The Senate is still at work on President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” but they are also looking over next year’s budget. It includes the numbers for USDA, along with a nearly $25 billion cut proposed by the White House.
On the radar right now are the Farm Service Agency, NRCS, and the Forest Service. Combined, Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says the proposed cuts would come out to $23 billion, with the Forest Service seeing the largest decrease at more than 75 percent, but much of that would be transferred to the Interior Department.
SNAP is also under debate with possible cuts next year. Senator Chuck Grassley says cuts to SNAP could end leftover pandemic spending.
“We don’t have the pandemic now as the excuse for spending money. It seems to me it’s legitimate to go back to the program that was pre-pandemic. Otherwise, the pandemic has just been used as an excuse to spend more money, and we don’t need excuses to spend more money with the $36 trillion debt.”
In a call with reporters this week, Senator Grassley voiced support for the bill to bring whole milk back to public schools. Hours later, that bill was passed out of the Senate Ag Committee.
Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller joined us to discuss data center expansion, farmland preservation, rural economic impacts, and imminent cattle biosecurity concerns affecting agriculture today.
January 16, 2026 01:28 PM
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The Pennsylvania Farm Show continues through Saturday, wrapping up another successful year of celebrating agriculture in the Commonwealth.
January 16, 2026 01:26 PM
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The application deadline is March 8, 2026. The 1890 National Scholars Program aims to encourage students at 1890 land-grant universities to pursue careers in food, agriculture, and natural resource sciences.
January 16, 2026 10:42 AM
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Expanded school access to whole milk provides modest but reliable demand support for U.S. dairy producers.
January 15, 2026 10:14 AM
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Freight volatility increasingly determines export margins, making logistics costs as important as price in marketing decisions.
January 14, 2026 06:00 AM
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Secretary Rollins also met with specialty crop producers at a local strawberry farm to discuss workforce needs and the Trump Administration’s recent wins related to significantly cutting the cost of H-2A labor for California farmers.
January 13, 2026 03:25 PM
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