Cornerstone Report from Washington

Vol. 9, No. 15 – November 18, 2011

FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations Bill Becomes Law – 99% of NIFA Top-Line Funding Sustained

The President has signed the Agriculture Appropriations bill for FY 2012 into law and, as promised in our last report, we are able to provide additional details about the final results for the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). (The NIFA portion of the conference report is here: www.land-grant.org/NIFA_final.pdf )

99% of NIFA Top Line Sustained

As you know, the federal budgetary situation in 2011 has been extremely difficult and very intense. For starters, the FY 2011 appropriation for NIFA (and all other federal departments and agencies) was not finished until April 15, more than six months after the beginning of the fiscal year. The FY 2011 NIFA top-line amount of $1.215 billion was down $128 million compared to FY 2010, but the reduction was mostly attributable to the moratorium on congressionally-directed projects (earmarks). See: www.land-grant.org/reports/2011/04-15.htm.

We are pleased to report that the NIFA appropriation for FY 2012 is $1.202 billion or 99% of the FY 2011 top-line appropriation. Moreover, all seven priorities established by the Board on Agriculture Assembly’s Budget and Advocacy Committee (BAC) were funded at (or in the case of Smith-Lever slightly above) their FY 2011 enacted levels. (Highlighted in Green in Table 1.)

Individual Funding Line Details

As shown in Table 1, the joint House-Senate conference committee that negotiated the final version of the FY 2012 Agriculture Appropriations bill maintained most NIFA programs at/near FY 2011 funding levels with the following notable exceptions:

Research and Education Activities

§ Special Research Grants increased by $1.162M

§ Animal Health and Disease Research grew by $1.056M

§ The Multicultural Scholars, Graduate Fellowship, and Institution Challenge Grant Programs were combined into a single line and funding for that combined line dropped by $1.732M

§ There was no funding included for the “New Era Rural Technology Program”

§ Federal Administration grants dropped by $0.730M

§ Two new programs were funded: (1) Capacity Building for Non Land-Grant Colleges received $4.500M; and (2) Competitive Grants for Policy Research received $4.000M

Extension Activities

§ The Farm Safety & Youth Farm Safety Education programs were combined into a single funding line and funding for the combined line was cut by $0.728M

§ eXtension was reduced by $0.197M

§ Children, Youth and Families at Risk was cut by $0.795M

§ Renewable Resources Extension Act was reduced by $0.360M

§ Rural Health and Safety Education was cut by $0.235M

§ Grants to Youth Organizations was cut by $1.030M

§ Federal Administration Grants were cut by $0.696M

Integrated Activities

§ Funding was eliminated for: (1) Food Safety;  and (2) International Science and Education Grants

§ Water Quality was cut by $4.482M

§ Regional Pest Management Centers received an increase of $1.006M

NOTE: Green Highlighted Lines are BAC’s Priority Funding Lines.

Programs with Mandatory Funding

As shown in Table 2, the four NIFA programs with mandatory funding (not subject to annual appropriations) were not reduced by the conference agreement. Thus, these four programs will receive a total of $129 million in funding. (Note: FY 2012 is the last year for mandatory funding for these programs under the 2008 Farm Bill.)

Other Matters

In addition to the results reported above, the final conference agreement: (1) increases the indirect cost recovery rate for NIFA’s competitive programs to 30% (up from 22% in FY 2011); and (2) continues to permit the use of unrecovered indirect costs to “count” against the matching requirements of the Specialty Crop Research Initiative.

Finally, the following report language contained in the conference report and agreed to on a bicameral/bipartisan basis, gives a strong indication of congressional interest with respect to: (1) research priorities (AFRI); and (2) NIFA funding line consolidation:

“The conferees express their strong support for USDA’s agricultural research, extension and education activities. USDA and other notable philanthropic and scientific organizations have highlighted the need for the United States to invest in agricultural research to ensure productivity growth and to develop and refine sound natural resources management practices for U.S. farmers and ranchers and others around the world. However, the conferees are aware of concerns about the focus of USDA’s research programs, particularly projects funded through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative. The conferees strongly encourage USDA to fund only the highest priority agricultural research, as authorized by Congress.”

*    *    *
“The conferees request that the Department make recommendations regarding the consolidation of funding lines in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s accounts in the President’s budget for fiscal year 2013 and to work with interested individuals and organizations, including the House Committee on Agriculture and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, on this issue.”
 

The Bottom Line

Despite a very difficult budgetary year, the land-grant system rose to the challenge and protected most of the gains that it worked so hard to achieve over the last decade. Final results are summarized in Chart 1.

Chart 1: NIFA Top Line (Including Mandatory Funding) FY 2002 to FY 2012

In closing, we want to once again express sincere thanks for the tremendous support that the whole system has provided this year. The collective ability to “hold the line” simply would not have been possible otherwise!

The Cornerstone Team