On June 4, the full House Appropriations Committee met to mark up the FY 2020 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. The bill includes $24.31 billion in discretionary funding, which represents a $1 billion increase over the FY19 enacted level and $5.1 billion increase over the President’s FY20 budget request. The Committee voted 29-21 to approve the legislation.

The Agriculture Appropriations Bill funds important agricultural and food programs and services to support animal and plant health programs, agricultural trade, rural development, and nutrition programs. Legislation provides funding for the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to support programs that help eradicate plant and animal diseases and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to support research programs to mitigate devastating diseases and increase farm production. The bill includes $2.4 billion for agricultural research programs through USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).

Important to egg producers, the bill provides $400,000 to carry out high-priority research programs added in the 2018 Farm Bill, including research programs for improving the efficiency and sustainability of laying hen and turkey production through integrated, collaborative research and technology transfer. Emphasis may be placed on laying hen and turkey disease prevention, antimicrobial resistance, nutrition, gut health, and alternative housing systems under extreme weather conditions.

The House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved the FY 2020 Agriculture Appropriations bill on May 23. The subcommittee markup concluded without any amendments offered, and the bill was approved by unanimous voice vote. The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee is currently scheduled to meet on June 11 to approve its version of the bill.  Click here for the FY 2020 Agriculture Appropriations bill report language.