NCC Representatives Visit With Key Trade Officials
NCC President/CEO Mark Lange and Senior Vice President, Washington Operations, John Maguire visited with key trade officials in Geneva ahead of the next World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial in mid-December. The meetings were arranged by the US Mission's Office of Agricultural Affairs.
Their first meeting was with US Ambassador Michael Punke followed by a briefing with a number of WTO agricultural staff. They also had individual meetings with a number of WTO officials, including Deputy Director General Harsha Singh, Accessions Division Director Chediu Osakwe and Keith Rockwell, director of Information and External Communications. In addition, their visits included sessions with Nicholas Imboden, executive director of the Ideas Center; and Ralf Peters, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Lange and Maguire also met with John Adank, New Zealand's ambassador, who is expected to be elected as the new chairman of the WTO Doha Round agriculture negotiations. Adank will be the fourth successive New Zealander to hold this position.
In another session, Lange and Maguire met with Yi Xiaozhun, China's ambassador to the WTO, and Zhao Weining, the counselor for China. With the Chinese officials, the NCC representatives stressed the need for greater transparency and market access. In a meeting with Amit Yadav, India's counselor to the WTO, Lange and Maguire discussed the damage to the world cotton market caused by disruptive export bans.
EPA Increasing Pollinator Protection
The EPA has created a new "pollinator work group" (PWG) that will focus on issues of pollinator protection, for both honey bees and native pollinating bees. The work group will report to the Pesticide Policy Dialog Committee (PPDC), which serves as an advisory group to the EPA.
Initial meetings have identified short term issues that may be addressed now while long term issues may need additional research. The 44-member PWG represents a broad interest group, including state and federal government representatives, bee keepers, conservation groups, applicators, grower groups, cooperative extension, nongovernmental groups, and agricultural industry. Dr. Don Parker, the NCC's manager of Integrated Pest Management, serves on the PWG.
EPA also has announced intentions to release new guidelines and additional tests in '12 for the risk assessment used to decide if pesticides are registered, or re-registered, for use.
EPA continues to work with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development partners toward global risk assessments. Additional information can be viewed at the EPA website, www.epa.gov/opp00001/ecosystem/pollinator/risk-mgmt.html.
Senate Negotiations Stalled on Pesticide Water Permits
The effective date for EPA to issue general permits for certain pesticide uses under the Clean Water Act is Oct. 31, '11. Under a '09 Sixth Circuit 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 certain uses of pesticides which result in pesticide applications into, over, or near US waters.
Agricultural groups, including the NCC, believe that pesticides applications already are highly regulated under the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and that this permitting is a paperwork exercise that will provide no additional environmental protection.
In March of this year, the House passed a bipartisan bill, H.R. 872, which amends both the CWA and FIFRA to prevent such redundant regulatory burdens. Sens. Boxer (D-CA), chair of the Environmental and Public Works Committee, and Cardin (D-MD) have put a hold on the bill.
Sens. Stabenow (D-MI) and Roberts (R-KS) of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee are insisting on a two-year moratorium on the permits; however, Sen. Boxer is pushing a broad study of pesticide impacts on waters, which has stalled the negotiations. Last minute efforts by agricultural groups are on-going to restart discussions among the Senate committees.
Head of EPA Pesticide Office Resigns
In an internal Oct. 25 memo,Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Chemical Safety & Pollution Prevention which is responsible for pesticide regulations, announced that he would be resigning his position effective on Nov. 30. Owens stated that the reason for his departure is to spend more time with his family in Arizona.
Owens was nominated by President Obama in April '09 and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in July '09. Previously, he served as the director of the Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and was the longest-serving director in ADEQ history. Before joining ADEQ, he was a practicing environmental attorney in Phoenix for 14 years.The administration has issued no statement regarding Owens' replacement.
DOL Extends Child Labor Comment Period Deadline
In response to letters submitted by agricultural groups, such as the NCC, and numerous other stakeholders, the US Dept. of Labor (DOL) agreed to extend the comment period regarding the notice of proposed rulemaking affecting agricultural and non-agricultural child labor regulations.
The deadline was extended from Nov. 1, '11 to Dec. 1, '11, and the DOL said it does not believe that extending the comment period will delay publication of the final rule. Those interested in submitting comments should go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.
On Sept. 2, '11, the DOL published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register (see 76 FR 54836 at http://frwebgate1.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=RgqdSF/0/2/0&WAISaction=retrieve) that includes proposals to amend its existing regulations addressing child labor in both agricultural and non-agricultural employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act and to incorporate into the regulations the enforcement policies that DOL's Wage and Hour Division follows when determining whether to assess a civil money penalty for child labor violations and the amount of that penalty.
Ginning Sessions Offer Practical Applications
The '12 Beltwide Cotton Ginning Conference will offer ginner attendees multiple reports with practical applications. The Ginning Conference is one of 13 cotton technical conferences to be held at the '12 Beltwide Cotton Conferences, Jan. 3-6 at the Orlando World Center Marriott.Registration and hotel information for the forum is at http://www.cotton.org/beltwide/.
The Ginning Conference's two sessions will be held on Thursday, Jan. 5 from 1:30 pm-6 pm and Friday, Jan. 6 from 8 am-noon. The full program, which features reports ranging from "Ginner's Experience in the Ginning of Onboard Picker Built Modules" to "Effect of Harvesting Methods and Cotton Fiber Maturity on Yarn Quality," is on the NCGA's website www.cotton.org/ncga/index.cfm. Several of the ginning conference's presentations will focus on phone and computer applications to assist in the movement of cotton from the field and through the ginning system to new automated cotton bale bagging systems that will help reduce labor. Other reports will address such timely topics as safety, quality, bale moisture testing, gin emissions sampling and lint cleaner research.
NCGA President Kent Fountain, a Georgia ginner, encouraged ginners to attend the conference.
"The Cotton Ginning Conference provides a forum for researchers and industry representatives to exchange information on new technology aimed at improving gin operation efficiency and preserving fiber quality," he said. "This year's sessions will offer proven steps our ginners can take to achieve those goals."
Also on the NCGA's website is a schedule of open NCGA committee meetings that ginners are welcome to attend. The meetings will begin at 1:30 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 4, and conclude at noon on Thursday, Jan. 5.
Shippers See Some Port Calls Skipped, Cargo Rolled
Shippers of agricultural commodities, including cotton, depend on containers to move their products around the world. However, as the Agriculture Transportation Coalition (AgTC) reported, rolled import shipments are rippling through the agricultural export community.
According to Bill Mongelluzzo, associate editor of the online Journal of Commerce,"Some trans-Pacific ocean carriers are skipping port calls and holding back vessel departures if bookings are weak, illustrating how feeble the peak shipping season has been and how aggressive carriers will get in the coming months to manage overcapacity."
AgTC also noted that the Morgan Stanley Container Freight Weekly Report and other reports continue to project rates firming up as carriers "manage" capacity by taking containers and ocean vessels out of service. Links to both stories can be found on the AgTC website at www.agtrans.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63&Itemid=37.
CCI Hosts Korean Apparel Manufacturers Tour
Cotton Council International recently hosted 20 Korean yarn and fabric sourcing executives and garment production executives on the COTTON USA Korean Apparel Manufacturers Tour to the United States.
The group's first stop was Memphis, where the executives visited a cotton farm and gin, the USDA cotton classing office, the NCC and Allenberg trading company. The group then divided into four groups to visit the factories of several COTTON USA Sourcing Program members.
The Korean textile and garment manufacturers that have operations in C. America and the Caribbean continue to be important clients for US yarns and fabrics. This unique US cotton fiber education tour enabled the US industry to strengthen business relationships with Korean manufacturers, which could result in increased US cotton yarns and fabrics sourcing and C. American garment production.
Sales Surge, Shipments Steady
Net export sales for the week ending Oct. 20 were 397,600 bales (480-lb). This brings total '11-12 sales to approximately 7.7 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the '10-11 marketing year were approximately 11.2 million bales. Total new crop ('12-13) sales are 238,400 bales.
Shipments for the week were 77,500 bales, bringing total exports to date to 1.1 million bales, compared with the 2.0 million bales at the comparable point in the '10-11 marketing year.
