The House passed a fiscal 2012 agriculture spending bill today that eliminates a Department of Agriculture biofuels program and cuts deeply into conservation programs.

Sponsored by Georgia Republican Jack Kingston, the measure -- which passed, 217-203, in a party-line vote -- cuts $2.7 billion from USDA's fiscal 2011 budget.

The Conservation Stewardship Program would be reduced $171 million relative to the level mandated by the farm bill, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program would be cut by $350 million. The Wetlands Reserve Program and Grasslands Reserve Program would be reduced by 64,200 acres and 96,000 acres, respectively.

Sara Hopper, agricultural policy director for the Environmental Defense Fund, called the bill "penny-wise and dollar-foolish."

Lawmakers didn't pass any amendments to restore mandatory or discretionary conservation funding nor did they try to save the 2008 farm bill's Biomass Crop Assistance Program(BCAP). The bill eliminates BCAP funding.

Just yesterday, USDA announced new projects under BCAP, which provides cash to farmers and ranchers who establish biomass crops (E&ENews PM, June 15).

The bill does include an amendment introduced during an Appropriations Committee markup that restored $1.3 million to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), another farm bill energy program that would have been eliminated under the original measure. The program helps farms improve energy efficiency.

The House restored another $1 million to the program by approving an amendment offered by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.).

Lawmakers also adopted an amendment offered by Reps. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and Don Young (R-Alaska) that would prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from spending on approvals of genetically engineered salmon (Greenwire, June 16).

Also approved was an amendment, offered by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), to prohibit USDA from incorporating climate change adaptation into any of its programs (Greenwire, June 16).

Lawmakers rejected a proposal to lower the income cap for direct farm payments and to cut discretionary funding by an additional 5 percent.

CFTC cut

The House also voted to cut the budget of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to $172 million, down 15 percent from $202 million in the agency's final fiscal 2011 budget.

The Obama administration had requested $308 million for the agency for 2012 to fund the writing and implemention of rules for curbing oil speculation as was required by last year's Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

On Monday, the administration released a statement saying it "strongly objects" to the CFTC budget reduction and 77 House Democrats wrote a letter to GOP leaders cautioning the cuts would let oil speculators continue to drive up gasoline prices (E&E Daily, June 14).

Senators have yet to take up agriculture appropriations.