Senate Passage of H.R. 872 Will Lessen Regulatory Uncertainty
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee passed H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011, with a strong bi-partisan voice vote. Following that vote, the NCC issued a release urging swift Senate passage of the bill. The NCC also commended the Committee for recognizing this bill's importance and stated it believes the bill eliminates redundant regulation, which provides little or no additional environmental benefits over current law.
Following the vote, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) issued a statement also commending the Senate panel's action. He urged Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) to quickly send the bill to the Senate floor for a vote because "the cost of inaction is far-reaching and significant, and would be a crushing blow to an already struggling economy."
The NCC release noted the overwhelming House-passed, bipartisan vote (292-130) of H.R. 872 on March 31.
"That vote margin conveyed the House's recognition of this legislation's extreme importance," NCC Chairman Charles Parker said. "The legislation eliminates a costly and duplicative permitting requirement for the application of pesticides."
H.R. 872 would eliminate the requirement of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) permit for agricultural applications of pesticides on or around navigable waters. The bill reverses a '09 decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in National Cotton Council v. EPA. This court decision vacated a '06 EPA rule and long-standing interpretation that the application of a pesticide for its intended purpose and in compliance with the requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act does not also require a separate permit under the Clean Water Act. EPA released its draft final general permit for pesticide applications in April and the court-ordered deadline for EPA to promulgate the new permitting process for pesticides was moved to Oct. 31, '11.
"That permitting process is a direct result of a misguided decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the NCC vs. EPA case and would make farmers subject to an unnecessary layer of duplicative regulation," Parker said. "The National Cotton Council disagreed with that decision from the beginning and worked vigorously to have it reviewed and overturned."
The NCC has stated that without a legislative fix, the court order that would be implemented on Oct. 31 would result in a requirement that – "would impose an economic burden to agricultural producers, foresters, public health agencies, the federal government, state agencies and every day citizens."
Following EPA's June '10 announcement of the public availability of the draft NPDES permit,NCC's Environmental Task Force Chairman Mike Tate, an Alabama cotton producer, responded in a statement saying, "All agricultural operations can be negatively affected by these new NPDES permit requirements. It is critical that the NCC does what it can to ensure this duplicative process does not add significant costs to farmers who are already complying with law by applying crop inputs according to their federally approved labels."
India Yarn Prices Undercutting Market
In addition to weak yarn demand, there is growing concern among global cotton spinners over India's willingness and ability to sell cotton yarn at sharply lower prices than comparable qualities from other countries.
According to the latest Cotton Outlook, India is offering 20-count ring spun cotton yarn for an export price of $3.50 per kg. By comparison, price quotes from Turkey, Indonesia and China range from $4.30 to $4.75 per kg. The substantial discount of India's yarn prices stands in stark contrast to the situation of six months or a year ago when India's yarn prices were at levels comparable to those of other countries.
In part, the current yarn pricing situation is the result of India's various cotton fiber and yarn export restrictions that have been imposed over the past 15 months. Since October '10, textile mills in India have generally paid much less for cotton than yarn spinners in other countries. In January '11, the price gap between local Indian prices and the Cotlook "A" Index grew to as much as $0.50 per lb. acting as a subsidy to India's textile mills; the substantial price discount is now reflected in lower yarn prices.
The NCC, working with the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), previously raised these concerns with the office of the US Trade Representative, contending that the cotton export quotas and restrictions violate India's commitments within the World Trade Organization. India's government policies continue to add uncertainty and volatility to global fiber and yarn markets.
Textile Job Creation Bill Introduced
Reps. Price (D-NC) and Coble (R-NC) introduced the American Textile Technology Innovation and Research for Exportation (ATTIRE) Act designed to boost high-tech textile manufacturing and job creation.
The ATTIRE Act creates a new $5 million competitive grant program at the Dept. of Commerce. University-based and non-profit research institutions seeking to conduct high-tech textile research and development projects can compete for grant funds. There is currently no single federal program that supports innovation in the US textile and fiber products industry, which is a major employer and job creator despite the contraction it has suffered in recent years.
“The textile industry contributes $60 billion to our national economy every year, and it employs over 500,000 workers across the country, including many right here in North Carolina,” Rep. Price said. “The ATTIRE Act will help keep these jobs here, ensuring this critical domestic industry out-innovates its international competitors by funding research into the next generation of textile and fiber technologies.”
Rep. Coble said, “I am pleased to join with Congressman Price in cosponsoring the ATTIRE Act.”
Rep. Price also introduced the ATTIRE Act near the close of the 111th Congress. However, this introduction marks the first time the bill has been introduced with bipartisan support.
Ag Biotech Benefits Discussed at Hearing
The House Committee on Agriculture's Subcommittee on Rural Development, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture convened to discuss the benefits of agricultural biotechnology products.
Ranking Member Costa (D-CA) initiated the hearing, noting that it is critical for the United States to continue the food supply increase.
Testifying were: Charles Conner, president/CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives;Roger Beachy, president emeritus of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center; and Calestous Juma, professor of the Practice of International Development and director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School. According to their testimony, biotechnology is exactly the solution to the future food supply needs.
Conner stated that in '10, 93% of all US cotton was a biotech variety and that cotton yields have increased by 33% since the introduction of biotechnology.
"The question is how to enable biotech to move forward to meet the needs of the future," Conner said, referring to estimates that the global population will increase to 9.3 billion by the end of the century.
Beachy said biotechnology provides "sustainability that is quantifiable by science."
When Rep. Hartzler (R-MO) asked Beachy whether or not biotech crops are any less safe than conventional crops, he replied, "no" and added, "there have been no critical studies that have any scientific consensus around them."
Discussing the global hurdles of biotechnology, Juma testified that in order for African countries to start planting biotech crops, "we need to expand trade links between U.S. and African countries." He also said Africans need to get actively involved in agricultural and biotechnology research.
NCC Pleased with Appropriations Bill's GPS Amendment
The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY12 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill. It included a voice-vote adopted amendment from Reps. Austria (R-OH) and Yoder (R-KS) that prohibits funding for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to remove conditions on or permit certain commercial broadband operations until the FCC has resolved concerns of harmful interference by these operations on Global Positioning System (GPS) devices.
The NCC responded, "American cotton farmers depend on GPS tools, which are critical to the precision of location identification. Allowing the LightSquared proposal to go forward will infringe upon the bandwidth used by agricultural GPS, impact the accuracy upon which precision agriculture applications depend and seriously compromise its overall effectiveness. American cotton farmers depend on GPS tools in meeting their need for precision in modern agricultural practices. GPS, combined with on-board yield sensor technology, provides detailed information and coordinates for optimal planting, targeted pesticide application, and efficient irrigation. Accuracy in irrigation helps farmers to conserve water, and precise applications of pesticides reduce farmworker and wildlife exposure in the fields.”
NCGA Comments on Musculoskeletal Requirement
Lorem The National Cotton Ginners’ Association (NCGA) submitted comments in opposition to the musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) reporting requirement. The submission was made during a reopening of a proposed rule that would include a column for MSD on the Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA) 300 Log.
NCGA’s comments stated that, “While the gathering of the MSD injuries would seem to be innocuous, the NCGA is very concerned that this reporting requirement will lead far beyond its statistical intent. OSHA has not justified the need for this data.”
The comments also noted that no evidence suggests that the musculoskeletal disorders have changed to warrant this inclusion of data in the OSHA 300 Log.
“We understand that the mere compilation of this data is not an ergonomics standard, but it appears that OSHA hopes to pursue broader ergonomics regulations,” the comments stated.
It was pointed out that the ergonomics standard was rejected by Congress in ’01, and the MSD column was never included. Further, the NCGA is convinced that collecting this data likely will yield inaccurate and overstated results and that it will burden small businesses and industries with overly obsessive and cumbersome regulations.
US Mill Cotton Use Steady
According to the Commerce Dept., May (four-week month) total cotton consumption in domestic mills was 133.8 million pounds for a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.53 million bales (480-lb). Last year's May annualized rate was 3.55 million bales. The April (four-week month) estimate of domestic mill use of cotton was raised by 111,000 pounds to 132.3 million pounds. The revised seasonally adjusted annualized rate of consumption for April is 3.56 million bales. The previous April's annualized rate was 3.44 million bales.
Based on Commerce estimates from Aug. 1, '10-May 28, '11, projected total pounds consumed during crop year '10-11 would be 1.8 billion pounds or 3.65 million bales. USDA's latest estimate of '10-11 crop year mill use is 3.8 million bales. Preliminary June domestic mill use of cotton and revised May figures will be released by Commerce on July 28.
Sales Weak, Shipments Steady
Net export sales for the week ending June 16 were -1,000 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to approximately 15.4 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 13.5 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are roughly 5.8 million bales.
Shipments for the week were 173,000 bales, bringing total exports to date to 13.4 million bales. At the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year, shipments were 10.2 million bales.
Effective June 24-30, ’11
Adjusted World Price, SLM 11/16
115.64 cents
*
Fine Count Adjustment ('10 Crop)
0.37 cents
Fine Count Adjustment ('11 Crop)
0.42 cents
Coarse Count Adjustment
0.00 cents
Marketing Loan Gain Value
0.00 cents
Import Quotas Open
1
Limited Global Import Quota (480-lb bales)
217,208
ELS Payment Rate
0.00 cents
*No Adjustment Made Under Step I
Five-Day Average
Current 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East
NA
Forward 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East
136.15 cents
Coarse Count CFR Far East
NA
Current US CFR Far East
168.50 cents
Forward US CFR Far East
141.20 cents
'10-11 Weighted Marketing-Year Average Farm Price
Year-to-Date (Aug.-April)
81.47 cents
**
**August-July average price used in determination of counter-cyclical payment
