The NCC has worked to deliver comprehensive assistance for ’09 weather-related crop losses. Producers of program crops across many states suffered from a variety of weather-related losses. The special program announced by the Department of Agriculture (details of which can be found at http://ag.senate.gov/site/09da.html) does not represent the type of comprehensive assistance sought by the NCC.
Sen. Lincoln (D-AR) worked tirelessly in Congress to provide critical assistance to producers suffering losses in ’09. The Senator’s effort is based, in part, on the fact that protection for many producers under the disaster authority in SURE, and even in crop insurance products, is not effective.
The NCC urges USDA to find the means to expand this special program to provide assistance to producers in all areas who suffered weather-related losses in ’09.
USDA Accepting Acres in CRP Signup
USDA will accept 4.3 million acres offered by landowners under the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general signup. The selections preserve and enhance environmentally sensitive lands, including wetlands, while providing payments to property owners.
For this 39th general signup, more than 50,000 offers were received on more than 4.8 million acres nationwide. Enrollment of the 4.3 million acres will keep the program enrollment close to the 32 million acre statutory cap. The signup will bring the total enrollment in the program to 31.2 million acres, leaving sufficient room under the 32 million acre cap to continue enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, continuous signup and other CRP initiatives through FY11.
USDA selected offers for enrollment based on an Environmental Benefits Index (EBI) comprised of five environmental factors plus cost. The five environmental factors are: (1) wildlife enhancement, (2) water quality, (3) soil erosion, (4) enduring benefits and (5) air quality. The minimal acceptable EBI level for this signup is 200. The average rental rate per acre for this signup is about $46. These 10-15 year contracts provide long-term, enduring conservation benefits in return for an annual rental payment.
Amendments to Ease IRS Reporting Rejected
The Senate rejected two amendments (to a pending small business bill HR5297) that would have eased or repealed new IRS form 1099 information reporting requirements.
During the debate, Sen. Landrieu (D-LA), chairman of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, noted that the information reporting issue did not need to be addressed in the small business lending and tax incentives bill currently on the Senate floor because the reporting requirements don’t go into effect until ’12.
“It will not be part of the small business bill and it doesn't have to be because it doesn't go into effect for a year and a half,” Sen. Landrieu said. “But, as I've committed, we're going to repeal it and we'll try to do it some time before the first of the year.”
Senators said there is general agreement on the need to repeal, or at least ease, the Form 1099 reporting requirements but budget offsets in both amendments were unacceptable to too many members. The Form 1099 reporting rules, which would require businesses to file an information report if they pay more than $600 per year to a single vendor for goods or services, were tightened in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. No. 111-148) as a way to raise $17 billion. The provision is now expected to raise $19 billion so repealing it will require a significant source of new revenues.
Sen. Johanns' (R-NE) amendment would have completely repealed the reporting requirements as well as tax penalties for individuals who do not purchase health insurance. Johanns’ amendment would have generated $19.2 billion in revenue to offset the cost by limiting the reach of the individual mandate in the ’10 health care law and reducing funding allocated by the law for preventative-care programs. The amendment fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate.
A Democratic alternative offered by Sen. Nelson (D-FL) would have exempted firms with up to 25 employees from the rules while raising the threshold for reporting purchases of goods and property from $600 to $5,000 for all others. He proposed paying for the $10.1 billion cost of his amendment by preventing the largest oil companies from obtaining a six percent tax deduction designed to aid domestic manufacturing.
Small and large businesses urged senators to repeal the Form 1099 rules, which they deem expensive, burdensome and a hindrance to hiring.
Efforts to ease the new reporting rules continued when Sen. Landrieu (D-LA) introduced legislation to scale back requirements while Sen. Johanns (R-NE) continued to urge support for his proposal to repeal the provision. The legislation introduced by Sen. Landrieu, who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, would raise the threshold for businesses to file reports to $5,000 from its current level of $600 and would index the threshold to inflation after ’12. Those levels are similar to ones in the failed amendment offered by Sen. Nelson (D-FL).
Also similar to Sen. Nelson’s amendment, under Sen. Landrieu’s bill purchases made with a credit card or other third-party network would be exempted from information reporting requirements where a return already is required to be filed under the tax code. However, Sen. Landrieu’s legislation, the Information Reporting Modernization Act of 2010 (S. 3783), would not exempt businesses with fewer than 25 employees and does not include an offset to pay for the change.
EPA Spending Amendment Delayed
The Obama Administration scored a minor victory when Senate Democrats abandoned plans for a committee vote that could have curtailed its ability to write climate regulations.
The Senate Appropriations Committee canceled a markup of the FY11 spending bill for the EPA and Interior Dept. Republicans were optimistic, with support of moderate and conservative Democrats, that they would win on an amendment that would have defunded EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. EPA is expected to issue new regulations for power plants and other major stationary sources in January.
Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), chair of the subcommittee in charge of EPA’s budget, issued a statement saying the delay was due to an amendment offered by the White House affecting the reorganization of the Interior agency that oversees offshore drilling permits and revenue. Republicans, though, quickly rebutted that statement, saying the schedule change was really about EPA.
Sen. Murkowski (R-AK), a member of the Appropriations Committee, was expected to offer the amendment. Earlier this year, she forced an unsuccessful floor vote on a resolution that would have stripped EPA’s authority to write greenhouse gas regulations entirely.
Another option from Sen. Rockefeller (D-WV) would put a two-year freeze on the agency’s efforts. He has said that a number of Democrats support his proposal’s language but that there is not agreement on using the appropriations process as a vehicle for it. He added that any appropriations efforts were purely symbolic considering the likelihood that President Obama will not be signing the annual spending bills into law. In June, the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee rejected a similar amendment.
EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) has launched "Enable the Label," an online forum that initially will be used to discuss various chapters of the Label Review Manual, which aims to improve the quality and consistency of pesticide labels.
"The goal [of the online forum] is to improve the clarity and usefulness of the manual for its users -- primarily people who draft, review, or enforce labels in the field," EPA stated.
Several questions or issues will be presented each month and will be open for discussion for 30 days. Participants should include pesticide users, pesticide manufacturers and state pesticide regulators who also are welcome to provide feedback on any topic addressed in chapters up for discussion. OPP is seeking input on text that can be improved, examples that can be improved or replaced, such as examples of products that aid plant growth, and new scientific or policy developments that have occurred since the chapter in question was last updated. OPP is not, however, seeking general input on pesticide policy issues.
EPA says "Enable the Label” will provide informal comment opportunities to everyone interested in improving the Label Review Manual and encourage creative solutions to complex pesticide label challenges in an open and transparent environment.
The first discussion at http://blog.epa.gov/enablethelabel/ covers the first two chapters of the manual. OPP is seeking comment on how three sections can be improved: a section on products not considered pesticides if labeled for use only in or on living people or animals; a section clarifying the difference between nutrients and growth regulators; and a section on products exempted from registration. Discussion will begin on Oct. 1 for the third chapter on general labeling requirements.
NCC Delegation Concludes Successful China Visit
A NCC leadership team visited China on Sept. 4-12 to gather information from Chinese cotton industry officials and update them on key aspects of the US cotton industry.
The US cotton industry delegation was the fourth to visit China since the establishment of the US-China Cotton Leadership Exchange Program by the NCC and the China Cotton Association (CCA). This visit, coordinated by Cotton Council International (CCI), the NCC’s export promotions arm, was part of the ongoing exchange between the two countries as was established by a Memorandum of Understanding signed in ’06 that promised cooperation between the countries’ cotton industries.
The NCC delegation was led by NCC Vice Chairman Charles Parker, a Senath, MO, producer. Other members included David Dunlow, a Roanoke Rapids, NC, producer; Kirk Gilkey, a Corcoran, CA, produce/ginner; Shawn Holladay, a Lubbock, TX, producer; Richard Kelley a Burlison, TN, producer; Mike Quinn, a Garner, NC, marketing cooperative official; and Harrison Ashley, vice president of NCC’s Ginner Services.
While in Beijing, delegation members heard reports from CCA, the China National Textile and Apparel Council and Chinatex. In the HebeiProvince, members visited Gaoyang Shuofeng Farm Products Co. and the Hongrun New Materials textile mill. In Tianjin, the delegation visited the Tianjin Cotton Exchange Market, the Dongjang Free Trade Zone, the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, and the Tianjin Tianfanfg Textile Mill, which is a Cotton USA licensee. While in Hangzhou, the group visited JNBY and Saintyear textile mills, and they toured the Shanghai offices of CCI and Cotton Incorporated.
Parker said that one of the visit’s primary purposes was to convey to key Chinese cotton officials the US cotton industry’s continued commitment to deliver high quality cotton in a timely manner.
“China is the United States’ largest customer of raw cotton and we are committed to meeting their needs in terms of both quality and timely shipments,” Parker stated. “It was apparent that the Chinese greatly appreciated our visiting them in their country and they expressed their desire for doing business with the U.S. cotton industry. This visit gave us the necessary platform to discuss issues surrounding U.S. raw cotton quality and reinforced our continued commitment to ongoing dialogue between our two countries.”
’11 Beltwide Forum Early Housing Opens
Early room reservations – for NCC and Cotton Foundation members only – can be made for the ’11 Beltwide Cotton Conferences through Oct. 31. The forum is set for Jan. 4-7 at the recently-remodeled Atlanta Marriott Marquis.
Conference information, including instructions for early housing and registration, is available at www.cotton.org/beltwide.
Key agronomic, pest management, economic and policy reports are being planned for the forum’s Cotton Production Conference. Among key issues to be addressed are herbicide resistance prevention/management, various insect pest concerns and irrigation, including research updates on various scheduling techniques, and other methods for producing more cotton with less water.
Even greater interaction and information sharing between producer speakers, panelists and attendees on these and other topics is being planned in the workshops. Attendees will be able to discuss, for example, how to implement resistance prevention/management tactics and still meet the various conservation program requirements. They also will be able to hear what’s in the pipeline with new chemistries, plant varieties, and traits that can help in managing a dynamic and evolving pest situation.
Sales Surge, Shipments Weak
Net export sales for the week ending Sept. 9 were 605,800 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to approximately 7.8 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 3.5 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are 499,800 bales.
Shipments for the week were 94,800 bales, bringing total exports to date to 1.2 million bales, compared with the 1.1 million bales at the comparable point in the ‘09-10 marketing year.
Effective Sept. 17-23, ’10
Adjusted World Price, SLM 11/16
84.09 cents
*
Fine Count Adjustment ('09 Crop)
0.49 cents
Fine Count Adjustment ('10 Crop)
0.59 cents
Coarse Count Adjustment
0.00 cents
Marketing Loan Gain Value
0.00 cents
Import Quotas Open
8
Special Import Quota (480-lb bales)
544,365
ELS Payment Rate
0.00 cents
*No Adjustment Made Under Step I
Five-Day Average
Current 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East
100.93 cents
Forward 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East
NA
Coarse Count CFR Far East
NA
Current US CFR Far East
103.05 cents
Forward US CFR Far East
NA
'09-10 Weighted Marketing-Year Average Farm Price
Year-to-Date (August-July)
62.45 cents
**
**August-July average price used in determination of counter-cyclical payment
