Secretary Vilsack Explains USDA's Proposed 2014 Budget

Secretary Vilsack Explains USDA’s Proposed 2014 Budget

I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

President Obama released his proposed Fiscal Year 2014 budget on Wednesday. In the United States’ fiscal environment today - Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says it’s important to do more with less if possible.

Regarding his proposed 2014 budget - which will be less than this year - Vilsack says people must have to understand the context of the budget, the difficult choices that are involved and the totality of the budget.

Vilsack: “I think when you see more research, additional conservation, access to credit, a multi-billion dollar commitment to crop insurance, a new research facility -- when you begin look at the entire package of this and you realize that this agency that continues to feel very strongly about its support to agriculture as well as its support of the communities that surround our farms and ranches.”

The new $1.15 billion lab research facility will be the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility to be built near Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.

Vilsack says this proposed budget continues do a lot for farmers, ranchers and producers. Although there was a proposed cut to crop insurance subsidies the proposed budget includes more than 9.5-billion dollars of crop insurance support.

Vilsack: “We are maintaining the amount of money for trade promotion and market expansion opportunities as well as continuing to utilize the service the Foreign Ag Services to reduce sanitary and the phitosanitary barriers as we have done over the course of the last several years.”

Maintaining the level of money for trade promotion and market expansion is good news for those Pacific Northwest farmers who rely on exporting their ag products.