(WASHINGTON D.C.) — On Friday, the U.S. Senate advanced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 agriculture funding bill, along with appropriations bills for Legislative Branch and the Senate’s Military Construction-VA. The three bills make up about $188 billion of the more than $1.6 trillion in discretionary spending likely to be approved for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Senator John Hoeven (R-ND), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee said in a statement that this legislation provides strong support for farmers and ranchers, agriculture research and rural America.
“This legislation invests in our farmers, ranchers and rural communities,” said Hoeven. “We prioritized funding essential tools for our producers like better access to capital and provisions to help protect against pests and diseases like the avian flu and chronic wasting disease. We also make important investments in agriculture research to continue the good work of NDSU, Grand Farm and their partners. Ultimately, this legislation is about helping ensure the success of our farmers, ranchers and agri-businesses.”
Some of Senator Hoeven’s priorities in the funding included:
Agriculture Research:
- Nearly $2.5 million for the Agricultural Risk Policy Center at North Dakota State University (NDSU), bringing the total funding Hoeven has secured for this initiative to nearly $6.5 million since FY2024.
- $5 million for the AgTech Cooperative Agreement between Grand Farm, NDSU and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). This includes $2 million to establish an ARS work site at Grand Farm.
- $3 million for continued renovations at the Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center in Fargo.
Support for Farmers and Ranchers
- Helps ensure producer access to credit, providing sufficient funding to meet demand for the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) direct and guaranteed operating and ownership loans.
- Continues the prohibition on FSA county office closures.
- Gives ranchers the necessary resources to comply with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) electronic identification (EID) tag requirement. (This follows Hoeven’s efforts last year to secure an additional 3 million EID tags to prevent an unfunded mandate from being imposed on U.S. ranchers.)
- Provides $500,000 for blackbird depredation in the Northern Great Plains.
- Empowers APHIS to protect the nation’s livestock against diseases, including avian influenza and chronic wasting disease (CWD), while supporting continued CWD research at ARS.
- Supports a more competitive and transparent cattle market by: Providing $1 million to continue Hoeven’s cattle contract library pilot program and by maintaining funding for the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act.
Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) also commented on the passage of the appropriations bills saying in part that “As us North Dakotans know, our state contributes a great deal to feeding, fueling, and protecting the nation and our bill that we passed tonight really reflects that critical role.”