
Agriculture Research: $3.6 billion for agricultural research programs, including $1.9 billion for the Agricultural Research Service and $1.7 billion for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which includes $445 million for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – the nation’s leading competitive grants program for agricultural sciences. These investments will ensure that American maintains our competitive edge in terms of agricultural production and innovation.
The bill fully funds the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility to support the protection of the U.S. agricultural economy and maintain our position as a global leader in animal health, biodefense, and biosecurity.
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS): $1.2 billion for APHIS to help protect the nation’s animal and plant resources from diseases and pests such as chronic wasting disease, new world screwworm, and avian influenza. The bill also provides resources to assist ranchers with the cost of electronic identification (EID) tags to comply with animal disease traceability requirements.
Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS): $223 million for AMS to facilitate the marketing of U.S. agricultural products, both domestically and internationally, support domestic commodity purchase programs to support our agricultural producers, and provide and market data to help producers make informed business decisions. The bill also closes the hemp loophole that has resulted in the proliferation of unregulated intoxicating hemp products being sold across the country.
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS): $1.2 billion for the FSIS to promote the safety and productivity of the nation’s $186 billion meat and poultry industry by supporting nearly 8,000 frontline inspection personnel for meat, poultry, and egg products at more than 6,800 facilities in the U.S. This includes an additional $15 million for the State Meat and Poultry Inspection and Cooperative Interstate Shipment Programs as requested by the Administration.
Farm Service Agency (FSA): $1.6 billion for the FSA. This includes funding to support $10.5 billion of farm loans to ensure that our producers have access to necessary capital. The bill continues the prohibition on FSA county office closures.
It also provides additional resources to improve the tracking system of foreign-owned land and maintains the Secretary of Agriculture’s position on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to protect our farmlands from being bought by our adversaries.
Conservation: $895 million to the Natural Resources Conservation Service for technical and financial assistance to farmers and ranchers to support America’s working lands, $52 million for Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations, and decreases funding for the Office of Urban Agriculture.
Rural Development: $3.7 billion to support rural development programs across the U.S., including $1.7 billion for affordable housing rental assistance for low-income families and seniors in rural communities as requested by the Administration; $1 billion in lending authority for Single-Family Housing direct loans and $25 billion in lending authority for the guaranteed Single-Family Housing loans; $1.3 billion for rural water and waste grants and loans; $1.8 billion in grants and loans for rural business and industry programs that promote small business growth in rural areas; $8 billion in lending authority for rural electric loans; and $96 million for rural broadband grants and loans. The bill also eliminates funding for the Biden-era Rural Partners Network initiative and maintains “Buy American” provisions that maximize the federal governments use domestic products.
Nutrition: $8.2 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children to ensure that that the low-income mothers and their babies have access to healthy and nutritious foods and $425 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program to assist our low-income seniors.
International Food Assistance: $1.5 billion for Food for Peace Title II Grants and $240 million for the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education program.
The bill also requires a report outlining the process and agency needs to support a transfer of the Food for Peace program from the U.S. Agency for International Development to the Foreign Agricultural Service.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA): $3.6 billion for the FDA. Overall, total FDA funding, including user fee revenues, is $7 billion. The bill provides targeted increases for Food Safety and Inspections, Cosmetics, Diabetes, and the Neurology Drug Program, and a new pilot grant program to help schools transition to safer and healthier foods.
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