CURRENT ISSUE ARTICLES

Bill Introduced to Eliminate Pesticide Permits

Bill Passed to Repeal New Form 1099 Reporting Rules

Court Overturns Order Blocking RR Sugar Beets

EPA Report Shows Drop in Pesticide Use

NCC Releases Latest Weed Resistance Videos

’11 Ginner School Registration Open

Sales Steady, Shipments Strong

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Bill Introduced to Eliminate Pesticide Permits

Reps. Gibbs (R-OH), Schmidt (R-OH), and Baca (D-CA) introduced H.R. 872, a bipartisan bill to reduce the regulatory burdens posed by the National Cotton Council v. EPA court decision. Joining as original co-sponsors were House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) as well as Reps. Peterson (D-MN), Mica (R-FL) and Simpson (R-ID).

The NCC issued an Action Alert to its directors, national interest organizations, producer and ginner interest organizations and environmental task force – encouraging them to contact Cotton Belt Representatives and urge them to co-sponsor, if they have not already, or support this legislation. Congressional contacts can be found on the NCC website, www.cotton.org.

Under the court ruling, pesticide users, which include farmers, ranchers, forest managers, state agencies, city and county municipalities, mosquito control districts, and water districts, among others, would have to obtain a duplicative permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for the use of pesticides. Pesticide applications already are highly regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). This permitting system is a paperwork exercise that provides no additional environmental protections but increases the regulatory burden on states and the liability of pesticide applicators.

The court ruling goes into effect on April 9, ’11. At that time, pesticide applications not covered by a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit are subject to a fine of up to $37,500 per day per violation.  In addition to the cost of compliance, pesticide users will be subject to an increased risk of litigation under the citizen suit provision of the CWA.

The legislation would amend FIFRA and the CWA to clarify Congressional intent and eliminate the requirement of a NPDES permit for the use of FIFRA-registered pesticides.

Meanwhile, EPA has asked the court for an extension to allow more time for the finalization of the general permits. EPA asked that the deadline be extended from April 9, ’11 to October 31, ’11. During the period while the court is considering the extension request, permits for pesticide applications will not be required under the CWA.

The extension request is important to allow sufficient time for EPA to engage in Endangered Species Act consultation and complete the development of an electronic database to streamline requests for coverage under the Agency’s general permit. It also will allow time for authorized states to finish developing their state permits and for permitting authorities to provide additional outreach to stakeholders on pesticide permit requirements.

Bill Passed to Repeal New Form 1099 Reporting Rules

The House passed (314-112) legislation (H.R. 4) to repeal new Form 1099 reporting rules that are burdensome to all businesses.

Bills passed by the House and Senate use different methods to offset the cost of the repeal and that could delay enactment of a final resolution. Almost all Representatives and Senators have signaled their support for repeal by voting for measures that would repeal new requirements requiring businesses and landlords to issue a Form 1099 for payments to corporations for goods and services that exceed $600 per year. Although the reports are not required until ’12, businesses need to know whether to invest in programs or implement procedures that enable them to track the payments during ’11 in order to report in ’12.

The House debate focused almost exclusively on a $25 billion adjustment to the premium assistance tax credits in the ’10 health care law that the Republican majority used to pay for the Form 1099 repeal.

The Senate previously included an amendment, authored by Sen. Stabenow (D-MI), chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee, in an aviation reauthorization bill (S. 223) to repeal the Form 1099 rules for businesses but not landlords and to pay for it through budgetary rescissions of $44 billion in unobligated discretionary spending. The Senate has not determined how to proceed to reconcile the differences with the House-passed measure, according to a spokesman for Majority Leader Reid (D-NV).

The NCC has joined with other agriculture and business organizations in frequent correspondence to Representatives and Senators to urge the repeal of the new reporting requirement. A copy of the most recent correspondence is available at www.cotton.org.

Because businesses need to know that they will not be required to maintain burdensome and expensive records, the NCC will continue to work for prompt resolution of the differences between the House and Senate legislation so it can be sent to the President for his signature as quickly as possible.

Court Overturns Order Blocking RR Sugar Beets

A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned a preliminary injunction that mandated destruction of Roundup Ready sugar beets planted under USDA permits.  The court concluded that the challengers had failed to demonstrate irreparable harm from allowing stecklings (seedlings) that the court described as “juvenile sugar beets” to be grown.

“Plaintiffs give us little reason not to defer to APHIS’s technical expertise and judgments on this score,” Judge Sidney Thomas wrote in the court’s opinion. Although this decision is a small part of a larger litigation, it is a major setback for the coalition of biotechnology critics and organic activists that have found a legal strategy to delay the regulatory approval of transgenic crops in US agriculture. These legal tactics by groups such as Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety have 1) impeded farmers who want to plant biotech alfalfa and sugar beets and 2) run up large legal costs for USDA, the Justice Dept. and the cooperatives that helped Monsanto develop the alfalfa and have been processing and marketing the beets.

The court concluded that the challengers failed to show that the stecklings “present a possibility, much less a likelihood, of genetic contamination or other irreparable harm” but instead the “undisputed evidence indicates that the stecklings pose a negligible risk.”  The permits prohibit flowering or pollination. The Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has permitted more than 100 confined field releases of Roundup Ready sugar beets with no known “loss of confinement.” The Supreme Court’s decision last year in a related Monsanto case warned against granting injunctions where APHIS’s action is “sufficiently limited” and where “the risk of gene flow to [plaintiffs’] crops could be virtually nonexistent.” This court ruling appears to heed the high court warning.

The ruling does not change the ’08 suit that persuaded the lower court to require APHIS to do an environmental impact statement rather than a less exhaustive environmental assessment before clearing the beets for commercial use. USDA announced on Feb. 4 that it would allow planting to resume under controlled conditions.

“The decision will be immediately challenged in court by a coalition of farmers and conservation groups: the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club,” the anti-biotech coalition said.

EPA Report Shows Drop in Pesticide Use

According to EPA's latest survey of the pesticide industry's sales and usage, US pesticide applicators used some 1.1 billion pounds of active ingredients in ’07, a decline of about 8% from ’01. The report shows agriculture accounted for some 80% of all US pesticide use in ’07, with home and garden uses contributing about 8% and the remaining 12% attributed to the industrial/commercial/government sector.

The top three most commonly used pesticide ingredients in ’07 were the herbicides glyphosate and atrazine along with the fumigant metam sodium - the same three also were the most commonly used in ’01. The use of glyphosate jumped from an estimate of 85-90 million pounds in ’01 to some 180-185 million pounds in ’07, while atrazine use dropped slightly to 73-78 million pounds in ’07 from 74-80 million pounds in ’01, and metam sodium declined from 57-62 million pounds in ’01 to 50-55 million pounds in ’07.

Organophosphate use has declined, the survey found, from 73 million pounds in ’01 to 33 million pounds in ’07. In ’00, these chemicals accounted for 72% of all US insecticide use, compared to 35% in ’07.

The report also noted that pesticide sales in the United States reached nearly $12.5 billion in ’07, about 32% of global sales, up from $7.2 billion in ’88 and $11.1 billion in ’00. The agricultural sector accounted for $7.8 billion of sales in ’07, with herbicides contributing $4.2 billion, insecticides $2 billion and fungicides and other pesticides $1.6 billion.

NCC Releases Latest Weed Resistance Videos

The NCC’s latest weed resistance videos easily can be accessed by clicking on the weed resistance management icon on the NCC’s home page, www.cotton.org.

The new video additions include:  Biology and Management of Pigweed by Dr. Bob Nichols, Cotton Incorporated; Field Day with Dr. Stanley Culpepper, U. of Georgia; Horseweed: Control This Weed Early by Dr. Ken Smith, U. of Arkansas; and A Field Day with Dr. Larry Steckel, U. of Tennessee. Other videos to be added soon are Weed Resistance Management by Dr. Jason Norsworthy, and Weed Management in Corn by Dr. Ken Smith, both at the U. of Arkansas.

These videos provide a substantial amount of practical information to assist producers in making their weed management plans. Some segments are lengthy, but the web access allows use of the material at times convenient to the producer. These segments will be stored on DVDs later to distribute to producers and educators as a continuing effort by the NCC to provide its membership with the best information available.

The NCC’s Technical and Communications staff continue to work with land grant university weed scientists and the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) to develop educational material that is beneficial to those producers faced with this critical issue. The NCC plans to release additional segments this fall or early spring of ’12.

’11 Ginner School Registration Open

Registration is open for ’11 Ginner Schools. Dates for the schools are: Southwest Ginners School, Lubbock, TX – March 28-30; Western Ginners School, Las Cruces, NM – May 10-12; and Stoneville Ginners School, Stoneville, MS – June 14-16. Registration can be completed online at http://ncga.cotton.org.

National Cotton Ginners’ Assoc. Executive Vice President Harrison Ashley said each level of Ginner Schools’ coursework is built on the previous level of instruction, with Level I as the foundation. Thus, beginning students, regardless of gin experience, should start with Level I.

Level I courses are: Introduction to Cotton Ginning and the Industry; Maintenance of Auxiliary Gin Components; Basic Hydraulics; Basic Gin Safety; Maintenance and Adjustments for Seed Cotton Cleaners, Gin Stands, and Lint Cleaners; Air Utilization and Drying; and Electricity in the Gin.

The Level II offerings include: Purpose and Operating Principles of Individual Gin Machines; Efficient Operation, Adjustment, and Maintenance of Gin Equipment; Pneumatics and Waste Collection; Electrical Systems; Hydraulic Systems; Gin Safety; Management Tips; and Roller Ginning (at the Western School only).

Level III features: Review of Functions of a Ginning System; Electrical Systems; Air Systems in the Gin; Drying and Moisture Restoration Systems; Matching Machinery Capacities in the System; Seed Cotton Unloading Systems and Management of Seed Cotton Handling Systems; Bale Presses and Hydraulic Systems; Safety Programs and Labor Regulations; Cottonseed Handling Systems; and Roller Ginning (at the Western School only).

In addition to Levels I, II and III, all schools will feature a two-day continuing education (CE) coursefor certified ginners and gin managers. They may register for the two days or for individual parts of the course with a minimum of one day registration. Check at each location for the order in which these will be covered.

The CE’s first day will focuson the press, including a review of basic hydraulics, press components, increasing speed and efficiencies, and bale tying/handling systems. The first day also will include a session on achieving better leaf grades.

The second day’s CE course discussion will cover air quality, emissions, permitting, technology such as cyclone design, and energy costs and controlling these costs.

Sales Steady, Shipments Strong

Net export sales for the week ending Feb. 24 were 162,300 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to approximately 15.5 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 9.5 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are 3.8 million bales.

Shipments for the week were 455,700 bales, bringing total exports to date to 7.7 million bales, compared with the 5.5 million bales at the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year.

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