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Research ReportCRS ReportVersion 3
R46951

Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2022 Appropriations

Published Oct 29, 2021Updated Jun 21, 2025

Summary

The Agriculture appropriations bill funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) except for the U.S. Forest Service. It also funds the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and—in even-numbered fiscal years—the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Agriculture appropriations carry both mandatory and discretionary spending, but discretionary amounts are the primary focus during the bill’s development. The largest discretionary spending items are the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); agricultural research; rural development; FDA; foreign food assistance and trade; farm assistance loans and salaries; food safety inspection; animal and plant health programs; and technical assistance for conservation programs. In the absence of a final FY2022 appropriation, Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) on September 30, 2021, to continue operations until December 3, 2021 (P.L. 117-43, Division A). For the regular appropriation, the House passed a seven-bill minibus appropriation (H.R. 4502) on July 29, 2021, with Agriculture appropriations as Division B. The minibus incorporated the text, as amended, of the committee-reported bill for agriculture (H.R. 4356, H.Rept. 117-82). Discretionary Agriculture Appropriations, FY2021-FY2022 / Source: CRS. House-passed refers to H.R. 4502, Division B. Senate-reported refers to S. 2599. The House-passed Agriculture appropriations bill would provide $26.53 billion in discretionary appropriations. This would be an increase of $2.8 billion (+12%) over the regular annual FY2021 appropriation on a comparable jurisdiction basis that includes the CFTC. The House-passed bill adopts much, but not all, of the Biden Administration’s request and is $313 million less (-1%) than the Administration’s request (as shown in the figure). The Senate Appropriations Committee reported its bill (S. 2599, S.Rept. 117-34) on August 4, 2021. The Senate-reported bill would provide $25.85 billion in discretionary appropriations. This would be an increase of $2.5 billion (+10.5%) over the regular annual FY2021 appropriation and $315 million less than the House-passed bill (-1.2%) on a comparable Senate jurisdiction basis that excludes the CFTC. The Senate-reported bill would increase many accounts from FY2021 levels, though with somewhat different priorities than the House bill. The Senate-reported bill’s proposed $7 billion in emergency spending for the Wildfires and Hurricanes Indemnity Program (WHIP) was addressed by a supplemental appropriation enacted with the CR. Some primary changes comprise the increases from FY2021 and the differences between the House and Senate bills. The House-passed bill would move the Reconnect Broadband Pilot Program more visibly into the Rural Utilities Service and with a larger amount than the Senate-reported bill. It would also increase some rural development programs, agricultural research, and FDA by more than the Senate bill’s proposed increases. The Senate bill proposes a larger increase than the House-passed bill for agricultural conservation and for buildings and facilities in departmental administration.

What this is

The Congressional Research Service is a nonpartisan policy and legal analysis arm of the Library of Congress. CRS reports are written for members of Congress and their staff, not the public — but they’re made available openly through Congress.gov.

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Agriculture and Related Agencies: FY2022 Appropriations — Informed