Ag groups oppose cuts to safety net
Mar 13, 2009 12:55 PM
A letter co-signed by 39 other agricultural and related organizations and sent to congressional leaders expresses strong opposition to the more than $16 billion in cuts to the farm safety net proposed in President Obamas fiscal 2010 budget. The USA Rice Federation developed and coordinated the budget letter.
The organizations sent the detailed letter to House and Senate budget and agriculture committee chairmen and ranking Republicans.
U.S. producers are struggling to understand and comply with confusing, costly and burdensome payment and eligibility rule changes that far exceed what the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (farm bill) required, the Congress intended, and producers anticipated.
The cuts threaten, once again, to change the rules midstream on American farm and ranch families, the letter said.
The letters signatories said the proposed spending reductions would strike at the economic heart of full-time farm families of all sizes in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression [and] at a time when net farm income is projected to be down 20 percent.
The proposals threaten the viability of family-owned farms and ranches, which would further undermine the U.S. economy, the letter said.
Organizations signing with the USA Rice Federation:
Alabama Peanut Producers Association
American Association of Crop Insurers
American Beekeeping Federation
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Sesame Growers Association
American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers
American Soybean Association
American Sugar Alliance
CoBank
Crop Insurance Professionals Association
Crop Insurance Research Bureau
Farm Credit Council
Florida Peanut Producers Association
Georgia Peanut Commission
Independent Community Bankers of America
Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America
Mississippi Peanut Growers Association
National Association of Wheat Growers
National Barley Growers Association
National Corn Growers Association
National Cotton Council
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
National Farmers Union
National Sorghum Producers
National Sunflower Association
North Carolina Peanut Growers Association
Northeast States Association for Agriculture Stewardship
Peanut Growers Cooperative Marketing Association
Rain and Hail LLC
Rural Community Insurance Services
State Agriculture and Rural Leaders
Southern Peanut Farmers Federation
Southwest Council of Agribusiness
United Dairymen of Arizona
US Canola Association
US Rice Producers Association
USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council
USA Rice Federation
Virginia Peanut Growers Association
Western Peanut Growers Association
