January 24, 2024 2:50 a.m.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden said he has joined Senate colleagues to urge top federal officials to increase the Department of Agriculture’s research budget by at least five percent, plus inflation, for Fiscal Year 2025.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack and Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young, the senators wrote, “As the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget request is prepared, we request that an increase of at least five percent, plus inflation, above the FY 2024 funding levels proposed by the Senate, be provided across the board for all USDA research activities underway with the Agricultural Research Service, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Economic Research Service and the National Agricultural Statistics Service”.

Wyden’s release said in their letter, the senators emphasized the importance of public funding for food and agriculture research as it ensures the United States remains competitive globally.

The letter said, “Between 2008 and 2013, however, public investments in food and agriculture research dropped by 20 percent in inflation-adjusted terms, while the contributions by large private-sector corporations have increased by 64 percent over the same period. The public sector can pursue research into subjects and specialties that the private sector cannot or will not”. The senators said, “Open-access research helps to increase the pace of discoveries….by some estimates ranging between 20 to 60 percent rate of return”.

The senators also wrote that the increased funding would prepare the food and agricultural sector for future challenges including global population growth, sustainability, changing weather patterns, and plant and animal diseases.

The letter was led by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, Along with Wyden, it was signed by 12 other Democratic senators.