July 8, 2025
President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law on July 4. The sweeping legislative package includes significant implications for agriculture, nutrition programs and tax policy. IFPA members should take note of the following provisions affecting our industry:
Specialty Crop Provisions
Thanks to the leadership of House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman and the efforts of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, this bill delivers long-awaited investments and reforms for specialty crops while leaving some priorities for future action.
The OBBBA dedicates the following multi-year funding and program improvements for specialty crops:
- $100 million/year for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
- $175 million/year for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI).
- Doubling funding for the Market Access Program (MAP).
- Full funding for both the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) program and the Emergency Citrus Disease Research and Development Trust Fund.
- Permanent AGI exemption for Title 1, disaster, and conservation programs for growers earning 75% of income from farming.
- Increased support for pest management, organic certification cost-share, crop insurance enhancements, and USDA’s Specialty Crop Market News.
- Expanded Tree Assistance Program (TAP) and new investments in mechanization research.
Note: Several important specialty crop priorities were not included due to Senate rules. These include comprehensive crop insurance reform, procurement reform to increase U.S.-grown produce in government programs, and adjustments to reflect industry changes since the 2018 farm bill. IFPA will continue working to advance these critical policies.
SNAP Provisions
The bill makes substantial changes to the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP), including:
- Eliminates the SNAP Nutrition Education Program (SNAP-Ed) after 2025.
- $186 billion in SNAP cuts, with new work requirements for adults 55–64 and parents of children 14+.
- Restricts eligibility of a set of non-citizen populations.
- Limits on SNAP benefit growth by restricting utility calculations and changes to the Thrifty Food Plan (adjusting for inflation only and not tying to other economic or nutrition-related adjustments).
- Increased cost-sharing for states, requiring them to cover 5–15% of SNAP benefit costs.
- Delays to cost-sharing penalties for states with high error rates like Hawaii and Alaska.
School Meals
The bill does not directly address the National School Lunch Program but changes to Medicaid and SNAP eligibility are expected to:
- Reduce the number of students who are automatically eligible for school meals, which may reduce school meal participation.
- Increase administrative costs at school level as districts will need to process more individual applications for school meal eligibility (versus automatic certification from the state).
- Result in schools losing eligibility for the Community Eligibility Provision (which allows schools to opt-in to serving all students in school at no cost to student) in exchange for a different cost share model.
Key Tax Provisions
The Senate’s version of the bill delivers long-term tax policy certainty for growers and rural businesses:
- Permanent increase in the standard deduction to $15,750.
- Permanent full bonus depreciation for equipment and capital investments.
- Section 199A deduction (20%) made permanent for pass-through ag businesses.
- Immediate expensing of domestic R&D expenses starting next year.
- Higher SALT deduction caps, rising to $40,000 in 2025 and adjusting through 2029.
- Capital gains flexibility for farmland sales to farmers committing to farm for at least 10 years.
- Extension of the 45Z clean fuel production credit for North American ag feedstocks through 2029.
Resources
Access a visual summary overview of key changes for agriculture, taxes, and immigration.
IFPA will continue working with Congress and the administration to address remaining specialty crop priorities and monitor implementation of OBBBA provisions. For questions or to get involved in IFPA’s advocacy efforts, please contact our government relations team at USGR@freshproduce.com.