The Trump administration’s FY2026 budget request proposed a 21.1% reduction in discretionary Agriculture appropriations and steep cuts to specific Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) accounts. Those figures were proposals, not the final outcome: Congress enacted a different full-year funding law on November 12, 2025. The enacted Agriculture total was higher than the FY2025 comparable level, though some farmer-facing accounts still received less than the year before.
What did Trump’s FY2026 budget request propose?
The administration released a preliminary “skinny budget” on May 2, 2025, followed by its full FY2026 request on May 30. The request sought $21.0 billion in discretionary appropriations within the Agriculture appropriations jurisdiction—$5.6 billion, or 21.1%, below the comparable FY2025 level, according to the Congressional Research Service. That figure covers the appropriations jurisdiction, not every form of USDA spending.
Agriculture appropriations include both discretionary and mandatory funding. The headline comparison here concerns discretionary appropriations; it should not be read as a percentage reduction to all USDA spending or to every program. The administration described its request as a way to “empower[] the states” and eliminate duplication, a characterization in USDA’s FY2026 Budget Summary, rather than an independently measured result.
Which farmer-facing accounts were targeted?
The figures below distinguish the administration’s request from enacted funding. Amounts are account-level figures, not total agency budgets.
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| Account | FY2025 enacted | FY2026 administration request | FY2026 enacted |
|---|---|---|---|
| FSA salaries and expenses | $1.209 billion | $950 million | $1.125 billion |
| FSA farm-loan administration | $53.8 million | $31.6 million | not stated in the cited CRS comparison |
| NRCS Conservation Operations | $895.8 million | $112.3 million | $850 million |
The request would have reduced FSA salaries and expenses by $259 million compared with FY2025 and lowered farm-loan administration funding by $22.2 million. USDA’s budget summary also listed FSA total discretionary programs at $1.234 billion requested, versus $1.606 billion enacted in FY2025. For the final FY2026 outcome, CRS reports FSA discretionary appropriations totaling $1.503 billion.
FSA: loans, commodity programs and disaster assistance
FSA administers commodity programs, lending and disaster assistance. Its loan programs serve producers who may be unable to obtain suitable commercial credit. In its FY2026 budget summary, USDA reported that FSA made more than 24,500 direct and guaranteed loans totaling nearly $5.4 billion in 2024; beginning farmers accounted for 60% of that total. Those are historical scale figures, not estimates of the effects of the proposed cuts.
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NRCS: conservation operations and technical assistance
The request’s $112.3 million for NRCS Conservation Operations was $783 million, or 87.5%, below the FY2025 enacted amount. Congress enacted $850 million for that account in FY2026, closer to the prior-year level than the request. USDA’s request table separately showed no FY2026 request for Conservation Technical Assistance, while retaining lines for soil surveys, snow surveys and plant materials. That does not mean all NRCS conservation spending was proposed for elimination.
USDA said the request relied more on state and local partners, writing that it “relies even more on these groups that have a common and vested interest in the local landscape, community, or watersheds.” The summary said NRCS resources would consider where federal dollars could best leverage state and local work. This describes the administration’s proposed approach; it does not establish how services or conservation outcomes would change.
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USDA reported that NRCS developed conservation plans covering more than 75 million acres in 2023. That historical figure provides context for the agency’s work, not a projection of acres affected by the request.
Did Congress approve the proposed cuts?
No—not as a package. Congress enacted a full-year FY2026 Agriculture appropriations law on November 12, 2025. The CRS reports that the law provided $26.6 billion in discretionary Agriculture appropriations, excluding the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which was $335 million, or 1.3%, above the comparable FY2025 level. The administration’s request had sought $21.0 billion, so the enacted total was substantially different.
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The higher overall enacted total does not mean every account was protected. FSA salaries and expenses ended at $1.125 billion, 7.0% below FY2025, and NRCS Conservation Operations at $850 million, 5.1% below FY2025. Those enacted account reductions were much smaller than the reductions the administration had requested for those lines.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the budget figures do—and do not—say about farmers
FSA, NRCS and the Risk Management Agency (RMA) sit within USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation mission area. Their work includes lending, commodity and disaster programs, conservation assistance and crop insurance. USDA’s budget summary reported that RMA provided a record $207 billion in crop-insurance protection in calendar year 2023.
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- A budget request is a proposal; only enacted appropriations establish the funding Congress approved.
- A discretionary Agriculture total is not the same as an agency total or an individual account, and it does not capture every mandatory funding stream.
- Historical program scale figures describe prior activity, not the future effects of proposed or enacted changes.
- The cited sources do not quantify how funding changes affected an individual producer’s wait time, loan approval chances, conservation enrollment or insurance outcome.
For a farmer assessing practical effects, the relevant question is the funding and implementation of the particular program or account they use—not just the Agriculture-wide topline.
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