LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Farm Bureau’s (MFB) mantra for now in response to President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled federal budget plan might be “it’s just a proposal.”

 

More practically, the MFB formed a task force about two months ago to respond to early reports of proposed cuts to USDA programs that had been floated by the White House. And on May 23, the administration put forth a budget seeking $1.5 trillion in non-defense discretionary cuts and $1.4 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the course of a decade, while adding nearly $500 billion to defense spending, according to media reports.

“It’s only a proposal,” said MFB Associate National Legislative Counsel John Kran. “It is Congress that ultimately passes and implements a budget. While concern is warranted, the final budget and the final 2018 farm bill will look vastly different tomorrow than it does today. That being said, we don’t support these proposed cuts and will make sure lawmakers and the administration know how detrimental they could be to Michigan agriculture.”

The MFB formed a nine-member 2018 farm bill task force earlier this year and held its first meeting in March. The group wants to begin shaping how the organization will influence development of the upcoming farm bill.

American Farm Bureau Federation’s Senior Director for Congressional Relations Mary Kay Thatcher presented at the March meeting a discussion of the “political landscape” of the bill, how food assistance programs impact the production agriculture sections of the law and what issues she expects to be most contentious or susceptible to change. “The 2014 farm bill was the seventh-mostlobbied piece of legislation, with 370 organizations filing as lobbyists on the farm bill,” Thatcher said in an April 3 report in Michigan Farm News. “The only bills receiving more attention were appropriations and immigration and border security.”

The task force has already identified three farm program priorities for the 2018 farm bill: risk management/crop insurance/whole revenue protection; specialty crops and related research; and dairy programs.

These are all areas that could be significantly impacted under the Trump budget proposal.

 

According to Kran, under the proposal overall farm bill spending would be cut $240 billion over a 10-year period. About $46 billion of those reductions would come from agriculture programs, while  the other $194 billion would be slashed from nutrition programs.

Within agriculture programs funding, crop insurance revisions represent more than 63 percent of the total cuts designed to reduce federal outlays by more than $29 billion over the next 10 years. Conservation-related funding is targeted for another $5.7 billion reduction over that decade.

 

“This proposed budget cut of nearly $6 billion to conservation programs will severely affect the ability of Natural Resource & Conservation staff and the Farm Service Agency to keep their offices staffed, provide the equipment and training those staff need and provide the technical and financial assistance farmers need,” said Laura Campbell, MFB’s ag ecology manager.

She said the administration’s budget proposal calls for the complete elimination of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which provides $300 million in funding for a wide range of water protection activities throughout the Great Lakes region, including beach monitoring, storm drain and sewer infrastructure upgrades, river banks restoration, agricultural conservation practices to prevent soil erosion and loss of nutrients.

The proposed budget would also cut USDA research funds by nearly $320 million, affecting the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, which are some of the primary supporters of research into food production and food safety, Kran said.

In a statement from May 23, the National Assoc. of Wheat Growers (NAWG) complained that if the budget proposal became law, it would eliminate the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program.

Those would be part of the $5.7 billion cut mentioned above.  The budget request also proposes significant cuts to wheat research-related agricultural programs, including the U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, NAWG stated.

The request additionally proposes the closure of several ARS facilities. “These sort of proposals are shortsighted, particularly given the importance of publicly funded research for the wheat industry,” the organization said.

For its part, the National Corn Growers Assoc. noted the proposed budget would eliminate funding for the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development program, which are geared toward facilitating agricultural exports.

In a video message to USDA staff on May 23, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tried to prepare people for what he said is coming: “There’s no sugar-coating what we will face – USDA will likely see a significant reduction in funding by the time this process is complete.”