The One Big Beautiful Bill’s USDA Conservation Spending Shuffle

Under reconciliation, the House-passed OBBB restructures USDA conservation funding by shifting part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) one-time investment into the Farm Bill baseline. While this increases long-term funding stability, CBO projects a net 1. 8 billion decline in conservation outlays over FY2025–FY2034, driven by rescinded IRA funds. EQIP faces short-term reductions, with permanent Farm Bill funding only partially offsetting losses. The shift away from climate-targeted IRA priorities also alters the geographic distribution of funding, disproportionately affecting counties and states that relied heavily on IRA-funded EQIP support.