Overview
- House Democrats on the Appropriations Agriculture panel blasted the proposal at a public hearing, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins defended it while pledging to work with both parties and to keep Farm Service Agency offices open.
- The fiscal 2027 plan would cut $4.9 billion, nearly one fifth of USDA’s discretionary funding, and eliminate more than 70 programs.
- Targeted reductions include $510 million from agricultural research at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and $659 million from rural community facility grants, with an added $50 million to move more USDA staff out of Washington.
- The request offers no new money for Conservation Technical Assistance and ends grants that help schools buy kitchen equipment, with Farm to School funding cut in half to $5 million and a $1 million cut to the Institute of Child Nutrition.
- Rollins said long-delayed disaster grants created in December 2024 were near allocation, and committee leaders pressed for faster delivery as spending bills advance.