Department of Agriculture: Competitive research gets a boost

The Department of Agriculture will receive $2.6 billion for agricultural R&D in fiscal 2014, an increase of $236 million, or 9.8%, compared with its 2013 postsequester budget.

The National Institute of Food & Agriculture, which funds extramural research, will see its budget increase to $1.3 billion, a gain of 11.5% compared with 2013 post sequester. Funding for NIFA’s primary competitive research grants program, the Agriculture & Food Research Initiative, will rise to $316 million, an increase of 8.4% compared with 2013.

The Agricultural Research Service, which conducts in-house research in agricultural sciences, will see its 2014 budget rise to $1.1 billion, an increase of 10.0% compared with 2013 post sequester. The Economic Research Service, the agency that provides economic and other social science information about agriculture, will get $78 million in 2014, an increase of 8.4% compared with 2013 post sequester.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service will receive $161 million for agricultural statistics this year, a decrease of 2.9% compared with 2013 post sequester. Approximately $45 million of that money would be used for the Census of Agriculture.