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Iowa Corn leader criticizes budget cuts

The president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association says they’ll urge Congress to reject the Trump administration’s budget cuts for agriculture.

Kurt Hora says the cuts to crop insurance are their biggest concern.

“We don’t want that—that’s our safety net,” Hora says. “We don’t need to make a profit off of crop insurance, but we need to have that safety net there, that if we have an event that’s out of our control, we can survive that.”

Hora says the elimination of export promotion funding and reductions in conservation program funding are also concerning. In general, he says, it’s disappointing to see ag spending take such a big hit.

“This is the part of the United States that strongly supported the Trump Administration,” he says. “To me, it shows we’ve got to do a little more educating with them.

“They took a long time in getting a Secretary of Agriculture in, and they took a long time in getting the trade representatives in. If they go in there and evaluate those programs, I feel very strongly they’ll understand that they are adding a lot of value to rural America—to all of America—and especially the ag economy.”

AUDIO: Kurt Hora