After reviewing the proposed FY 2022 budget released by President Biden, National Potato Council (NPC) learned the proposal calls for eliminating funding for National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Potato Research Special Grants, which totaled $2.8 million in 2021.
For more than 30 years, NPC has worked with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to secure NIFA funding in order to support competitive potato breeding projects across the country.
“This announcement today by the Biden Administration is disappointing. Now is not the time to be reducing federal resources for cutting edge agricultural research conducted by universities across the United States. NPC strongly opposes these cuts to funding that has been supported by Congress on a bipartisan basis for years,” said NPC President Dominic LaJoie.
NPC intends to work with Congress to reject the proposed cuts and ensure that this valuable bipartisan investment is maintained and enhanced in the FY22 Appropriations process.
