OMAHA (DTN) -- President Donald Trump's proposed budget for USDA again calls for making a nearly 20% cut to discretionary programs the administration doesn't support.

The top line for the president's budget released on Friday is a $1.5 trillion request for Defense spending, while proposing to cut about $660 billion in non-military spending across the federal government.

For USDA, the budget requests $20.8 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY 2027, a $4.9 billion or 19% decline from 2026.

The 92-page top-line budget plan released by the White House focuses as much on what the Trump administration opposes rather than what the administration supports. The proposal mentions "rural" 12 times across all departments and agencies but mentions "woke" 34 times and "New Green Scam" 21 times. Diversity, equity and inclusion "DEI" are also mentioned 26 times while "transgender" is mentioned 16 times.

In the executive summary of the USDA budget, the Trump administration calls the department "a bloated Washington, D.C., bureaucracy with multiple management layers and many extraneous programs that are irrelevant to supporting an America First agricultural policy." The budget states it eliminates programs "such as radical transgender and Green New Scam ideologies."

The proposal includes $50 million for USDA reorganization and staff reductions in Washington, D.C.

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Community Facilities grants would be cut by $659 million. The proposal would eliminate grants for the program, saying those grants "morphed into a pork-barrel spending program for wasteful earmarks to areas that are arguably the least in need." To justify the cuts, the budget cited three projects in the blue states of California, Connecticut and Massachusetts that totaled $5.6 million.

Last year, the administration proposed to cut $721 million from Community Facilities grants.

RESEARCH CUTS

The budget would cut $510 million in university research funds from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) formula grants "that act as pre-determined earmarks for university pet projects." The proposed budget stated, "USDA research will instead be competitively awarded to projects in the national interest, as opposed to the woke radical left projects these grants previously funded."

The budget pointed to grants around clothes for transgender people as well as expanding green infrastructure tied to environmental justice and climate change, and food insecurity and health for people with disabilities or socially disadvantaged identities in western states.

The administration last year proposed to cut $602 million from NIFA.

STAFFING DECLINES

The budget shows USDA cuts in staffing for agencies such as the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) among others.

FSA employed 8,135 people in FY 2025, but that number declined to 7,320 people in FY 2026. The FY 2027 budget calls for 6,009 full-time equivalent staff positions. That's a cut of more than 25% of staff over two years.

At NRCS, staff have dropped from 11,542 people in FY 2025 to 9,241 staff in FY 2026 with an equal number of staff for FY 2027. That's an overall decline of 2,301 positions.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD AID SLASHED

The budget would eliminate funding for the Food for Peace, with no requests for grants, dropping the program from $1.2 billion in 2026 down to $97 million to "close out USDA programming."

Food for Peace was moved from the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Aid Development (USAID) to USDA this past year with farm groups praising the move because it would put USDA in more control of buying commodities for the program.

In February, USDA made its first Food for Peace funding, stating it would deliver $452 million in food aid by buying 215,000 tons of U.S. commodities that went to seven countries. At the time, USDA argued the president wants international aid benefits to "flow back to America's hard-working farmers, ranchers and producers who make this aid possible."

In cutting the funding, the Trump administration echoes the argument that, "The program also distorts and undermines local and regional markets where the food could be grown and purchased for less." The administration also adds, "There are far more efficient food aid programs that the budget preserves."

The House version of the farm bill includes language to codify the Food for Peace move to USDA and authorizes $1.2 billion annually for the program.

The budget proposed to eliminate the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, a $240 million program. The budget calls the program "a wasteful and inefficient foreign aid program." The budget stated just $37 million went toward USDA commodities in 2023 while $197 million went toward shipping, distribution and technical assistance for McGovern-Dole projects.

OTHER CUTS

The budget also proposes to cut $82 million from the Rural Business Service, arguing the programs are redundant with those in the Small Business Administration. At the same time, the budget also calls for cutting SBA staff by 67% and reducing the SBA budget by $671 million.

Agricultural Marketing Service, minus $61 million, calls for cutting "programs that provide annual, taxpayer-funded carve-outs for the same grantees every year without proper competition." The budget stated commodity checkoff programs could fund such projects.

The budget again proposes to zero out discretionary Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) from farm bill funding, which was estimated at $979 million for FY 2026. The budget proposes to spend $307 million on CTA from remaining Inflation Reduction Act funds. USDA states CTA will see $2.2 billion across multiple accounts.

"The CTA program will be funded through the farm bill's Farm Security and Rural Investment Programs," the budget states.

INCREASES

Along with reorganization funding, USDA will beef up its Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Coordination from $1.7 million in spending to $15.3 million. The office would go from four full-time staff to 38 staff.

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CUTS

Essential Air Service (EAS) Discretionary Funding (-$372 million).

EAS operates in 177 communities nationally, including 65 in Alaska. The service helps subsidize flights from small rural airports to major hubs.

The White House states EAS "funnels taxpayer dollars to airlines to subsidize half-empty flights from airports that are within easy commuting distance from each other, while also failing to effectively provide assistance to most rural air travelers." Spending on this program is out of control, more than doubling between 2021 and 2025. The budget reins in EAS subsidies by proposing a mix of reforms to adjust eligibility and subsidy rates to help rural communities' air transportation needs in a more sustainable manner, while maintaining the program.

DEMOCRATS CRITICIZE PROPOSAL

There were no immediate releases from lawmakers supporting the budget package for agriculture and rural areas. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins also did not issue a statement Friday about the budget.

The ranking members of the House and Senate agriculture committees both criticized the Trump administration's budget proposal.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said, "The President's proposed 2027 USDA budget request fails to adequately fund key priorities for our nation's farmers, rural communities, and the environment."

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., said, "The president's war in Iran has driven fertilizer costs sky-high, making inputs even more expensive than their historical highs. At this critical time, rather than invest in farm country and rural America, the president has decided to gut key programs critical to the growth and success of family farmers. This budget is just another signal from this White House that they take farmers -- and the critical work they do to feed and fuel the world -- for granted."

White House budget topline: https://www.whitehouse.gov/… .

USDA budgetary notes: https://www.usda.gov/… .

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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