President Barack Obama’s proposed budget calls for reducing Agriculture Department spending by approximately $700 million in 2013. Of particular concern to growers are the suggested cuts to crop insurance, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Newsline report, released on Monday.
“We don’t know exactly how they plan to affect that savings,” explained Dale Moore, AFBF farm policy specialist. “We want to make sure that whatever crop insurance plan there is down at USDA for funding the crop insurance is robust and keeps focused on those risk management tools as a critical part of farmers’ risk management safety net.”
Plans to decrease conservation programs don’t sit well with farmers and ranchers either, said Moore, who stressed that the president’s budget, while indicative of the administration’s priorities, is far from a done deal. It is Congress that passes the annual federal government spending bills, although that’s not to say they won’t take the president’s budget into account.
