Colorado Corn

The Super Committee comprised of six Democrats and six Republicans was unable to agree on a debt reduction plan in the timeframe allotted by Congress, who had hoped to have adopted the plan by December 23 and have it approved by President Obama. Instead, automatic spending cuts in the amount of $1.2 trillion will take effect in January 2013.

Categories exempt from cuts include Social Security, Medicaid and veterans’ benefits, food stamps and a few other programs that support the poor and disabled. Targeted categories are: the Pentagon budget, farm subsidies, food safety, education, foreign aid, public safety, law enforcement, low-income housing aid as well as other government supported programs.

Congress still has the ability to vote anytime during 2012 to rescind some or all of the cuts. Given this fact, Colorado Corn along with the National Corn Growers Association will continue to work to keep the playing field level so that all programs share equally throughout the reduction process.

Our priorities are to advocate for a farm bill that emphasizes an effective, affordable crop insurance program that provides a revenue-based safety net and a mechanism providing that significant losses will be adequately covered. We will work closely with other ag groups so that a unified message is heard by the Ag Committees responsible for developing a farm policy that will enable agriculture to remain sustainable and productive.