NCC Discusses WTO Brazil Case, Upcoming Farm Bill Hearings

Farm Bill Hearing Schedule Updated

Panel Asked to Keep Open Mind on Taxes, Spending

Ag Transportation Report Issued

Energy Management Initiative Announced

Lautenberg Introduces Chemicals Reform Bill

Bill Introduced to Amend Clean Water Act

Supreme Court Takes Up Ag Biotech

Third COTTON USA Cotton School Held in China

Sales Steady, Shipments Strong

NCC Chairman Eddie Smith, producer from Floydada, TX, was joined by NCC President/CEO Mark Lange and NCC Senior Vice President of Washington Operations John Maguire in a number of meetings with key Congressional leaders and Administration officials.

In separate meetings with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Peterson (D-MN) and Ranking Member Lucas (R-OK), the NCC representatives discussed the Committee’s farm bill hearing schedule. (see next story)

The House Agriculture Committee scheduled additional public field hearings to review US agriculture policy in advance of the ’12 farm bill.

For those who cannot attend, the Committee plans to provide live video coverage of each hearing on its website at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html. It also will collect public comments about the farm bill on its website at http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/feedbackform.html. All comments received online by June 14, ’10 will be included in the Committee’s farm bill field hearing record.

At the inaugural meeting of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, that panel’s co-chairs, former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson, urged their colleagues to keep an open mind on both taxes and spending even though they will be criticized by both conservatives and liberals. President Obama spoke to the Commission members before their meeting and said he reiterated the need for them to keep their options open.

In their opening statements, some members cited the need to deal with federal spending, which was equal to almost 25% of the US economy in ’09 as a result of the stimulus and other measures taken to reverse the economic downturn. Others said tax expenditures in the revenue code and revenues, including closing the shortfall of taxes owed but not timely paid, should both be looked at closely.

USDA presented to Congress a comprehensive report on agricultural transportation in the United States, the first ever of this magnitude. The report, “Study of Rural Transportation Issues,” was mandated by the ’08 farm bill and covers the four major transportation modes commonly used by US agriculture -- truck, rail, barge and ocean vessel.

The NCC has been supportive of several bills moving through Congress that would make changes in the rail industry and at the Surface Transportation Board, and is a member of various transportation coalitions that follow developments in all agricultural transportation modes.

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced an initiative designed to help agricultural producers transition to more energy efficient operations.

Approximately 1,000 on-farm energy audit evaluations in 29 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, will be funded by $2 million through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in FY10. The energy audits will be individually tailored to ensure coverage of each farm's primary energy uses such as irrigation pumping and similar common on-farm activities.

Implementation will occur in stages beginning with the immediate goal of providing the on-farm energy audits to help identify how the operations can become more energy efficient. Longer term goals will involve development of agricultural energy management plans for cost effective implementation of the recommendations provided in their on-farm energy audits.

The ’08 farm law provides authority to use EQIP financial assistance funds for payment of practices and conservation activities involving the development of an Agricultural Energy Management Plan (AgEMP) appropriate for the eligible land of a program participant. The farm law statute allows EQIP payments for up to 75% of the estimated incurred cost of practice implementation for the development of an AgEMP meeting agency standards and requirements. Producers may apply for the AgEMP through application at their local Natural Resource Conservation Service office. EQIP payments are made directly to program participants for development of an AgEMP by a certified Technical Service Provider.

Information about how to apply for an AgEMP is at www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/eqip/EQIP_signup/2009_signup/index.html. Click on the state where the property that you are interested in obtaining an EQIP AgEMP is located.

Sens. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Boxer (D-CA) introduced the Safe Chemicals Act on April 15.  The bill would revise the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) for the first time in 34 years since it became law on Oct. 11, ’76 - the longest period of time that any major environmental statute has not been updated.  The legislation would require manufacturers to provide information about chemicals in consumer products instead of presuming substances are safe until proven dangerous.

The bill would provide EPA with broad authority to require any data to determine the safety of chemicals under a "reasonable certainty of no harm" standard; requiring the agency to take action to restrict or block chemicals that demonstrate high risk to the public; and shifting the burden to industry for the first time to prove that their substances meet a health-based safety standard before they can be used in commerce.

In the House, Reps. Waxman (D-CA) and Rush (D-IL) will introduce a TSCA reform bill after conducting a stakeholder process consisting of a number of meetings among staff, industry officials, environmental organizations and worker representatives. Their discussion draft says EPA shall apply "a standard that takes into account aggregate and cumulative exposure to a chemical substance or mixture and that provides a reasonable certainty of no harm, including to vulnerable populations, and protects the public welfare from adverse effects, including effects on the environment" – language strikingly similar to FIFRA. The House version also identifies a list of chemicals of concern for expedited review -- including formaldehyde -- and requires EPA to conduct further risk assessment of these chemicals within a year.

Cal Dooley, CEO of the American Chemistry Council, said in a statement, "[W]e are concerned that the bill's proposed decision-making standard may be legally and technically impossible to meet. The proposed changes to the new chemicals program could hamper innovation in new products, processes and technologies. In addition, the bill undermines business certainty by allowing states to adopt their own regulations and create a lack of regulatory uniformity for chemicals and the products that use them."

House Democrats are suggesting an aggressive schedule for moving their bill with plans to hold hearings and move the bill through committee in June or July. The Senate does not have immediate plans for a hearing.

Rep. Oberstar (D-MN) introduced the America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act, HR 5088, on April 21. The bill amends the Clean Water Act (CWA) by removing the term ‘navigable waters’ and authorizes EPA to return to its broad interpretation of waters of the United States prior to two recent Supreme Court decisions. These court rulings restricted EPA’s interpretation based on the term ‘navigable waters’ and the commerce clause. Oberstar claims that his bill restores the original intent of the CWA and clarifies CWA jurisdiction.

The NCC, along with 31 other agricultural organizations, signed onto a letter in opposition to S. 787. Should this bill pass in conjunction with the Sixth Circuit decision, there could be severe ramifications for cotton farmers, including CWA permitting for pesticide applications and increased wetland protections.

The Supreme Court began oral arguments in their first case involving agricultural biotechnology (Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, U.S., No. 09-475). Although the case is specific to Roundup Ready (RR) alfalfa, the case has implications for other genetically enhanced crop varieties, including cotton.

The district court ruled that USDA’s Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service improperly granted Monsanto's petition for non-regulated status for RR alfalfa without first determining if the crop would have a "significant environmental impact." Possible impacts cited by the court included elimination of non-engineered alfalfa strains through cross-pollination and proliferation of herbicide-resistant weeds.

More than 150 guests from the United States and China attended the third COTTON USA Cotton School in Haikou, China, on April 22-23. The school gathered leading mills and manufacturers in China’s textile and apparel industry to explore the US cotton market perspectives in China. Representatives of the US Embassy’s Agricultural Affairs Offices in Beijing and Guangzhou also took part in the school.

Most of the participants believe that the school offers opportunities for them to network with their peers and the expert panelists on issues of mutual interest. A survey revealed that the participants unanimously indicated that if the school were to be held again in two years, they would again attend.

Net export sales for the week ending April 22 were 180,500 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’09-10 sales to approximately 11.3 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’08-09 marketing year were approximately 12.8 million bales. Total new crop (’10-11) sales are 749,000 bales.

Shipments for the week were 293,900 bales, bringing total exports to date to 7.9 million bales, compared with the 8.7 million bales at the comparable point in the ’08-09 marketing year.