Department of Agriculture funding totaled roughly $213 billion in budget authority for fiscal year 2025, with about 82 percent flowing automatically as mandatory spending on nutrition assistance, crop insurance, and farm programs, and the remaining 18 percent decided each year by Congress through appropriations.1USDA. FY 2025 USDA Budget Summary That mix is now in motion. The Trump administration has proposed billions in discretionary cuts across two budget cycles, a July 2025 reconciliation law shifted a large share of SNAP costs to states, and Congress is working through a Farm Bill reauthorization that will reset most of the mandatory side through 2031.
Where the Money Goes
The division between mandatory and discretionary spending is the key to reading any USDA budget headline. Mandatory programs run under existing law and can only be changed by rewriting that law, which is largely what the Farm Bill does every five years or so. Discretionary programs depend on annual appropriations. The programs most people associate with the USDA sit on the mandatory side: SNAP, federal crop insurance, farm commodity payments, and most conservation programs. WIC, agricultural research, rural development, the Forest Service, food safety inspections, and conservation technical assistance are discretionary.1USDA. FY 2025 USDA Budget Summary
SNAP is the single largest line. Total SNAP spending in FY 2025 was about $101.7 billion, roughly 93 percent of which went directly to monthly benefits. The average participant received $188 per month, down from a pandemic-era high of $259.2USAFacts. How Much Does the Federal Government Spend on SNAP Every Year
Federal crop insurance is the next major bloc. In 2022 the program cost $17.3 billion, including $12 billion in premium subsidies that covered an average of 62 percent of farmers’ premiums and $3.7 billion paid to the private companies that administer the policies. The Congressional Budget Office has projected total program costs exceeding $101 billion from 2024 through 2033.3GAO. Federal Crop Insurance
Farm Bill conservation programs run between $6.5 billion and $7.5 billion a year. The largest are the Conservation Reserve Program at about $2.1 billion, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program at $1.74 billion, and the Conservation Stewardship Program at $839 million, with several smaller programs adding hundreds of millions more.4USDA ERS. Conservation Programs The Farm Service Agency supports more than $9.5 billion in total lending across direct and guaranteed farm loans, and Rural Development funds housing, broadband, water and wastewater, community facility, and electric utility programs across rural America.5USDA. FY 2026 USDA Budget Summary
What the Trump Administration Has Proposed to Cut
The FY 2026 budget request asked for $22.1 billion in discretionary budget authority, a decrease of roughly $6.7 billion, or about 23 percent, from the previous year’s enacted level.5USDA. FY 2026 USDA Budget Summary The Natural Resources Conservation Service would have dropped from $916 million to $112 million in discretionary funding. The Farm Service Agency faced a $372 million reduction, and the Foreign Agricultural Service would have fallen from over $2 billion to $228 million. The request proposed eliminating conservation technical assistance, direct loans for rural single-family housing, the Dairy Business Innovation initiative, and the Rural Business-Cooperative Service. It also proposed transferring Forest Service wildland fire management to the Department of the Interior, which would have cut the Forest Service budget from $16.8 billion to about $4 billion.6Politico. USDA Faces Billions in Cuts
The FY 2027 request, released in April 2026, went further. It asks for $20.8 billion in discretionary authority, another $4.9 billion (19 percent) below FY 2026.7Farm Policy News. Trump Budget Would Cut USDA Funding by $4.9 Billion The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the main funder of university agricultural research grants, would lose $510 million of its $1.07 billion. Formula-based research grants would be replaced with competitive awards focused on projects the administration considers in the “national interest,” with funding for research related to climate change or what it characterized as “radical transgender and Green New Scam ideologies” explicitly excluded.8Capital Press. Trump Budget Proposal Cuts $5 Billion From Bloated USDA The same request would eliminate Food for Peace (rescinding $1.2 billion) and the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program (rescinding $240 million), and would reduce Farm Service Agency staffing from 8,135 full-time positions in FY 2025 to 6,009 in FY 2027.
Congress writes the final numbers. The American Farm Bureau Federation noted that appropriators retain ultimate authority over funding levels, and appropriators from both parties have historically rejected comparable proposals from the executive branch.8Capital Press. Trump Budget Proposal Cuts $5 Billion From Bloated USDA Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins said the committee would review the proposals through its own hearings.9Western Foresters. Policy Update April 2026 An agriculture funding bill Congress passed in November 2025 also requires the USDA to obtain approval from congressional appropriations committees before relocating offices, reorganizing programs, or closing field offices for NRCS, Rural Development, or the Farm Service Agency.10Farm Policy News. USDA Reorganization to Be Completed in 2026, Vaden Says
The SNAP Cost Shift Under the One Big Beautiful Bill
The largest recent change to USDA funding did not come through annual appropriations. It came through the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (P.L. 119-21), the reconciliation law enacted in July 2025. For the first time, the law shifts significant SNAP costs from the federal government to states. Beginning in FY 2027, states must cover 75 percent of SNAP administrative costs, up from roughly 50 percent. Beginning in FY 2028, states with SNAP payment error rates above 6 percent, which was all but eight states in FY 2024, must also pay between 5 and 15 percent of actual benefit costs, tied to the state’s error rate.11Urban Institute. SNAP Cuts in One Big Beautiful Bill Act Leave Almost 3 Million Young Adults Vulnerable
The Federal Funds Information for States estimated the combined annual cost shift at roughly $15 billion.12FFIS. One Big Beautiful Bill Act Budget Brief The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities projected states face a collective bill of about $9 billion in the first year of benefit cost-sharing alone. Because the law does not permit states to reduce individual benefit levels below federal standards, states that cannot absorb the costs may create administrative barriers that reduce enrollment. SNAP participation had already fallen by more than 4 million people, about 10 percent, between July 2025 and March 2026.13CBPP. States’ First-Ever Bill for SNAP Benefits Could Cost Billions A June 2026 survey by the American Public Human Services Association found that 11 percent of responding states identified a risk of withdrawing from SNAP entirely.
Conservation Funding After the IRA Rescission
The same reconciliation law reshaped conservation funding by rescinding unobligated Inflation Reduction Act dollars that had been earmarked for climate-focused conservation work and folding the money into permanent Farm Bill baseline funding. Over the coming decade the permanent baseline now includes $18.5 billion for EQIP, $8.1 billion for CSP, $4.1 billion for the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, and $2.7 billion for the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The repurposed funds are no longer restricted to climate-smart projects, and the net effect of the rescission and reallocation is a $1.8 billion decrease in total conservation funding over the next decade.14Nossaman. The OBBB Act – Agriculture Reimagined
Before the law passed, the administration had frozen conservation spending funded by the IRA. In February 2025, Secretary Brooke Rollins released just $20 million for EQIP, CSP, and ACEP from the frozen pool while committing to honor existing contracts with farmers. Program sign-ups remain open, but competition for available dollars has intensified.15Western Landowners Alliance. Farm Bill Funding Freeze Updates and Opportunities
Where the 2026 Farm Bill Stands
The 2018 Farm Bill expired in 2023 and has been extended three times, most recently through FY 2026 and crop year 2026.16Congressional Research Service (EveryCRSReport). Farm Bill Reauthorization Reauthorization will set the terms for most mandatory USDA spending through 2031.
On April 30, 2026, the House passed the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (H.R. 7567) by a vote of 224 to 200, almost entirely along party lines. Two hundred nine Republicans and 14 Democrats voted for it; 197 Democrats and 3 Republicans voted against.17Clerk of the U.S. House. Roll Call Vote 154 CBO estimated the bill would be roughly budget-neutral on mandatory spending over 11 years but would increase discretionary spending by $22 billion over a decade. Key provisions reauthorize the Conservation Reserve Program at 27 million acres through FY 2031, extend SNAP through 2031, create a new Forest Conservation Easement Program, and increase maximum farm loan amounts. A provision that would have preempted state and local pesticide regulations was removed before the final vote.16Congressional Research Service (EveryCRSReport). Farm Bill Reauthorization
On June 23, 2026, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman introduced the Senate’s version, the Agricultural Act of 2026. The 902-page draft expands livestock indemnity and emergency assistance, reauthorizes CRP at 27 million acres with a 12-million-acre grassland cap, creates a new State Conservation Assistance Program at $50 million a year, increases animal health laboratory funding, and requires new reporting on foreign ownership of U.S. farmland. Unlike the House bill, the Senate draft omits provisions preempting state animal welfare laws like California’s Proposition 12 and does not address year-round E15 gasoline sales.18Texas Farm Bureau. Boozman Releases Senate Farm Bill Draft
SNAP is the main obstacle. The Senate draft does not delay the cost-shifting provisions enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill, and Democrats have said they will oppose the bill on those grounds. Because it needs 60 votes to pass the Senate, Democratic opposition creates a significant procedural hurdle. Committee markups were expected after the July 2026 congressional recess.19Civil Eats. Senate Farm Bill Declines to Delay SNAP Funding Shift for States
Loans and Grants Farmers Can Apply For Now
While Congress works, the department’s existing financial assistance programs continue to operate. The Farm Service Agency offers direct farm ownership loans up to $600,000, direct operating loans up to $400,000, microloans with streamlined paperwork for smaller operations, emergency disaster loans, and youth loans for agricultural education projects. You can check eligibility through the agency’s online Loan Assistance Tool and apply online or through your local USDA Service Center.20USDA Farmers.gov. Farm Loans
Grant programs include the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the Farmers Market Promotion Program, the Organic Cost Share Program, and the Value-Added Producer Grant, which provides up to $200,000 in working capital for producers moving into processing or direct marketing.21USDA Rural Development. Value-Added Producer Grants Rural Development also runs housing loans, community facility grants, broadband expansion grants through the Community Connect and ReConnect programs, and zero-interest economic development loans channeled through rural utility organizations.22USDA Rural Development. Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Programs
State Programs Supplement the Federal Side
State departments of agriculture run their own grant programs on top of federal funding, and the mix varies. New York offers farmland protection, agricultural workforce development, and fairground infrastructure grants.23New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Funding Opportunities Connecticut provides organic certification cost-share grants, farm transition grants, climate resiliency grants, and a farm-to-school program.24Connecticut Department of Agriculture. Grants Colorado funds leadership development grants up to $25,000, a workforce development program that has supported over 300 paid farm internships since 2019, conservation district matching grants, and a newer urban agriculture microgrant program.25Colorado Department of Agriculture. Grants Availability and deadlines differ by state, and most states run applications through a centralized grant portal at the state agriculture agency.