A letter sent to the Senate and House Budget Committees last week urges lawmakers to protect crop insurance from further cuts. The letter, signed by 58 farm organizations, tells lawmakers an overreliance on savings from the agriculture community in the future will significantly undermine rural economies, which have faced an estimated 54 percent decline in net farm income from 2013 to 2015. The groups say, “The 2014 Farm Bill is a careful balance of priorities and should not be reopened before its expiration in 2018 to achieve additional budget savings.” Lawmakers avoided a $3 billion cut to crop insurance through a catch-all spending bill late last year after the cuts were approved in an earlier budget agreement.
President Obama’s recent budget proposal includes more cuts to the federal crop insurance program, but GOP leaders called the plan at the time “dead on arrival.”
Source NAFB News Service