Farm Groups Defend Crop Insurance Budget

Farmers and legislators celebrated the end of 2018 with the passage of a bipartisan Farm Bill that preserves the farm safety net and provides farmers with the tools they need to manage the unique risks of farming.

As Congress begins the annual appropriations and budget process, America’s agricultural community joined forces to ensure that the crop insurance program receives the full funding that it requires to be successful.

Sixty organizations, ranging from farm groups to conservation organizations and lenders, sent a letter yesterday to the House and Senate Budget Committees, as well as Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, urging them to protect crop insurance during the budget process in recognition of its central importance to farmers and the rural economy.

Trying to balance the federal budget on the backs of farmers and ranchers would be a mistake, they wrote, with disastrous consequences for America’s heartland.

USDA has projected that 2018 farm profitability will be lower than it has been in over a decade, and farm income dropped more than 45% in five years. An over-reliance on budget savings from the agriculture community and from crop insurance will unquestionably undermine rural economies.  It’s also important to note that in a time of uncertainty in the farming and ranching community – from natural disasters to trade disputes to government shutdowns – the public-private partnership that is crop insurance has been a consistent and reliable risk management tool.  The certainty of federal crop insurance also offers lenders the assurances they need to continue to provide capital to America’s hard-working farmers and ranchers….

Cuts to crop insurance during this difficult time for rural America should be avoided.  Farmers and lawmakers agree that crop insurance is a linchpin of the farm safety net and is crucial to the economic and food security of rural America. The importance of crop insurance was just reaffirmed less than two months ago with the passage and signing of the 2018 Farm Bill, and we urge you to oppose cuts to crop insurance during this year’s budget process. 

Crop insurers and their allies in agriculture have been successful in fending off past attempts to weaken the farm safety net by harming this vital risk management tool. The overwhelming support crop insurance received during the 2018 Farm Bill debate is a testament to how popular the program has become – covering a record 334 million acres.