CURRENT ISSUE ARTICLES

Highly Erodible Cropland Initiative Announced

Panel Seeks US/Mexican Weevil Eradication Enhancement

EPA Advances Controversial Guide Clarifying CWA's Scope

'12 Ginner School Registration Open

US-Korea Trade Pact Goes Into Effect on March 15

US Cotton Promoted in Bangladesh

Sales Steady, Shipments Strong

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Highly Erodible Cropland Initiative Announced

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new conservation initiative to protect up to 750,000 acres of the nation's most highly erodible croplands. The new initiative will assist producers with targeting their most highly erodible cropland (land with an erodibility index of 20 or greater) by enabling them to plant wildlife-friendly, long-term cover through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Producers can enroll land on a continuous basis beginning this summer at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office. With the use of soil survey and geographic information system data, local FSA staff can quickly determine a producer's eligibility for the initiative. Lands eligible for this program are typically the least productive land on the farm. In many cases, the most cost-effective option to reduce erosion is to put the land into a wildlife-friendly cover, which will improve habitat and reduce sediment and nutrient runoff and wind erosion.

CRP is a voluntary program designed to help farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers protect their environmentally sensitive land. Through this initiative, eligible landowners receive annual rental payments and cost-share assistance to establish long-term, resource conserving covers on eligible farmland. Land can be enrolled on a continuous basis for a period of 10 years. Land currently not enrolled in CRP may be offered in this sign-up provided all eligibility requirements are met. Current CRP participants with eligible land expiring on Sept. 30, '12, may make new contract offers.

For more information on this initiative, please contact your local FSA office.

Panel Seeks US/Mexican Weevil Eradication Enhancement

Members of the NCC's Boll Weevil International Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) found many commonalities in their program's operations at its first meeting on Feb. 16-17 in McAllen, TX.

ITAC Chairman Ray Frisbie appointed a subcommittee to draft plans to standardize program activities across the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Tamaulipas, Mexico. The report is expected to be completed within six weeks. Although many operational aspects are similar between the Texas and Tamaulipas programs, the ITAC hopes to enhance the boll weevil eradication efforts by improving coordination and communication between the two programs.

Larry Smith, program director of the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, presented the operational details of the Lower Rio Grande Valley while Carlos Campos, program director for Tamaulipas, MX, presented the Northern Tamaulipas' operational details. Lindy Patton, president/CEO of the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation, presented information on the mission and Foundation's purpose as well as the program funding mechanisms and legal statutes for compliance. Jesus Garza-Hibler, president of the Northern Tamaulipas Cotton Producers, presented the funding mechanism and legal statues for the Mexico program.After much discussion, the two programs identified similarities in program operations and began discussing the potential to improve the joint effort of eradication. Most importantly, the unified membership found a clear common purpose in the desire to eradicate the boll weevil.

Specific areas identified as different between the programs will be addressed in the subcommittee report.Among those differences were last year's limited quantity of ULV (ultra-low volume) malathion in Mexico's program and compliance of planting dates/stalk destruction in the US program. Imbedded in these challenges were funding differences and program support by all producers. Much discussion focused on how small amounts of cotton can result in significant numbers of weevils and extended eradication efforts.

The NCC's Boll Weevil Action Committee approved the formation of the ITAC at its '11 annual meeting. Mexico was consulted for membership recommendations representing that country. Six of the 14 committee members (including the chairman) represent Mexico.

EPA Advances Controversial Guide Clarifying CWA's Scope

EPA is advancing its controversial guidance clarifying when isolated wetlands, intermittent streams and other marginal waters are subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act (CWA), despite opposition from industry, GOP lawmakers and others.

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) launched its formal review of a notice on EPA's "Clean Water Act Protection Guide." Such reviews are generally required to be completed within 90 days. The guidance, developed jointly with the Army Corps of Engineers, is expected to expand CWA jurisdiction over tributaries to traditionally navigable waters, wetlands adjacent to those tributaries and other marginal waters by offering a new interpretation of when discharges to these waters are subject to regulation.The document is intended to clarify legal uncertainty surrounding when marginal waters are subject to regulation under the water law. The uncertainty stems from competing Supreme Court opinions.

A key component of the new policy is that small streams and wetlands can be considered together, or in the aggregate, in determining whether they play a significant role in the health of a watershed. The logic is that even though damaging or polluting a small tributary stream may have little effect on the overall health of a large waterway, the damaging or polluting of all streams would have an impact. Therefore, even small tributary streams and wetlands should be afforded protection based on the value that others like them lend to the total watershed.

Opposition to the document's draft version has been intense. Industry groups and other critics charged that key provisions in the guidance are at odds with past Supreme Court precedent and the CWA. State and local governments charged that the guide could impose huge new unfunded mandates, undermining a host of local water quality control programs. In Congress, lawmakers unsuccessfully pushed amendments to various EPA spending bills seeking to block the guidance.

Earlier, it was thought that EPA intended to issue this as interim guidance. EPA, however, stated that it is a final guidance. If finalized, the policy could have broad implications in stream and wetland protection and on the agriculture, homebuilding, mining and oil industries, all of which have cited the fragile economic recovery in pressing the White House to exercise regulatory restraint.

The NCC has been working on this and other CWA issues in conjunction with the Water Advocacy Coalition and the Agriculture Nutrient Policy Council. A strategy meeting is scheduled for the week of Feb. 27 to discuss action items, including visits to OMB and the Hill.

'12 Ginner School Registration Open

Registration is open for the '12 Ginner Schools. Dates for the schools are: Southwest Ginners School in Lubbock, TX – March 26-28; Western Ginners School, Las Cruces, NM – May 8-10; and Stoneville Ginners School, Stoneville, MS – June 12-14. Registration can be completed online at www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/index.cfm. All three schools will be conducted at the USDA ginning laboratories in those locations.

National Cotton Ginners' Assoc. Executive Vice President Harrison Ashley said the Level I, II and III courses run 8 am – 5 pm each day. He said each level of Ginner Schools' coursework is built on the previous level of instruction, with Level I serving as the foundation. It is recommended that all new students, regardless of gin experience, 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) course for certified ginners and gin managers/superintendents. The CE course at the Southwest school will be held on that school's first two days, March 26-27.

A summary of CE topics at the Southwest school follows:

·A session on all aspects of air -- from the module feeder to cyclones -- which will feature several problem-solving presentations, including proper fan sizing and efficient operation

·Harvesting and its implications on ginning, grades and quality

·New developments in gin by-product utilization

·Computer and phone applications to assist ginners with module logistics and gin equipment monitoring

·A presentation by ginner Dwayne Alford about the use of facial recognition for payroll records

·Safety and maintaining a safe work environment

"Over the past few years, the continuing education courses have focused on a wider audience in order to include topics that will benefit not only certified ginners, but also gin managers and superintendents," Ashley said. "It is important that both the hands-on ginners and the management stay current with the latest technology and issues facing our industry.

School cooperators include USDA's Agricultural Research Service, USDA Extension Service, NCGA and its member associations, NCC, Cotton Incorporated, gin machinery/equipment manufacturers and suppliers, Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Services, and select land grant universities.

For more information, contact NCGA at (901) 274-9030 or www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/index.cfm.

US-Korea Trade Pact Goes Into Effect on March 15

The US Trade Representative's Office (USTR) announced that the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement will go into effect on March 15. Under the pact, almost two-thirds of US agricultural exports to Korea, among them cotton, will become duty-free.

US and Korean diplomats spent President's Day weekend reviewing each country's laws and procedures to ensure that both are in full compliance with the requirements of the agreement. In Dec. '10, the Administration announced the resolution of outstanding trade issues, and Congress passed implementing legislation in Oct. '11.

USTR's announcement is at www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2012/february/united-states-korea-set-date-entry-force-us-korea.

US Cotton Promoted in Bangladesh

A seven-member delegation from Cotton Council International (CCI) and Cotton Incorporated visited Bangladesh on Feb. 11-17 for technical servicing visits to mills and a technical seminar for CCI partners.

The delegation visited six COTTON USA-licensed mills and provided them with technical assistance in dyeing and finishing. These mills were licensed for nearly 50,000 bales of US cotton in '11.

CCI and Cotton Incorporated also sponsored a dyeing and finishing seminar for more than 65 local industry members. The seminar provided an opportunity for the delegation to promote US cotton and discuss technical issues with both existing and prospective US cotton customers.

Bangladesh is the eighth largest US cotton market and imported more than 490,000 US bales in '10.

Sales Steady, Shipments Strong

Net export sales for the week ending Feb. 16 were 201,000 bales (480-lb). This brings total '11-12 sales to approximately 11.2 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the '10-11 marketing year were approximately 15.4 million bales. Total new crop ('12-13) sales are 604,500 bales.

Shipments for the week were 336,000 bales, bringing total exports to date to 4.9 million bales, compared with the 7.3 million bales at the comparable point in the '10-11 marketing year.

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