Biden’s 2023 budget proposes 12% increase for USDA; attacks unfair market monopolies

Rural communities take notice:  the Biden administration’s 2023 budget proposal requests a 12% increase in discretionary funding for the Department of Agriculture.  A major target for increased spending is research to advance the competitiveness of US agriculture.    Another is to strengthen the enforcement of rules to ensure fairness in livestock markets and reduce market monopolies. This includes strengthening oversight of livestock and poultry markets under the Packers and Stockyards Act.

 How do the Biden budget proposals compare with that of his predecessor?  It turns out, according to the Daily Yonder, that Trump in fact tried every year of his administration to slash USDA budgets across the board, including the critical agriculture research that the Biden administration is proposing to increase.  That led the National Farmers’ Union to blast “the Trump budget proposals, with NFU President Roger Johnson writing, “It’s time the president’s policy proposals and rhetoric acknowledge the financial pain in farm country.”

 Thankfully, Congressional Democrats and Republicans worked together to reject the Trump budget cuts.  The next question:  will today’s Congressional Republicans be willing to work with Biden and the Democrats to vote for this USDA budget increase?  

For more background, read here:

Analysis of Biden’s USDA budget proposal, AgWeb, March 29, 2022
For the Third Straight Year, Trump Proposes Massive USDA Cuts, the Daily Yonder, May 12, 2019