Proposed Federal Budget Takes Aim at Crop Insurance
The Obama administration last week released its final budget proposal for 2017. In agriculture, the headlines focused on proposed cuts to crop insurance, which would save the federal government $18 billion over 10 years.
The proposed budget has been characterized as a non-starter because Obama's second term is concluding, and Republicans control Congress.
Richard Wilkins, President of the American Soybean Association, said the numbers still serve to begin a productive conversation.
“Regardless of the long-term prospects of this specific proposal,” Wilkins said, “let’s use it to at least start a discussion about how important these programs are to farmers, and how we get them funded for the coming year.”
USDA's mandatory 2017 budget is $130 billion; its proposed discretionary budget is $24.6 billion.
The USDA budget spans federal programs such as support for rural infrastructure, loans to beginning farmers, trade, research, conservation and nutrition. Highlights in the 2017 proposal:
- $700 million for the nation’s competitive, peer-reviewed research program for ag sciences;
- $30 million to increase preparedness for animal diseases like the avian flu;
- $39 million for broadband grants to rural communities, which triples broadband spending;
- $15 million for the purchase of food aid commodities for shipment overseas and a call for the department to have an in-country presence in Cuba;
- $11 million for conservation, which is expected to expand conservation work to another 2.9 million acres;
- $8.5 million to modernize science-based decision-making for the Food Safety and Inspection Service
- $18 billion for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program and a summer feeding program.
The budget also includes a 22% cut to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Wilkins said the ASA was “disappointed with this budget’s neglect of investments in waterways infrastructure, which is vital to rural economies …”
Source: Agri-News S