WASHINGTON (December 13, 2019)– The Crop Insurance Coalition, led by the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB), sent a proactive letter of 57 national farm, lending, ag input, conservation, and insurance organizations to the Administration opposing cuts to crop insurance during the FY 2021 budget process.
- Click here for the letter to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue
The letter states:
“For good reason, the state of the agricultural economy has been the subject of numerous recent hearings, reports, and media coverage. Cash crop receipts have dropped more than $34 billion since 2012, and despite a recent bump in net farm income this year, net farm income is still down $44 billion from 2013 in inflation-adjusted dollars. Multiple years of hardship have taken their toll on farm families across the country. Farm debt has increased 55 percent over the last decade, and now stands at $415 billion. Moreover, inflation-adjusted farm debt is at a level just shy of the record set prior to the farm financial crash of the early 1980’s. More farms are struggling to service this debt and as a result, farm bankruptcies have increased 24 percent since just last year.
Given this picture of the agricultural economy, now is not the time to make cuts to crop insurance, a program that farmers have described time and again as a linchpin of the farm safety net. This Administration has gone the extra mile during these difficult times to provide much-needed aid to farmers suffering from unfair retaliatory tariffs from China through ad hoc assistance such as the Market Facilitation Program. It would undercut these efforts to then recommend cuts to a program such as crop insurance that provides predictable, on-budget assistance to farmers in a way that helps lenders continue to support America’s farmers and ranchers. No other piece of the farm safety net can provide this reassurance to lenders.”
Please contact CIRB Federal Affairs Vice President Tara Smith at tsmith@torreydc.com with any questions about the letter or the Crop Insurance Coalition.