Thirty-nine farm and ag organizations sent a letter to the House and Senate Budget Committee leadership stating their strong opposition to the administration’s proposed farm bill budget cuts. The groups reminded the leadership that these cuts are being proposed just eight months after the enactment of the 2008 Farm Bill and that many of the rules implementing the farm bill are not even in place.

Also, the farm bill contains more than $7.6 billion in cuts to the safety net “despite the fact that the cost of these provisions over the preceding six years was already $21.8 billion under budget,” the letter said. The groups stated, “Most troubling, far from targeting large agribusinesses that do not need assistance, the proposed cuts would strike at the economic heart of full-time farm families, of every sized operation, in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and at a time when net farm income is projected to be down 20%, threatening the viability of hundreds of thousands of family-owned farms and ranches and further undermining the U.S. economy.”

Those signing the letter included the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, National Farmers Union, and USA Rice Federation.