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Land Stewardship Project favors Trump proposal to cut federal crop insurance

A non-profit ag organization based in the Upper Midwest has spoken out in favor of cuts to federal crop insurance proposed in President Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget.

Tom Nuessmeier, a policy organizer for the Land Stewardship Project (LSP), says their members in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and surrounding states support limits on premium subsidy amounts for farmers.

“Currently it’s the only government farm program where there are no limits.  In commodity title, you’ve got limits.  In the conservation programs you’ve got limits.  This is the only one where there’s not (a limit).  What that means is that there are farm operations in Minnesota that during certain years were receiving over a million and a half (dollars) through this type of program.”

Nuessmeier acknowledges crop insurance is an important program that he and many farmers utilize to manage risk, but says certain areas need reform.

He tells Brownfield other aspects of the President’s budget, like cuts to conservation, are of great concern to LSP.

“Conservation programs are very important.  The use of them and the use of farmers in those programs…the availability of funding for those programs, has a direct connection to what we see on our farms.  The health of the soil, the amount of soil that stays in place.”

Nuessmeier says there’s also a direct connection between conservation and water quality, an important issue in Minnesota and elsewhere.

In his budget proposal, Trump calls for cuts of more than $230 billion from mandatory Farm Bill spending over 10 years.