DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
The President’s 2009 Budget will:
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Ensure the continuation of a strong farm economy and
fulfill the Administration's commitment to reduce trade barriers;
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Provide nutrition assistance programs to one in five
Americans;
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Maintain support for the Northwest Forest Plan by
providing for the offer of 800 million board feet of timber to be
harvested;
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Encourage rural development through program reforms
and improved housing opportunities; and
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Help ensure the safety of both imported and domestic
products.
Ensuring the Continuation of a Strong Farm Economy
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Source: Department of Agriculture
Workers are unloading wheat from a cargo ship.
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- Promotes a strong farm economy. The Administration’s
farm bill proposals represent a comprehensive, reform-minded,
and fiscally responsible approach to supporting America’s farmers
and ranchers, including:
- Reforms to tighten payment limits and revise the countercyclical support program to be responsive
to actual conditions and provide a strong safety net.
- Revisions to make commodity programs less market-distorting,
reduce friction with America's trading partners, and increase spending
on conservation and energy programs.
- Reduces trade barriers. Encourages future growth in agriculture through the reduction of
trade barriers.
- Maintains and opens new markets for American farmers
and ranchers, to build on record levels for U.S. agricultural exports
that will eclipse the $81.9 billion record set in 2007.
- Continues efforts toward approval and implementation
of the free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea
to level the playing field for U.S. producers.
Promoting Nutrition Assistance Programs
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Reauthorizes the Food Stamp
Program. Improves the integrity of this program by tightening
overly broad waivers from eligibility criteria, and removes penalties
for college and retirement savings, and child care expenses.
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Increases funding for the
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Provides
$6.1 billion for WIC services, reaching an estimated 8.6 million beneficiaries
in 2009. In keeping with the Administration’s promotion of
childhood wellness and fitness, the Department is issuing updated
WIC food packages that reduce maximum allowances of certain foods
and promote the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Developing Sustainable Forests
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Supports the Northwest Forest
Plan. Provides a national timber sales target of 3.5 billion
board feet, which includes the
Northwest Forest Plan’s goal of 800 million board feet of timber
for the Forest Service in 2009. The goal is a sustainable level that
provides enough timber to build 64,000 three-bedroom houses, but is
well below the 10 billion board feet of timber harvested in 1990.
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Improves forest health. Reduces the threat of catastrophic wildfires to communities and the
environment by providing $297 million for hazardous fuels reduction
projects—a more than fourfold increase since 2000.
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Improves stewardship. Supports stewardship of America’s national forests, which are
vital parts of the Nation’s natural heritage, economic base,
environmental resources, and recreational opportunities.
Encouraging Rural Development
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Increases homeownership. Provides more efficient and effective housing assistance for rural
residents. Promotes the use of guaranteed loans by providing a $4.8
billion guaranteed single family housing loan level, an increase of
$659 million over 2008, to maintain single family homeownership opportunities
while eliminating the more costly direct homeownership loans.
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Provides rental assistance.
Ensures that all current tenants will continue to receive
support by providing $997 million in rental assistance, including
$897 million for rental assistance grants and $100 million for vouchers,
rather than the traditional unit-based assistance.
Improving Import and Domestic Food Safety
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Ensures the safety of meat,
poultry, and egg products. Supports efforts to:
- Determine the equivalency of foreign food safety inspection
systems;
- Inspect domestic and imported meat, poultry, and egg
products for compliance with U.S. food safety laws and regulations;
and
- Improve the ability to detect harmful agents in food
with rapid test capabilities.
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Reduces the risk of plant
and animal pests and diseases impacting the United States.
Supports efforts to:
- Monitor for, and respond to, domestic pests and diseases
of plants and animals;
- Monitor pests and diseases overseas and propose necessary
regulatory actions; and
- Detect and prevent the entry and dissemination of
commodities that may harbor disease.
Major Savings and Reforms
- Identifies 33 programs representing $2.3 billion for
termination or reduction, including:
- Resource Conservation and Development Program, which
duplicates other Department of Agriculture economic development programs
that encourage State and local governments to plan and implement projects,
including those for resource protection, community zoning and infrastructure,
and economic development;
- Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which, in the
limited areas where it is available, duplicates two of the Nation’s
largest Federal nutrition assistance programs—Food Stamps and
WIC; and
- Watershed Surveys and Planning Program, which subsidizes
local planning activities for water resource use, and Watershed and
Flood Prevention Operations Program, which subsidizes local dam and
water supply construction projects. This is not a core responsibility
of the Federal Government.
Since 2001, the Department of Agriculture has:
- Opened new markets for American farmers and ranchers,
helping lead to a record level for U.S. agricultural exports of $81.9
billion in 2007, up nearly 55 percent since 2001.
- Reduced hazardous fuels on 13.5 million acres of forest
and doubled the yearly acreage coverage under the President’s
Healthy Forests Initiative.
- Enrolled over one million acres into the Wetlands
Reserve Program to restore and protect these ecologically valuable
lands.
- Provided assistance to farmers and ranchers resulting
in conservation on more than 130 million acres of land.
- Provided food and nutrition benefits to an additional
9.1 million people participating in the Food Stamp Program and approximately
one million women, infants, and children participating in WIC.
- Strengthened domestic surveillance and testing of
avian influenza to ensure rapid detection and response. Provided assistance
to 142 countries where highly pathogenic avian influenza has been
detected to slow the spread of the disease abroad.
- Encouraged the development of a domestic renewable
fuels industry with incentives that resulted in the production of
9 billion gallons of ethanol and 250 million gallons of biodiesel.
- Helped reduce the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat meat by over 50
percent through effective inspection systems and response mechanisms.
Department of Agriculture
(Dollar amounts in millions)
|
2007 Actual |
Estimate |
2008 |
2009 |
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Spending |
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Discretionary
Budget Authority: |
|
|
|
Commodities and
International |
3,132 |
3,144 |
3,263 |
Rural Development |
2,478 |
2,335 |
2,111 |
Forest Service |
4,325 |
4,488 |
4,111 |
Conservation |
873 |
937 |
800 |
Food and Nutrition
Service |
5,536 |
6,013 |
6,372 |
Research |
2,539 |
2,594 |
2,216 |
Marketing and
Regulatory Programs |
1,911 |
1,925 |
1,999 |
Central Administration |
523 |
441 |
526 |
Subtotal |
21,317 |
21,877 |
21,398 |
Receipts |
−52 |
−40 |
−45 |
Mandatory savings
proposals |
— |
— |
−573 |
Total, Discretionary
budget authority |
21,265 |
21,837 |
20,780 |
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Memorandum: |
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Budget authority from enacted supplementals |
4,042 |
1,573 |
— |
Additional funding requirements (P.L. 480 Title II) |
— |
350 |
— |
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|
|
|
Total, Discretionary
outlays |
24,398 |
28,267 |
22,643 |
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Mandatory Outlays: |
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|
|
Food and Nutrition
Service |
47,924 |
53,213 |
55,022 |
Commodity Credit
Corporation |
10,750 |
10,120 |
9,912 |
Crop Insurance |
3,471 |
4,385 |
5,221 |
Natural Resources
Conservation Service |
1,484 |
1,785 |
2,546 |
Agricultural Marketing
Service |
889 |
685 |
1,473 |
Forest Service |
791 |
557 |
420 |
Rural Development,
including liquidating accounts |
−3,154 |
−2,169 |
−1,622 |
Receipts, reestimates,
and all other programs |
−2,111 |
−2,075 |
−857 |
Total, Mandatory
outlays |
60,044 |
66,501 |
72,115 |
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Total, Outlays |
84,442 |
94,768 |
94,758 |
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Credit activity |
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Direct Loan Disbursements: |
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|
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Farm Loans |
1,070 |
1,091 |
1,073 |
Commodity Credit
Corporation |
11,286 |
9,339 |
8,786 |
Rural Utilities
Service |
6,453 |
7,127 |
6,501 |
Rural Housing |
1,841 |
1,951 |
933 |
Rural
Business and Community Development |
53 |
66 |
64 |
P.L. 480 |
91 |
39 |
— |
Total, Direct
loan disbursements |
20,794 |
19,613 |
17,357 |
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Guaranteed Loan
Commitments: |
|
|
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Farm Loans |
2,110 |
2,475 |
2,500 |
Commodity Credit
Corporation |
1,334 |
2,274 |
2,675 |
Rural Utilities
Service |
7 |
52 |
34 |
Rural Housing
Service |
3,645 |
5,478 |
5,514 |
Rural Business
Service |
598 |
1,072 |
1,097 |
Total, Guaranteed
loan commitments |
7,694 |
11,351 |
11,820 |
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Number of
Programs |
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2009 BA
Savings |
Major Savings, Discretionary |
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Terminations |
19 |
|
−786 |
Reductions |
14 |
|
−1,506 |
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