NAAA is pleased to report that we continue to be successful in ensuring the importance of aerial application research to USDA and Congress. Within the last few weeks the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved the FY2014 Agriculture Appropriations Bills and included language endorsing the continued support of the USDA-ARS Aerial Application Technology Program. The House Appropriations Bill totals $19.5 billion in discretionary funding and represents a $1.3 billion cut from the 2013 enacted level of funding, while the Senate version totals $20.93 billion and is $420 million above the 2013 enacted level. The 2014 projected Agricultural Research Service appropriations funding represents an overall increase of $664,000 and $21,297,000 in the House and Senate respectively, compared to ARS's funding this year. Since 2002 NAAA has been successful in lobbying the government for an additional $6,512,500 to be invested in aerial application research.
The mention of aerial application within House and Senate legislation is once again no small feat, as it is one of only a handful of programs specifically mentioned. Identical language in both bills reads as follows:
Aerial Application Research.—The Committee recognizes the importance of the ARS Aerial Application Technology Program. The program conducts innovative research making aerial applications more efficient, effective, and precise. Research for aerial application serves the public good as a vital tool for the future, as agriculture strives to meet the food, fiber, and bio-energy demands of a growing population.
Both appropriations bills will now respectively move to the House and Senate floors and a timeline for debate on each has not yet been given. NAAA will continue to monitor the appropriations language to ensure adequate USDA- ARS funding for the continued design of aerial application technologies, tools and techniques that mitigate drift, result in fuel savings, as well as make aerial applications more efficacious.
