Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 3/11/20

The House Ag Committee on Tuesday approved the fiscal 2021 budget views letter, with the panel’s top Democrat and Republican talking up the need to protect agricultural producers and consumers from rising economic risks, your host reports.

— “We’re in a place where it’s likely we will need more resources, not fewer, to address the situation that faces both our farmers and those who need to eat,” Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said at the markup.

— Ranking member Mike Conaway (R-Texas) also re-upped his call for more federal aid for farmers and ranchers if agricultural conditions don’t rapidly improve in the coming months.

The backdrop: The coronavirus is already threatening to dent farm exports this year, while school administrators are scrambling to keep low-income students from going hungry if they’re cut off from subsidized meals as schools close. But Trump’s budget request calls for slashing SNAP, crop insurance and farm subsidies.

Bottom line: The bipartisan budget letter from House Ag reinforces the near certainty that Congress will once again reject Trump’s agricultural spending plans, which essentially would undo hard-won agreements in the 2018 farm bill.