The House Ways and Means Committee conducted a “mock mark-up” and reported draft implementing legislation for the free trade agreements (FTA) with Colombia, South Korea and Panama.
However, all Democratic members of the committee voted against the draft legislation so the future of the process is unclear. The Democrats opposed the measures because a proposal to extend the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was not included and the draft implementing bill for the Colombia FTA does not include a reference to the action plan on labor rights agreed to by the Obama Administration and the Colombian government.
The Senate Finance Committee also cleared all three pacts and attached the TAA extension to the Korea FTA draft bill. The Committee also approved an amendment to the Colombian agreement to extend the Andean Trade Preference Act and the US Generalized System of Preferences, which lapsed in February.
During a mock mark-up process, the committees of jurisdiction make legislative recommendations regarding implementing legislation to the administration. The White House considers the recommendations in drafting formal implementing language for the agreements but is not bound by them. Once the White House submits the implementing bills, they may not be amended under trade promotion authority procedures. Because the House and Senate Committees reported different recommendations, it is unclear how consideration of the measures will proceed.
SURE Disaster Program Deadline Approaches
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack reminded producers they have until Friday, July 29, '11, to apply for assistance for '09 crop losses under the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments (SURE) Program. The program provides crop disaster assistance payments to eligible producers on farms that have incurred crop production or quality losses.
The SURE program takes into consideration losses on all crops grown by a producer nationwide. To be eligible, producers must have suffered at least a 10% production loss on a crop of economic significance and obtained a policy or plan of insurance under the Federal Crop Insurance Act or the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program, for all economically significant crops. A producer must have a farming interest physically located in a county that was declared a primary disaster county or contiguous county by the Secretary of Agriculture under a Secretarial Disaster Designation or have actual production on the farm that was less than 50% of the normal production on the farm due to a natural disaster.
A limit of $100,000 per person and legal entity collectively received, directly and indirectly, applies to the combination of payments from SURE and the livestock disaster programs administered by FSA — Livestock Forage Program (LFP), Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP). Persons or legal entities whose average non-farm income exceeds $500,000 are not eligible for SURE payments.
A producer interested in signing up for SURE for their '09 crops must do so before close of business on July 29, '11, at the county Farm Service Agency office servicing the producer. The signup for the SURE program for the '10 crops will be announced at a later date.
For more information about USDA Farm Service Agency disaster assistance programs, visit a local FSA county office orhttp://disaster.fsa.usda.gov/.
Nelson Named FSA Administrator
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack appointed Bruce Nelson as the administrator of the Farm Service Agency (FSA). He has been serving as acting FSA administrator since May.
A Montana native, Nelson had served as FSA state executive director (SED) in that state since 2008. Previously, he served as Montana’s SED from ’93-00, during which he was awarded the Administrator’s Distinguished Service Award. He also had served as the chief of staff to Montana Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer.
Farm Policy Hearings Continue
Rep. Thompson (R-PA), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry, continued the audit hearings on farm policy--which is the first step in the farm bill process. Each chairman of the six subcommittees will hold hearings to examine programs in their respective jurisdictions to determine spending trends and confirm how programs work together.
Conservation programs protect soil, water, wildlife and other natural resources on agricultural land. Currently, there are more than 20 conservation programs and subprograms that are administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Farm Service Agency (FSA). Some of the larger programs include: Conservation Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). Testifying on behalf of the Administration were NRCS Chief Dave White and FSA Administrator Bruce Nelson.
Subcommittee members questioned the USDA officials on how these programs can be streamlined to be more effective and efficient. Although the past two farm bills saw dramatic increases in conservation spending, several of the programs, such as the WRP, do not have a budget baseline beyond the expiration of the ’08 farm bill. The NCC will continue to monitor these audit hearings as they continue.
Deadline for Oil Spill Plans Looming
EPA's Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) program requires farms and other facilities to prepare plans to prevent oil spills into US waters. Farms in operation on or before Aug. 16, '02, must maintain or amend their existing plan by Nov. 10, '11. Any farm that started operation after Aug. 16, '02, but before Nov. 10, '11, must prepare and use a plan on or before Nov. 10, '11.
The SPCC program applies to a farm which:
·Stores, transfers, uses, or consumes oil or oil products, such as diesel fuel, gasoline, lube oil, hydraulic oil, adjuvant oil, crop oil, vegetable oil or animal fat; and
·Stores more than 1,320 US gallons in aboveground containers or more than 42,000 US gallons in completely buried containers; and
·Could reasonably be expected to discharge oil to waters of the US or adjoining shorelines, such as interstate waters, and intrastate lakes, rivers and streams.
SPCC plans include measures such as using suitable containers, identifying contractors to clean up an oil spill, secondary containment for spills, and periodic inspections of pipes and containers.
Many farmers will need to have their plan certified by a Professional Engineer (PE). However, a farmer may be eligible to self-certify his plan if the farm has a total oil storage capacity between 1,320 and 10,000 gallons in aboveground containers and the farm has a good spill history.
Reps. Crawford (R-AR) and Fincher (R-TN) are circulating a letter for colleague signatures. The letter is addressed to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and asks her to extend the Nov. 10 deadline due to a lack of outreach and education to farmers on the part of EPA, a scarcity of qualified PEs, and the current hardship facing farmers in the Midwest and Mid-South brought on by floods and severe weather.
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Mica (R-FL) and Ranking Member Rahall (D-WV) have introduced HR 2018, which would prevent EPA from overriding state decisions regarding implementation plans for water quality programs. The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011’s purpose is to restore the long-standing relationship between states and EPA as co-regulators under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
The CWA does not contemplate a single federal water quality program. Instead, it sets up a system whereby states can receive EPA approval to implement water quality programs under state law, in lieu of federal implementation. These states are called “authorized states.” The CWA also does not establish uniform national water quality standards. Instead, under the Act, states establish water quality standards for the water bodies in that state and EPA has the authority to approve or disapprove the state standard. However, once EPA has approved a state standard, its implementation/interpretation is left to the state.
The sponsors of HR 2018 introduced this legislation amid concerns that EPA had exceeded its role as the approver of programs/standards and attempted, instead, to directly implement water quality programs in approved states. The bill would limit EPA’s ability to override approved state standards and permits.
CCI Expands Supply Chain Marketing Reach
Cotton Council International’s (CCI) ASEAN COTTON USA Supply Chain Marketing (SCM) program has expanded into Indonesia and Vietnam -- welcoming 16 new Indonesian spinners and 12 new Vietnamese spinners.
CCI selects spinning mills using a majority of US cotton in their operations to join the SCM program, which facilitates trade in US cotton-rich products by linking upstream and downstream customers. SCM member mills benefit from special promotions on websites, trade advertising, market research and sales events tailored to promote sales of US cotton-rich products to downstream customers.
Meanwhile, CCI Turkey sponsored the Turkish Ready-Made Garment Assoc. Annual Conference for the third consecutive year. More than 1,500 executives attended the ’11 forum, and attendees represented garment manufacturers, textile manufacturers and buying offices and brands.
CCI’s presentation on the cotton market was ranked the highest among all of the conference’s speakers.
Old Crop Sales Weak, New Crop Sales Surge
Lorem Net export sales for the week ending June 30 were -79,800 bales (480-lb). This brings total ’10-11 sales to about 15.2 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 13.7 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are roughly 6.3 million bales.
Shipments for the week were 154,200 bales, bringing total exports to date to 13.7 million bales, compared with the 10.9 million bales at the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year. With approximately one month remaining in the marketing year, weekly shipments must average roughly 326,000 bales to reach the USDA projection of 15.0 million bales.
Effective July 8-14, ’11
Adjusted World Price, SLM 11/16
108.86 cents
*
Fine Count Adjustment ('10 Crop)
0.52 cents
Fine Count Adjustment ('11 Crop)
0.57 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
129.37 cents
Coarse Count CFR Far East
NA
Current US CFR Far East
NA
Forward US CFR Far East
134.50 cents
'10-11 Weighted Marketing-Year Average Farm Price
Year-to-Date (Aug.-May)
81.47 cents
**
**August-July average price used in determination of counter-cyclical payment
