A diverse coalition of nearly 400 organizations representing agriculture, conservation, rural development and religious groups have written the leadership of the House and Senate Budget Committees urging them to reject any requests to cut programs within the farm bill.
The organizations reminded the budget committees that the 2014 farm bill included significant deficit reduction of $23 billion over 10 years, consolidated more than 100 programs, and made cuts to mandatory spending across many titles of the farm bill. The groups said, “These difficult cuts were made across the farm safety net, conservation, programs and nutrition programs. The policy changes and reforms associated with these cuts are only now being fully implemented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As such, no additional cuts to these programs should be considered, at least until these policies have time to take place and be thoroughly evaluated.”
Those signing the letter included American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farmers Union, American Association of Crop Insurers, American Farmland Trust, American Soybean Association, Bread for the World, Children’s Defense Fund, Farm Credit Council, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Milk Producers Federation, Pheasants Forever, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association and USA Rice Federation.
