It’s been almost two months since congressional Republicans passed their budget bill, nicknamed the “big, beautiful bill,” which had sweeping impacts on grants and funding for state programs.

Now, Utah officials are starting to see those impacts. 

[Last week], officials from Utah’s departments of environmental quality, oil gas and mining, agriculture and food, and energy development spoke to lawmakers during a Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment interim committee about the negative and positive impacts on their state agencies.

Among the impacts are the elimination of grants helping mitigate radon, more funding for programs that help farmers during market downturns, scaling back credits for renewable energy, and boosting oil and gas production. 


Impacts for Utah Division of Agriculture and Food 

Conner Peterson, director of legislative and government affairs for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, touted a number of provisions in the bill on Wednesday aimed at helping the state’s farmers.

Consider this: 

  • A total of $66 billion will go toward programs described as the “farm safety net,” which includes commodity programs that help with loss, risk coverage, or unpredictable dairy margins. “It helps producers, farmers and ranchers during market downturns,” said Peterson.
  • An increase will be made in the estate and gift tax exemption, nicknamed the “death tax,” that Peterson said will “help farms to stay in families, to pass down from generation to generation.” The exemption will increase from $5.5 million per person, or $11 million per couple, to $15 million per person or $30 million per couple.
  • An increase in the annual block grant for specialty crops, which is currently $350,000 in Utah.
  • Payments to farmers whose animals are killed by predators will increase, now compensating them for 100% of the losses, and compensating them for any unborn livestock. Previously, the program covered 75% of losses.

Additionally, funding that goes to the Utah Division of Water Quality, by way of the federal Clean Water Act, for rangeland and cropland improvement projects was also impacted. That funding helps staff five employees with the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food — on Wednesday, the department said it’s working to restore those funds. 


This article was originally written by Kyle Dunphey of Utah News Dispatch (www.utahnewsdispatch.com) on 8/21/25. Only a segment of the article was included here, which pertained to agriculture. The full article can be found HERE.