Page 1 GAO-25-106347 Livestock Feeding Operations
The federal government provides agricultural producers tens of billions in
financial assistance every year. This financial assistance covers revenue
shortfalls related to commodity price declines or scarce harvests, among other
things. From 2018 through 2023, programs administered by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) increased the amount of assistance to agricultural
producers who manage livestock feeding operations. Historically, the agency has
provided most of its assistance to agricultural producers who grow crops.
A livestock feeding operation usually houses a single species in a confined
setting, such as a building or open-air pen, and provides the animals with feed.
Generally, livestock feeding operations must meet eligibility requirements to
receive federal financial assistance from USDA programs. For the purposes of
this report, we define livestock feeding assistance as federal financial assistance
for confined livestock feeding operations—such as dairy, hog, poultry, and
feedlot beef cattle production—and other assistance as federal financial
assistance for all nonlivestock feeding production—such as crops and grazing
beef cattle. Some of these assistance programs help the federal government
support the food supply chain, such as income-assistance programs; crop
insurance; and supplemental assistance programs, such as the Coronavirus
Food Assistance Program.
We were ask
ed to report on federal support for livestock feeding operations,
including the amount of assistance and the characteristics of those operations.
This report provides information on the amount of financial assistance provided
to livestock feeding operations from 2018 through 2023 and describes key
characteristics of operations that received this assistance.
• The top 10,000 livestock operations—which we define as those that
received the most federal financial assistance—received a total of $12.1
billion in total assistance from 2018 through 2023, with an average
assistance of about $1.2 million per operation over that time. The majority
of assistance came from supplemental programs during the 6-year
period.
• Dairy, hogs, and beef cattle commodities were the three largest
commodities to receive livestock assistance for the top 10,000 operations,
at $4 billion, $1.4 billion, and $1.4 billion from 2018 through 2023,
respectively.
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Department of Agriculture: Financial
Assistance to Livestock Feeding Operations
-25-106347
Q&A Report to Congressional
Requesters
November 12, 2024
