Two weeks after saying he would release guidelines for the 2018 farm bill “very soon,” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is expected to unveil farm bill principles while visiting Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Perdue had told American Farm Bureau Federation earlier this month to expect the outline shortly. President Trump told the group, “I support a bill that includes crop insurance,” a change in tone from White House proposals last year for large cuts.
Trump rolled up landslide margins in rural America in 2016 with promises of regulatory relief, tax reform and support for corn-based ethanol. He commissioned a task force, headed by Perdue, that puts a top priority on universal access to high-speed internet as the springboard to rural economic growth. Perdue has asked farm audiences to give him examples of unnecessary regulations. He has tabbed larger farm exports as the way to boost farm income.
In its first budget proposal last spring, the White House advocated a cut of one-third in crop insurance, including the end of federal subsidies for the most popular type of revenue insurance, and a 25 percent cut in food stamps that included stricter limits on eligibility and having states shoulder 20 percent of the cost of the program.