Late last week a coalition of 58 farm groups including the National Corn Grower’s Association sent a letter to the House and Senate Budget Committees asking them not to make any further cuts to crop insurance. Iowa Corn Grower’s Association President Bob Hemesath says crop insurance is a critical safety net program for farmers who are already suffering from low prices.
He says crop insurance and agriculture make up a relatively small part of the overall U.S budget and should be exempt from any major budget cutting efforts.
Hemesath says there are more savings by having crop insurance in place than going to ad hoc disaster programs and funding those.
Late last year lawmakers avoided a $ 3 billion cut to crop insurance through a catch all spending bill. The President’s recent budget proposal includes even more cuts to the federal crop insurance program however GOP leaders call that plan “dead on arrival”.
