Wisconsin Ag Connection - National/World News - Cuts in Obama's Proposed Budget Has Ag Groups 'Unsatisfied'

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Cuts in Obama's Proposed Budget Has Ag Groups 'Unsatisfied'
USAgNet - 02/02/2010

The Obama administration says it wants to save billions of dollars by putting new limits on farm subsidies and cutting back on government support for crop-insurance companies, according to the fiscal year 2011 budget proposal released Monday by the White House. According to media reports, farmers who most need assistance will continue to get it, but "wealthy farmers should be cut off from the billions of dollars the U.S. Department of Agriculture doles out every year, according to the budget proposal."

Farmers are currently excluded from subsidies if their non-farm-related adjusted gross income, or AGI, is more than $500,000 or their farm-related AGI is more than $750,000. But according to the Wall Street Journal, the administration wants to lower those income ceilings by $250,000 in each category over a three-year period, thus excluding more farmers. The cap on how much any farmer can be paid is also being targeted for a 25% cut. Under that proposal no farmer could collect more than $30,000 a year in subsidies, down from the current $40,000.

Meanwhile, agricultural groups are calling foul over some of the major cuts being made to other farm programs. The American Farmland Trust says despite the administration's desire to support conservation and agriculture, and address such issues as climate change and renewable energy, reductions of over one-half a billion dollars in mandatory conservation program spending 'will make it much more difficult for farmers and ranchers to make changes necessary to protect our air, land and water.'

The President's proposed budget would cut hundreds of millions of dollars from working lands conservation programs that was promised under the 2008 Farm Bill. Some of the key cuts include:

** Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program - A cost-share program that helps farmers keep their land in agriculture in perpetuity has been slated for $55 million in cuts over the next two years. Typically in this program every $1 the government invests in conservation easements is matched by $3 from farmers, local and state programs;

** Environmental Quality Incentives Program - The conservation program that encourages landowners to install buffer strips between fields and streams, fence livestock out of waterways, and more, would be slashed by $380 million, or by 31% in 2011;

** The Conservation Security Program is to be cut by hundreds of millions of dollars. Depending on the final reimbursement rate per acre used, this could be as high as a $331 million loss. CSP is a program that provides cost-share monies to farmers to assist in implementing on-farm stewardship practices on working farm and ranchland.

The American Soybean Association also expressed disappointment in the proposals to cut funding for farm programs. ASA President Rob Joslin, a soybean producer from Sidney, Ohio, says agriculture spending, not including nutrition programs, is projected to account for just over one-half of one percent of next year's $3.8 trillion budget.

"Cutting the farm safety net to achieve minimal savings would jeopardize an industry that continues to be a key driver for U.S. economic recovery and export growth," he said.

In a statement after the budget was released, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the challenges facing rural communities for decades have grown more acute.

"This year, President Obama took steps to bring us back from the brink of a depression and grow the economy again. But with the unsustainable debt accumulated over the past decade, it's time to get our fiscal house in order," Vilsack said. "Our proposed FY 2011 budget is a reflection of that reality, essentially freezing funding for discretionary programs at the FY 2010 level. However, limits we placed on select programs and efforts to eliminate earmarks and one-time funding actually result in a bottom line reduction to our discretionary budget authority of over $1 billion."

The budget will now work its way through Congress before being voted in at the end of the fiscal year in September.