FSA Posts Farm Bill Fact Sheet
USDA's Farm Service Agency has created a fact sheet entitled, "What’s in the 2014 Farm Bill for Farm Service Agency Customers?" that includes highlights of The Agricultural Act of 2014 (the Act), also known as the 2014 Farm Bill.

Farm Bill Education Meetings (click here for listing)
A listing is now available of the 49 education meetings in 15 Cotton Belt states the NCC has scheduled to provide its members with a greater understanding of The Agricultural Act of 2014.

Farm Bill Summary and Overview (click here)
This NCC-prepared document contains the basic preliminaries of The Agricultural Act of 2014 that passed out of the House/Senate Conference. The bill is subject to verification when legislative language is reviewed.

NCC Believes Brazil WTO Case Resolved
In response to Brazil’s decision to request a panel at the WTO to assess the new US farm bill, the NCC stated that the new Stacked Income Protection Plan was developed specifically to bring the United States into compliance with the '08 WTO Appellate Body decision thus resolving the long-standing dispute.

'14 Upland Cotton Marketing Assistance Loan Rate Announced
Commodity Credit Corporation Executive Vice President Juan M. Garcia on Feb. 18 announced the marketing assistance loan rate for '14-crop base quality upland cotton is set at 52 cents per pound.

USDA January Production Report
In its January report, USDA estimated a '13-14 US crop of 13.19 million bales. Upland production was estimated at 12.55 million bales and extra-long staple production at 636,000 bales. Harvested area was an estimated 7.66 million acres, implying a non-harvested area of roughly 2.74 million acres based on numbers revised from USDA’s June acreage report. The resulting abandonment rate is roughly 26.35%. The national average yield per harvested acre was estimated to be roughly 826 pounds, eight pounds more than the five-year average.

NCC Applauds Timely Varroa Mite Forum
The NCC applauded USDA for holding its “Varroa Mite Summit” saying the forum is a key step for stopping honey bee health decline.

Bee Protection Presenting Crop Protection Challenge
The NCC reminds its members that for the past five years it has closely monitored the escalating events surrounding bee protection -- and will stay involved in pollinator protection activities that challenge crop protection product usage.