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Farm Bureau says there’s not much to like in Obama budget

Dale Moore

The American Farm Bureau director of public policy says there isn’t much to like about President Obama’s fiscal year 2017 budget proposal.

Dale Moore tells Brownfield that while Farm Bureau appreciates a proposed increase in funding for ag research, potential cuts to crop insurance top the list of what’s wrong with the budget.

“After fighting the fight up on Capitol Hill last year, where folks were trying to cut $3 billion dollars out of the crop insurance program; we turn around and President Obama’s budget has got basically an $18 billion dollar cut in the federal crop insurance program over the 10 year process of his particular budget.”

He questions proposing these cuts at a time when farm incomes are down more than 50 percent over the last two years.

“This goes right at those risk management tools that are so important to our farmers in terms of managing mother nature, market volatility or the combination.  That’s something just right out of the box…kind of like dropping a big rock on our feet.”

Moore says ag leaders on Capitol Hill are letting the president know he can’t go so heavily after programs important to farmers and ranchers.

“In their own ways, each of them is reminding not only all the folks around town but certainly the president…thank you for sending this proposal up, but we will write the budget.  We will determine how these appropriations (are) measured going forward, and we do hope that you will cooperate with us.”

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack explained the 18 Billion in cuts over 10 years in a budget hearing – saying they are in response to audits by the Office of Inspector General and the Government Accounting Office. Those audits criticized the USDA for not changing preventive planting rules that can pay producers for a crop that can’t initially be planted but could be planted later and sold by the farmer. Instead of subsidizing 62% of the premium in the price harvest lost area, he said USDA would subsidize a little over 50%.

 

 

 

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