The Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act would appropriate $700 million for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to assist agricultural producers with the costs of nutrient management and precision agriculture and for renewable fuels infrastructure. The bill also would create a special investigator for meat and poultry within USDA, create a food and supply chain task force, authorize USDA to make new loans and grants for livestock processing, expand eligible purposes of conservation loans to include precision agriculture, and authorize the year-round sale of E15 grade ethanol fuel.
Sections 603 and 604 would increase federal cost sharing for certain activities related to environmental protection and would authorize additional uses for funds appropriated under current law for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program. CBO estimates that enacting those sections would have insignificant effects on direct spending over the 2022-2032 period.
