The President has unveiled his FY18 budget, A New Foundation for American Greatness, proposing $3.6 trillion in cuts over ten years, including $228 billion in reductions to farm bill programs, which come in addition to the 21 percent cut advanced in President Trump’s “skinny budget” released in March.

The budget cuts breakdown:

• Cuts to the federal crop insurance program by $28.5 billion, or roughly 36 percent by capping the premium subsidy and eliminating the harvest price option.
• The White House’s proposed budget also would cut nearly $9 billion from Title I commodity supports, including the ARC) and PLC programs, by reducing the adjusted gross income (AGI) eligibility cap from $900,000 to $500,000.
• The budget eliminates funding for the two hallmark USDA programs for the expansion of foreign markets: the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development program (FMD).
• The budget would also zero out the McGovern Dole Food for Education Program, as well as the Food for Peace program (P.L. 480).
• The budget would cut nearly $6 billion from conservation programs, including the elimination of the Conservation Stewardship Program, which is USDA’s largest conservation program with more than 70 million acres enrolled, and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

Not all bad for agriculture, the budget proposal recognizes the need for infrastructure investments, including inland waterways and ports, as well as the need to reduce burdensome regulations and permitting processes.

As the President’s budget continues to be analyzed, ASA is aware the Congress, not the administration, passes the budget, and agriculture has rebuffed attacks on farm and food programs for years.

The danger is that the extreme and ill-informed cuts in this documents will embolden those in Congress who lack any understanding of how these programs combine to protect the food and farm supply chain for all Americans.

Access the full proposed budget here, and ASA’s release on the proposed budget here.