Senate appropriators tomorrow will mark up a fiscal 2013 agriculture appropriations bill proposed by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the Senate Appropriations Committee announced yesterday.

Kohl, who chairs the Senate Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, has yet to release any details about the bill.

Last week, the Appropriations Committee approved $23.357 billion in discretionary spending allocations toward agriculture programs. The amount is consistent with the levels set by last year's Budget Control Act.

According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which tracks congressional agriculture actions, about $2.5 billion of that amount will likely go to the Food and Drug Administration, and the rest will go to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In fiscal 2012, a final spending package signed by President Obama provided $19.8 billion in agriculture appropriations.

At a hearing earlier this year on fiscal 2013 appropriations, the Senate subcommittee clashed with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack over recent closings of research stations. Subpanel ranking member Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) maintained that research funding was a top priority for the subcommittee, but, like all aspects of the Agriculture Department, it will likely see cuts given the budget environment (E&E Daily, March 30).

The appropriations markup comes a day after the Senate Agriculture Committee will mark up its massive farm bill proposal (see related story).