UPDATE, March 6: The budget proposal also includes cuts in development and housing programs, "including nearly $160 million in cuts to Water/Wastewater grants,
$66 million less for Rural Business programs, and $38 million in cuts to
Rural Housing programs," and $93. million in cuts to the the U.S. Department of Agriculture's poultry inspection program, reports the Daily Yonder. (Read more)
The recently passed Farm Bill increased investments in crop insurance by $5.7 billion, but President Obama's $3.9 trillion fiscal 2015 budget proposal released Tuesday calls for the program to be cut by about $14 billion over 10 years. "The bill also contains language restricting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ability to make future budget cuts in crop insurance," reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. The government pays $3 billion per year "for the private insurance companies to administer and underwrite the program and $6 billion per year in premium subsidies to the farmers."
USDA's proposed budget of $23.7 billion in discretionary spending would be $938 million less than its current funding, but it includes more money fro rural broadband and "the creation of three agricultural research institutes dedicated to crop science, advanced bio-based manufacturing and anti-microbial resistance research," costing $75 million, Lisa Rein reports for The Washington Post.
Agri-Pulse reports the proposal also:
• Has $50 million "to enhance research through public-private grants, strengthen pollinator habitat in core areas, double the number of acres in the Conservation Reserve Program that are dedicated to pollinator health and increase funding for surveys to determine the impacts on pollinator losses."
• Has "$58 million for a new economic-development grant program designed to target small and emerging private businesses and cooperatives in rural areas."
• "Supports direct and guaranteed loans to assist 40,000 producers, 85 percent of which will be beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged producers."
• "Provides an increase of $12 million to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," better known as food stamps, the big-ticket item in any Farm Bill.
Agri-Pulse is subscription only, but a free trial is available by clicking here. To read a statement by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the budget proposal, click here.
The recently passed Farm Bill increased investments in crop insurance by $5.7 billion, but President Obama's $3.9 trillion fiscal 2015 budget proposal released Tuesday calls for the program to be cut by about $14 billion over 10 years. "The bill also contains language restricting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ability to make future budget cuts in crop insurance," reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. The government pays $3 billion per year "for the private insurance companies to administer and underwrite the program and $6 billion per year in premium subsidies to the farmers."
USDA's proposed budget of $23.7 billion in discretionary spending would be $938 million less than its current funding, but it includes more money fro rural broadband and "the creation of three agricultural research institutes dedicated to crop science, advanced bio-based manufacturing and anti-microbial resistance research," costing $75 million, Lisa Rein reports for The Washington Post.
Agri-Pulse reports the proposal also:
• Has $50 million "to enhance research through public-private grants, strengthen pollinator habitat in core areas, double the number of acres in the Conservation Reserve Program that are dedicated to pollinator health and increase funding for surveys to determine the impacts on pollinator losses."
• Has "$58 million for a new economic-development grant program designed to target small and emerging private businesses and cooperatives in rural areas."
• "Supports direct and guaranteed loans to assist 40,000 producers, 85 percent of which will be beginning farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged producers."
• "Provides an increase of $12 million to reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program," better known as food stamps, the big-ticket item in any Farm Bill.
Agri-Pulse is subscription only, but a free trial is available by clicking here. To read a statement by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the budget proposal, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment