Farmers nationwide have long been strong advocates of crop insurance, a policy that makes sure that they won’t lose their farm based on trying to grow. Crop insurance came out of the dust bowl era, introduced in 1930 as a protection, a way to prevent over farming while making sure family farmers could get by in case things happened. The program was expanded, altered and changed through the years, by Republican and Democratic congress & presidents as a way to protect a required industry.
www.rma.usda.gov/…
Although more farmers took part in the program after passage of the 1980 Act, it did not achieve the level of participation that Congress had hoped for. Therefore, after a major drought in 1988, ad hoc disaster assistance was authorized to provide relief to needy farmers. Another ad hoc disaster bill was passed in 1989. A third one enacted in 1992 gave farmers the option of claiming disaster losses on a farm-by-farm basis for any year between 1990 and 1992.
Midwest farmers overwhelmingly voted for Trump and Republican house & senators based on their long experience with them in farming states. What they apparently didn’t expect was that Trump would be slow to appointing a Secretary of Agriculture, and that Trump would propose massive changes in the program.
ksn.com/…
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Earlier this week, agricultural groups pushed back against proposed cuts to agriculture proposed by President Donald Trump.
One of the proposals is a $40,000 cap on crop insurance, meaning many farmers will be unable to insure their entire acreage.
“Crop insurance cuts, seed is high, chemical is high, crop prices are low and crop insurance is already high so why should it get any higher?” AJ Lanier, a farmer near Whitewater said.
That’s right. Small farmers would get the ax. This news is especially devastating in light of this year’s crop damage, which makes the change fresh in mind for farmers.
www.agriculture.com/…
Blizzard conditions and heavy snow swept western Kansas, including 14 to 20 inches in Colby in the northwestern quadrant of the No. 1 winter wheat state in the nation, said the Weather Channel. “We lost the western Kansas wheat crop this weekend. Just terrible,” tweeted Justin Gilpin, chief executive of the grower-funded Kansas Wheat Commission.
With states like Kansas reeling from crop loss this year, the news that the administration is looking to cut the potential protection doesn’t sit well with those who had just backed Trump.
KSN, the local NBC affiliate, reached out to Senator Pat Roberts, who didn’t seem to back the administration’s plan, instead implying that maybe major cuts in SNAP could save the protection.
We support the Trump administration’s goal of achieving three percent economic growth for our nation. USDA’s latest estimates find agriculture, food, and related industries contribute $992 billion to our economy. As we debate the budget and the next Farm Bill, we will fight to ensure farmers have a strong safety net so this key segment of our economy can weather current hard times and continue to provide all Americans with safe, affordable food. Also, as a part of Farm Bill discussions, we need to take a look at our nutrition assistance programs to ensure that they are helping the most vulnerable in our society.
That also? It’s important because it reflects an either-or condition Republicans are floating. What is really being said is simple: Cuts are needed, farmers. We’d like to help you, but we plan to blame poor people in the cities for this change, so instead of being mad at us or Trump, we’d like you to be mad at the people who eat your product and blame them for Trump doing what he has to do.
For Democratic party members, it may be time to seriously think about not rubber stamping a bill that puts small farmers and the poor at risk, a plan the administration seems fully intent on putting into action.