The fiscal year 2022 agriculture appropriations bill was approved by the House Appropriations Committee this week. The bill provides increased funding for rural broadband, climate-related programs, nutrition and research.

The $196.7 billion bill includes funding for both discretionary programs and mandatory programs. The discretionary programs are funded at $26.55 billion which is an increase of more than 10% above 2021.

During consideration of the bill, two amendments were adopted after much debate:

The bill includes:

The bill will now be considered by the House of Representatives.

Bipartisan infrastructure bill

President Biden and a bipartisan group of Senators reached an agreement on an infrastructure package. The bill provides $579 billion in new spending over existing funding over five years.  According to administration officials this will be the largest investment in public transit in history and the largest investment in repairing bridges since the construction of the interstate highway system.

The bill provides additional funding for many of agriculture's priorities including rural broadband, bridges, highways, ports, and waterways.

The package includes:

The Senate may consider the bipartisan package before the summer recess.

The House of Representatives this week passed the INVEST Act, a $715 billion transportation and infrastructure bill that focuses on roads, bridges, transit and rail, and clean drinking water. It passed on a mostly party line vote with only two Republican members supporting the bill.

Congressional members ask USDA to fight line speed decision 

A group of 70 Senators and Representatives is asking the USDA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to defend the New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) by taking legal action to overturn the recent U.S. district court's decision to strike down the NSIS. 

The members said in a letter to the USDA and DOJ, "While the economic impact to these packers will be significant, it is the nation’s small and medium-sized hog farmers who will suffer the greatest harm from upstream impacts. It is imperative that USDA act quickly, and pursue all available options, to prevent this reduction in packing capacity which is set to take place at the end of June."

The letter continued: "As the hog production cycle spans nearly a year, hogs set to enter this reduced-capacity market are already being raised. Farmers have little ability to alter their supply in the next year. Many farmers supplying these NSIS plants will need to find alternative destinations for their hogs.  The resulting surplus and reduced demand in a concentrated geographic region will shift economic power to pork processing companies. The culmination of economic losses from the pandemic, multiple years of trade retaliation, and the court’s decision may result in some producers selling their operation. By failing to act, USDA will drive consolidation in the pork industry."

The letter was initiated by Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Representatives Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. 

Antitrust advisor

Representatives Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, introduced legislation, the Meat Packing Special Investigator Act, to establish a "special investigator for competition matters" within USDA's Packers and Stockyards Division, which monitors the meat processing sector for unfair trade practices. Senators Jon Tester, D-Mont., Chuck Grassley, R-S.D., and Mike Rounds, R-S.D., introduced the bill earlier this month in the Senate.

Happy July 4^th Everyone!

Sources: P. Scott Shearer, who is solely responsible for the information provided, and wholly own the information. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.