2020 Budget Devastating To Farmers

(BISMARCK, ND) – The agriculture community agrees the 2020 proposed budget cuts are detrimental to farm country and rural America. Farmers have spoken out with opposition to the huge cuts to the USDA budget that have been proposed. Overall, USDA’s budget would be cut by 15%, including an apparent 8% cut, to $1.2 billion, for the department’s Agricultural Research Service.The requested budget calls for $20.8 billion for the USDA, a cut of $3.6 billion from the 2019 estimate. The budget calls its subsidies to farmers “overly generous.” Interesting wording considering they are going through the worst crisis in decades because of low commodity prices and Trump’s trade tariffs. The budget also proposes tightening around the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which feeds roughly 40 million Americans and is administered by the Agriculture Department. The budget also cuts crop insurance and farm subsidies up to $28 million over the next decade. This is why many are calling farmers “losers” in this budget.