Technical

he National Cotton Council reminded ginners, warehousemen and bale packaging suppliers about the importance of using only USDA-approved bale packaging materials,

The Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee's warehouse members inspect experimental bagging at the JCIBPC’s 2003 meeting in Memphis, TN.

which includes bags with the required identification markings. With a goal to ensure that all approved materials meet the industry’s current packaging needs, the Joint Cotton Industry Bale Packaging Committee studied its specifications review process, especially the way existing specifications might be modified. The JCIBPC also approved a new automatic wire tying system for cotton bales to support its goal of providing the industry automation alternatives.

In an effort to eliminate lint contamination, the NCC stepped up a campaign to keep plastic strings, ropes and sacks out of seed cotton before ginning. With help from Cotton Council International and the Cotton Growers Warehouse Association, NCC surveyed mill customers throughout the world to determine major sources of contamination to enhance education programs aimed at reaching zero defects goals.

NCC stepped up a campaign to keep plastic strings, ropes and sacks out of seed cotton before ginning so these contaminants will not get into finished fabric before detection.

A NCC Quality Task Force’s bale moisture recommendation was aimed at making sure producers receive economic signals consistent with the important factors determining fiber spinning efficiency and over-all lint value. The recommendation that cotton be baled with no more than 7.5 percent moisture content assures color will not degrade from excess moisture.

Citing producer risks and quality loss concerns, the NCC filed comments in opposition to USDA’s interim rule permitting outside storage of loan-eligible extra long staple cotton under certain conditions, and urged the rule’s withdrawal.

To improve cotton flow, the NCC initiated bale management educational programs for ginners to help reduce incidences of light and heavy-weight bales. Ginners and warehousemen also were reminded to keep the Permanent Bale Identifier tags visible and machine-readable.

The NCC also expressed its support for EPA’s implementation of Endangered Species Act requirements. Some lawsuits claimed EPA was not adequately protecting some endangered species because it did not proper consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The aim is to ensure that critical crop protection products are available for use according to label instructions developed by regulators and registrants through the registration process.

NCC provided support for new registrations, such as Glufosinate herbicide, and supported older cotton products during the Food Quality Protection Act review and re-registration by EPA. The NCC also assisted in gaining special uses in 2003 such as the crisis exemption granted for Furadan 4F’s use on cotton aphids in California to help prevent sticky cotton.

The NCC also worked with the agricultural community to ensure the April 2002 Forsgren case decision limits regulatory burdens and does not interfere with producers’ ability to provide timely, cost-effective crop pest control. An unfavorable ruling in that case could impose onerous paperwork requirements on producers for each pesticide application.

Eradication of the boll weevil continued on 10 million acres with only three areas comprising less than three percent of U.S. cotton acreage yet to begin eradication. One zone, the Northern Blacklands of Texas, was to vote in December, leaving the St. Lawrence and Lower Rio Grande Valley areas in that state as the last remaining areas. The NCC’s Boll Weevil Action Committee is planning transition into post eradication functions.

Pink bollworm eradication made excellent progress in the program’s first phase in Trans Pecos/El Paso, south central New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico.

Pink bollworm eradication made excellent progress in the program’s first phase in Trans Pecos/El Paso, South Central New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico. The NCC’s Pink Bollworm Action Committee agreed to keep the program on track with a continued commitment to obtain federal funding for sterile insect releases and creation of a plan for program expansion into Arizona upon grower approval.

Those programs also benefited from 2004 appropriations measures that provided $51 million for weevil eradication and $2 million for pink bollworm eradication. Included in that spending bill were requirements that: the National Agricultural Statistics Service reinstate the Cotton Objective Yield Survey; USDA’s Agriculture Research Service maintain cotton ginning research funding; and funding be provided for Clemson University to complete work on a marker system to assist U.S. customs in tracking imported products to determine eligibility for trade preference programs.

The Agricultural Air Quality Task Force was re-established for 2003-04 to advise Agriculture Secretary Veneman on agricultural air quality issues, and included industry-related members: Kevin G. Rogers, Arizona producer; Roger Isom, California Cotton Ginners and Growers; Robert V. Avant, Jr., Texas Food and Fibers Commission; Calvin B. Parnell, Jr., Texas A&M University; and NCC Senior Environmental Scientist Phil Wakelyn.

The NCC submitted comments to EPA notices in support of an exemption from tolerance and full Section 3 registration for Aspergillus flavus AF36 for use in Arizona and Texas to reduce aflatoxin-producing colonies of Aspergillus flavus. EPA granted a conditional registration for AF36 later in the year.

In other activity:

• EPA granted non-transportation-related onshore or offshore facilities that store oil, such as cottonseed oil mills, an additional 18 months to comply with spill prevention and response plan requirements. An industry coalition continued to work with the agency to obtain requirements that differentiate between vegetable oil/animal fats and petroleum oils.
  
  
• The Food and Drug Administration amended its regulations on nutrition labeling to require that trans fats be declared in the nutrition label of conventional foods and dietary supplements. This separate listing from hydrogenated oils should be helpful to cottonseed oil, which usually is not hydrogenated and usually contains no trans fats.
  
  
• The NCC continued work to help remove unreasonable and unfair regulations from governing the sale of biotech products. The NCC, along with food associations and an international biotech consultant, worked to establish science-based, international regulations that will ensure accurate, non-misleading labeling whether or not those products contain biotech ingredients. Nevertheless, the European Union (EU) issued their final rule requiring labeling of all foods if they contained any ingredient from biotech crops. More details on traceability and labeling will be provided before the EU’s final rule on the traceability and labeling of agriculture biotech food and feed goes into effect.
  
  
• The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to consider expanding the upholstered furniture flammability rulemakings. This action came late in 2003 after “The American Home Fire Safety Act” legislation introduced in the Senate would require CPSC to promulgate mandatory flammability regulations for upholstered furniture, filled top-of-the-bed textiles (such as mattress pads, comforters and pillows) and mattresses within 90 days of enactment and not have to show unreasonable risk, consider less burdensome alternatives or complete a cost/benefit analysis.
  
  
• NCC also provided member oil mills, whole cottonseed storage facilities and gins with details on registration requirements under the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. That Act’s rules requires registration with the Food and Drug Administration of all domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture/process, pack, store, handle and/or hold food/feed ingredients in the United States and requires food importers to provide advance notice of human and animal food shipments imported or offered for import to this country.
  
  
• The NCC developed compliance guidelines to assist affected industry firms with the labeling requirements for trans-boundary shipments of cottonseed under the Biosafety Protocol.