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Fiscal Year 2010 Ag Appropriations Bill Clears Congress

Although President Obama signed a Continuing Resolution on October 1^st that funds the federal government through October 31^st, there has been progress on the appropriations front.  The Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 agriculture appropriations bill is among the few funding measures that have been sent to President Obama for his signature.  This is the first “stand alone” agriculture appropriations bill to reach the President’s desk in almost ten years, thereby saving it from being included in a likely “minibus” package.

The bill includes $23.3 billion in discretionary budget authority and approximately $98 billion in mandatory spending – a $2.7 billion and $10 billion increase, respectively, over FY 2009 levels.  Funding is increased for food and nutrition, conservation, international aid, research, rural development and energy programs.  The Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development Program were both fully funded at $200 million and $34.5 million, respectively, and there was an additional $350 million for assistance to the dairy sector.  Of this amount, $60 million is slated for purchase of cheese and other dairy products for food banks and $290 million is targeted for additional payments to dairy producers.  The entire text of the bill can be found at http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/Ag_Conf_Rpt_FY2010.pdf.