Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved their fiscal year 2025 Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies spending bills this week with funding for the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) to resume county crop reports.
In a 27-0 vote, the Senate Committee unanimously approved its bill, which provides $27 billion in total funding, an $821 million increase over fiscal year 2024.
The House bill, approved 29-26 by committee members, allots $25.9 billion for USDA, FDA, and related agencies including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The bill reduces USDA and FDA funding by $355 million from 2024 levels.
Both bills direct NASS to reinstate all County Estimates for Crops, the July Cattle report and the Cotton Objective Yield Survey and direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to notify House and Senate appropriations before eliminating future reports.
Citing budget constraints, NASS announced on April 9 that it would discontinue all county estimates for crops and livestock beginning with the 2024 production year.
Language in the House bill states that “despite numerous bipartisan and bicameral Congressional efforts,” NASS ignored congressional intent by refusing to reinstate the reports.
“The Committee is deeply concerned by the lack of communication and transparency surrounding NASS’ decision to cancel several critical market reports in fiscal year 2024,” the language in the bill states. “Therefore, the Committee includes bill language that limits NASS’ flexibilities to only core mission activities. This language ensures that NASS has the necessary funding for fiscal year 2025 to reinstate all reports that NASS chose to cancel or discontinue in 2024.”
NGFA worked to notify lawmakers and issued a statement on June 12 noting that the NASS reports aid competition and transparency by providing fundamental marketplace information for the agricultural sector.
“The NASS county crop estimates are critical to the operation of agricultural businesses,” NGFA stated in a press release. “They are used to build supply and demand estimates, which help determine commodity sourcing plans to keep agribusiness facilities operational. NGFA members, including agricultural exporters, processors, and livestock feeders rely on these reports to participate in the export sales market and to make appropriate purchase decisions.”
NGFA will continue working with lawmakers and USDA to reinstate the NGFA county crop estimates.