By Lily Hawkins, Policy Director

Appropriations and Proposed Cuts

With Congress back in DC after August recess and the end of the 2025 fiscal year approaches, work on the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bills is picking up. Both the House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committees have advanced their own version of spending bills.

The House bill proposes deep cuts to several key agricultural programs, including:

• A 56% cut to the Value-Added Producer Grant program.
• A 9% reduction in Conservation Technical Assistance.
• A 16% cut to the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program—the USDA’s only farmer-driven research program.

In contrast, the Senate bill largely maintains funding for the USDA and FDA, preserving some programs targeted for cuts in the House version. The two chambers must still pass their own version of other appropriations bills and come to an agreement on a final version by September 30 to avoid another stopgap measure to keep the government running.

The Big Beautiful Bill and its Impact on Organic Programs

Just before the July 4th holiday, Congress passed a massive domestic policy bill, pushed through using the budget reconciliation process. This special procedure allows for quicker passage of legislation with a simple majority of votes.

While the OBBB bill contained controversial cuts to social safety-net programs like Medicaid and SNAP, it provided critical funding for several “orphan programs” that were left out of previous spending resolutions. For the organic sector, this included:

• The Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP), which received $8 million over the next seven years, matching its 2018 Farm Bill funding. Please note that the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) must receive a final rule before it can begin processing payments for 2025. Delays are likely.
• The Organic Transition Initiative (OTI), which was level-funded at $5 million for the next six years.
• The Organic Data Initiative (ODI), which will see a significant $10 million boost over the next six years, doubling its 2018 allocations. 

These funding wins are a positive step. However, the inclusion of many agricultural programs in the OBBB complicates the future of the upcoming Farm Bill, creating uncertainty around timing and content. Lawmakers continue to work on “marker bills”— legislation not intended to pass on its own but rather to build support for policies to be included in the final Farm Bill. You can read about the marker bills OFA supports here.

Organic Dairy Producers Visit D.C.

In mid-July, the Organic Farmers Association hosted a special Organic Dairy Fly-In to bring organic dairy farmers directly to legislators. The group, including farmers from New York, Minnesota, and California, met with more than a dozen offices to advocate for policies that address the challenges facing the industry.

The farmers focused on two key pieces of legislation:

• The Organic Dairy Data Collection Act, which aims to improve data collection on organic milk production costs and prices.
• The Senate’s O DAIRY Act, a more comprehensive bill that proposes emergency assistance, investment in dairy infrastructure, and a study on the viability of an organic safety-net program, as well as the data collection provisions from the House bill. 

These bills are a direct outcome of dairy producers from around the country working together to advocate for solutions that address issues of shared importance.

Major USDA Reorganization

Outside of the legislative sphere, the USDA has announced plans for a major reorganization that will have significant effects on the department. The plan involves relocating thousands of employees from Washington, D.C. to five new regional centers across the country in an effort to save money and increase accessibility. As part of the plan, the USDA’s South Building and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center will be closed.

This move follows a significant loss of over 15,000 employees through the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP). The National Organic Program (NOP) was hit particularly hard, losing about one-third of its staff. OFA is concerned that further staffing losses would create a serious setback for maintaining the integrity of the organic label.

After facing criticism for a lack of transparency, the USDA opened a brief 30-day public comment period on the plan, which closed on August 31, 2025. Read OFA’s comments here, and submit your own here.