AIBS joined 50 other organizations and institutions in urging the leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture to increase investments in research programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The letter requests the following allocations within the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Agriculture Appropriations bill:
- $1.657 billion for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA’s extramural funding arm.
- $450 million in funding for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, USDA’s competitive research grants program.
- $1.764 billion for the Agricultural Research Service, USDA’s intramural research network.
- $2 million in funding for the Agriculture Advanced Research and Development Authority to support transformational, high-risk, high-reward agricultural research and development within USDA.
“The American food and agricultural enterprise is facing unprecedented challenges, from increasingly volatile weather patterns due to climate change, to threats from plant pests and animal diseases, to adverse health outcomes related to nutrition insecurity,” the groups wrote. “The investments in USDA research, education, and extension programs made today will be responsible for developing the scientific outcomes and workforce urgently needed to meet identified and as-yet unknown challenges in the future.”
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