2023 Farm Bill budgeting underway

The planning and budgeting process for the 2023 Farm Bill has commenced, with U.S. House and Senate Agriculture committees outlining the next five years’ spending for national conservation, food, farm and nutrition programs.

The farm bill is an omnibus, multiyear law that is typically renewed about every five years. The current farm bill from 2018 is set to expire in September 2023.

“Typically, the way that the farm bill has come about is because of a grand alliance of agriculture interests and nutrition interests,” says Nathan Bowen, advocacy director at the Irrigation Association, Fairfax, Virginia. “By creating a really broad coalition of interests that needs the farm bill, each cycle typically has moved on a fairly bipartisan basis.”

Using a funding projection from the Congressional Budget Office, the current baseline for farm bill programs is estimated at $648 billion over fiscal years 2023-2027 and $1.3 trillion over fiscal years 2023-2032, according to a Congressional Research Service report. A new CBO baseline in 2023 will update these amounts and add a future fiscal year.

Debate over this next farm bill will likely include topics like policies related to ag and climate change; the federal government’s role in supporting beginning, veteran and historically underserved farmers; and COVID-19 impacts on ag supply chain issues, price inflation, international trade and industry consolidation.

“The farm bill is critically important for the irrigation industry, not only because of the conservation programs that provide financial and technical resources to farmers to implement water efficiency and water management practices, but also because it sets food, agriculture and environmental policy for the next five years,” Bowen says. “It has significant ramifications on the economic vitality of industries that depend on a strong and vibrant food and agriculture sector in the U.S.”

A large portion of where ag professionals see an impact is the conservation title. Per the May 2022 CBO scoring baseline, conservation is estimated to receive $59.2 billion dollars for fiscal years 2023-2032.

Per the current farm bill, funds went to 20 conservation programs, subprograms and initiatives, like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program. But thanks to the $20 billion coming to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for its various conservation programs via the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2023 Farm Bill might not need to tackle conservation and other climate-related programs as heavy-handedly.

Another key title of farm bill spending for ag professionals is research, extension and related matters. This title supports agricultural research and extension programs to expand academic knowledge and help producers be more productive, according to the CRS report. Research is estimated to receive $1.3 billion, up from the 2018 Farm Bill’s allotted $1.2 billion.

Specialty crop farmers could also receive continued support from the horticulture title via the Specialty Crop Blocks Grant Program that encourages competitive growth of specialty crops.

“The IA is working closely with members and partners from agriculture and conservation organizations to develop proposals to help the irrigation industry better serve the needs of farmers and advance water efficiency practices and technologies,” Bowen says.

Read more about the farm bill.

McKenna Corson is the digital content editor for Irrigation Today and can be reached at mckennacorson@irrigation.org.