On February 10, 2020, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the Trump administration's proposed budget for the U.S. Government in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. Under the budget proposal, total funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) would be reduced by $16 billion or 9.9 percent, compared to FY2020 levels. Discretionary funding would decline by $21.8 billion or 8 percent.
The budget proposal retains some funding for USDA research programs. It "prioritizes competitive research through [USDA's] flagship grant program, the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)," providing an additional $175 million for AFRI (over FY2020 levels). According to the proposal, "[i]ndustries of the future are major [AFRI] priorities in 2020," so "$100 million in AFRI funding would be targeted toward basic and applied research in AI" (i.e., artificial intelligence).
Large funding cuts are proposed for other USDA research programs, including:
- the Agricultural Research Service, which would have its funding cut by $191 million or 11.7 percent (compared to FY2020 levels); and
- the National Agricultural Statistics Service, which would have its funding cut by $3 million or 1.7% (compared to FY2020 levels).