Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack promoted the Obama administration's proposed $154.5 billion budget for his department today as a "stable" plan that would help farmers build on a record year of income, exports, conservation and domestic biofuels production.

The fiscal 2013 budget would cut the Department of Agriculture's discretionary spending by 3 percent from enacted 2012 levels (Greenwire, Feb. 13).

Vilsack defended the proposal, saying it would allow USDA to avoid furloughs and significant layoffs.

"There are obviously trade-offs in a budget that is stable," he said. "When you're increasing some parts of the budget, it means that you're decreasing other parts or you're eliminating some programs."

While agriculture groups say they are still sifting through the proposal, most said the plan is similar to last year's and includes items, such as the elimination of direct payments, that have been discussed by administration officials over the past several months.

"Pretty much what the president laid out in the State of the Union address encompasses the big-picture stuff in what is released today," said Jon Doggett, vice president of public policy at the National Corn Growers Association.

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Policy Director Ferd Hoefner, on the other hand, dismissed the budget proposal as "not terribly interesting," "relatively lame" and "not at all progressive."

The budget would eliminate or reduce about 30 programs. Vilsack said the budget reflects a continued commitment to conservation and biofuels and gives farmers a safety net against risks while streamlining crop insurance.

Under the Obama proposal, approximately 360 million acres would be covered by conservation programs. The Conservation Reserve Program, which pays farmers to idle their lands, would be capped at 30 million acres, where enrollment currently stands.

"We're basically responding to what the market is telling us," Vilsack said.

Other programs would face substantial cuts. One of USDA's largest conservation programs, the Conservation Stewardship Program, would be permanently reduced by almost 760,000 acres. The budget instead focuses on larger, landscape-style conservation efforts that target regions such as the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, Vilsack said.

Hoefner criticized the administration for continuing to propose specific cuts to conservation programs while giving few details about cuts to farmer subsidies. The administration is being overly optimistic about enrolling acres into the Conservation Reserve Program, which farmers have been leaving to take advantage of high crop prices, while cutting working lands programs like the stewardship program, he said.

"We desperately need more conservation," Hoefner said. "There seems to be a disconnect in their thinking: Cut conservation and toss out half-baked ideas for cuts elsewhere."

Energy

On energy, the Obama administration has proposed investing $200 million in the development of biofuels and $6.1 billion in loans to rural electric cooperatives and utilities for clean energy. But, Vilsack said, USDA has its hands tied by Congress as to what it can do to help expand the domestic biofuels market.

Congress, for example, has reduced funding for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program, which helps farmers plant biofuels feedstocks, by about 96 percent over the past year, Vilsack said. And seven of the farm bill's energy programs, including BCAP, are set to expire on Sept. 30 because the 2008 farm bill did not include any mandatory baseline beyond that point.

"We're dealing with the number as it is, and we're going to try to figure out how to use those limited resources," Vilsack said.

The administration proposed no new funding for the BCAP program and little discretionary funding for the Rural Energy for America Program, which provides rural landowners with funds to make energy efficiency improvements.

"From the president's perspective, it's a bit difficult to do," said Andy Olsen, a senior policy advocate at the Environmental Law and Policy Center, referring to energy appropriations. "The 2013 funding is going to be determined through a combination of farm bill reauthorization or an extension. There are a lot of unknowns."