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Farm Bureau says Congress will be the one to decide 2018 budget

The president of the American Farm Bureau Federation says Congress needs to understand how significant the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts would be to agriculture.

“Our focus is going to be on Congress.  The President makes his proposal, but the Congress really writes the budget.”

Zippy Duvall tells Brownfield the 21 percent proposed cuts to USDA would be devastating to agriculture.  “It couldn’t have come at a worse time because the farm economy is as bad as it’s been in decades.”

He says defending crop insurance will be their number one priority.  “When you start talking about cutting into crop insurance, it doesn’t only affect your ability to have a safety net, but it affects your ability to borrow money, so it’s going to affect our lending institutions.”

Duvall says the organization will also work to protect USDA programs that are critical to ag trade and rural communities, among others.

AUDIO: Interview with Zippy Duvall