Federal crop insurance and the critical role it serves as part of the farm safety net unexpectedly took center stage at a recent Senate Finance hearing with the United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer.<\/p>\n
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow questioned USTR Lighthizer on the Office of Management and Budget\u2019s (OMB) proposed spending plan for Fiscal Year 2020, which takes aim at the United States Department of Agriculture. OMB suggested making cuts to a popular farm risk management tool: crop insurance.<\/p>\n
While this budget is unlikely to ever be adopted by Congress, Senator Stabenow, who is the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, rightly noted that cuts to the USDA and crop insurance would be contrary to the policy objectives established by the overwhelmingly bipartisan passage of the Farm Bill in December 2018.<\/p>\n
Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) immediately interjected, emphasizing that cutting crop insurance is a non-starter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would gut the program,\u201d the Chairman said of OMB\u2019s proposal, \u201cand that’s the one thing that our farmers and ranchers and growers all over the country said was the number one issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t alone in criticizing the plan.\u00a0 Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) made his objections heard a couple of days earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than 310 million farm acres protected by crop insurance would be at risk,\u201d he said of the plan, which he noted, \u201cundermines our farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
And those farmers have been very clear in their message to Capitol Hill to \u201cdo no harm\u201d to crop insurance. Some of these farmers reiterated this ask at this week\u2019s Agri-Pulse summit in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n
Luke Howard, an organic farmer from Millington, Maryland, shared how crop insurance helped his farm after a record rainfall last year, stating it was a lifesaver and \u201ca smart use of tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
And a first-generation farmer, John Shepherd from Blackstone, Virginia, emphasized that he may not have survived his first few years of farming without the safety net provided by crop insurance.<\/p>\n