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Vilsack touts conservation and research aspects of FY2017 budget

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says President Obama’s fiscal year 2017 budget will enhance conservation and ag research projects.

Vilsack told reporters the dollars would be invested in environmental stewardship.

“This budget provides resources for 44 million additional acres in our conservation programs, including for our RCPP Program; roughly $38 million dollars above what we had allocated for RCPP.”

The USDA expects to add to the record number of acres enrolled in conservation activities through the Regional Conservation Partnership (RCPP) and other programs.

Vilsack says the budget would also expand innovation and opportunity.

“The fact that we have seen 71 consecutive months of job growth in the country with 14 million new jobs and an unemployment rate nationally that’s below five percent, is in part because of the investments that are being made creating opportunity and promoting innovation in rural areas.”

The president’s 2017 budget invests a total of $700 million dollars for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), the fully authorized funding level established by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill.