The Georgia Peanut Commission is encouraging Congress to reject the Presidents FY 2011 budget proposal which includes deep agricultural cuts.

“To eliminate a significant part of the peanut program in the middle of a farm bill does not seem to be good agricultural policy,” says Armond Morris, chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission. “We are hopeful that Congress will reject the president’s proposals. If approved, this proposal would be devastating to American agriculture.”

In the report released yesterday, the administration proposes to eliminate payments to cotton and peanut producers that compensate them for their cost of storing their commodities put under loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The administration also proposes to limit farm subsidies to farmers by reducing the cap on direct payments by 25 percent, and reducing each of the adjusted gross income commodity payment eligibility limits for farm and nonfarm income by $250,000 over three years.

“I am highly disappointed in the president’s proposals to further reduce support for America’s peanut farmers,” says U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop. “During the past several years, the peanut industry has made major concessions. In the 2002 Farm Bill, producers saw a price support system of $610 lowered to $355 per ton. The agricultural budget proposals released yesterday are unacceptable.”

“I cannot support these reductions or any other measure that would put a burden on our production agriculture.”

The proposed budget for the USDA and EPA can be seen at www.whitehouse.gov/o mb/budget/Overview.