Agriculture on the chopping block in Illinois budget

Oct 24, 2017

Governor Rauner announced a total of $200 million in cuts

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

The Illinois government is slashing its budget for its Department of Agriculture by about $21 million, according to Governor Bruce Rauner’s new budget.

The cuts to agriculture are part of an approximate $200-million plan to decrease spending in the state.

Illinois is $1.7 billion in debt, according to an Oct. 12 release by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget. So legislators need to take action to ensure Illinois can balance its budget.

“The Governor remains committed to helping Illinois achieve long-term fiscal stability,” reads the Illinois Economic and Fiscal Policy Report. “He will continue to seek General Assembly support for structural changes that grow the state’s economy and bend the cost curve of state government spending.”

The budget suggests the cuts will come from the Soil and Water Conservation Districts. Its funding will drop from $5.92 million in 2017 to $5.75 million in 2018.

Farmers appear to be on board with the spending reductions, if they mean greater stability for the state and if other departments share in spending cuts.

“I’m all for a balanced (state) budget and spending within your means,” Kappy Koch, a dairy farmer from Tremont, IL and member of the Illinois Milk Producers’ Association, told Farms.com today. “As long as (spending in other departments) get cut equally, I’m for it.

“Illinois in bad shape and we need to cut everywhere, not just agriculture.”

This industry won’t be the only one experiencing cuts in Gov. Rauner’s budget.

The Department of Transportation could face cuts of $85 million and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity could be slashed by $41 million.

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