The House Agriculture Committee's subcommittee assignments for the 114th Congress were announced by Committee Chairman Conaway (R-TX).
Rep. Crawford (R-AR) will be chairman of the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee. Other Cotton Belt Members on this panel are: Reps. Lucas (R-OK), Neugebauer (R-TX), Rogers (R-AL), Scott (R-GA), Denham (R-CA), LaMalfa (R-CA), Allen (R-GA), Abraham (R-LA), Graham (D-FL), Scott (D-GA), Costa (D-CA) and Kirkpatrick (D-AZ).
Rep. Scott (R-GA) will chair the Commodity Exchanges, Energy and Credit Subcommittee. He will be joined by other Cotton Belt Members, including: Reps. Lucas (R-OK), Neugebauer (R-TX), Rogers (R-AL), LaMalfa (CA-01), Scott (D-GA), Vela (D-TX) and Kirkpatrick (D-AZ).
Newly-elected Rep. Rouzer (R-NC), will chair the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee. The other Cotton Belt Members on this panel are: Reps. DesJarlais (R-TN), Yoho (R-FL), Costa (D-CA) and Vela (D-TX). Full subcommittee rosters and additional information are on the Agriculture Committee's website at http://agriculture.house.gov/press-release/agriculture-committee-announces-subcommittee-assignments.
Senate Panels Announce Subcommittee Assignments
The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee announced subcommittee assignments and chairmen for the 114th Congress.
Sen. Boozman (R-AR) will serve as chairman of the Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management and Trade. Two Cotton Belt Members, Sens. Cochran (R-MS) and Perdue (R-GA), will be joining him on that subcommittee. The three also were assigned to the Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources, which is being chaired by Sen. Perdue.
The Senate Appropriations Committee also announced its subcommittee assignments for the 114th Congress.
Cotton Belt Sen. Moran (R-KS) will serve as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. Also assigned to that panel were three other Cotton Belt Members: Sens. Cochran (R-MS), Blunt (R-MO) and Feinstein (D-CA).
Farm Service Agency (FSA) Administrator Dolcini said the Conservation Reserve Program now will encourage more bird habitats to be established in irrigated farmland regions.
Declines in upland bird populations, such as the northern bobwhite, pheasant, and prairie chicken, led to the creation of new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) features to help restore habitats for these species in these agricultural areas. Since the program's creation in '04, more than 240,000 acres of marginal cropland has been converted to native grasslands, spurring an increase in upland bird populations.
In recent years, however, applications for this type of habitat creation have slowed. To encourage more participation, USDA's new policy focuses on farmland with center-pivot irrigation systems where there are circular areas of cropland with patches of land beyond the reach of irrigation. Until now, these patches – known as pivot corners – were only eligible for habitat creation when connected by a linear strip of grassland also enrolled in the program. The new policy allows producers interested in habitat creation to use disconnected pivot corners to help increase the population of upland birds. Other species that can benefit from this new policy include the mourning dove, wild turkey, several sparrows, meadowlark and bobolinks.
The CRP is a voluntary program. FSA contracts with agricultural landowners so that environmentally sensitive land is not farmed but instead used for conservation. Participants establish long-term plant species that control soil erosion, sequester carbon, improve water quality and strengthen declining wildlife populations. In return, participants receive annual rental payments between 10 and 15 years.
Interested landowners can enroll pivot corners in the CRP at any time. Participants and land must meet certain eligibility requirements. For more details, contact your local FSA office.
Froman Testifies Before House, Senate Committees
The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee held hearings on the US trade agenda where US Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman testified.
The hearings covered a wide range of issues including trade promotion authority (TPA), the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) negotiations with the European Union, currency manipulation, trade enforcement, and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) reauthorization.
The NCC statement, filed for the record for both hearings and which outlined US cotton's key trade concerns, is on the NCC's website at www.cotton.org/issues/2015/tradestate.cfm.
Sen. Isakson (R-GA) raised concerns with Ambassador Froman regarding China's cotton policies and their impact on the world cotton market. He specifically raised questions regarding China's compliance with current World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations and what the US government is currently doing to hold China accountable within the WTO.
Ambassador Froman noted "…bysome measure China's now the largest subsidizer of cotton. And so we're engaging with them and we had conversations also in the last couple days about that and about taking a fresh look at where subsidies are being provided, how it's distorting the market, and how that should play into global trade negotiations. I think it's important that we update our view of where subsidies are coming from and what impact it has."
Rep. Smith (R-MO) focused on the Turkish government's current anti-dumping investigation initiated against US cotton exports and what steps the Administration can take to help forestall any duties being placed on US cotton and bring the investigation to a close. He noted the faulty economic basis and retaliatory nature of the case. Ambassador Froman acknowledged the right of countries to utilize trade remedies, but discussed the Administration's role in assisting the US cotton industry in navigating the case and pressing for transparency in Turkey's actions.
The USTR and most of the cabinet officials are currently working to help advance TPA by building support with Congress to approve TPA this year. Expectations are that a TPA bill will be introduced in the coming weeks and begin to move through the committee process. Meanwhile, negotiations on TPP continue with Ambassador Froman noting that the goal is to complete the negotiations in a short number of months so the agreement can be presented to Congress for consideration.
Korean US Cotton Purchases Escalate
Sales of US cotton to Korea have increased by 60% since '12 reaching 490,670 bales in '14, valued at about $228 million. These sales resulted from a persistent and concerted long-term effort by COTTON USA to communicate the advantages of US cotton to Korean spinners and consumers.
COTTON USA consumer promotions and trade servicing activities in Korea through Cotton Council International (CCI) greatly influenced the sales increase, which gives US cotton a 40% market share of Korea's total imports. US cotton consumption in some Korean companies has reached 80-100%, compared to less than 30% in '12. Korean spinners and buying offices report that this trend of increasing US cotton imports is expected to continue to exceed 50% in '15.
CCI invited Korean spinners to a COTTON USA seminar in September '14 to showcase the advantage of US cotton at the industry level. In addition to ongoing trade communication efforts, CCI holds large-scale consumer outreach activities in Korea such as Cotton Day, as well as COTTON USA promotions in local department stores.
Sales, Shipments Reach Marketing Year High
Net export sales for the week ending on Jan. 22 were 678,000 bales (480-lb) – a marketing-year high. This brings total '14-15 sales to approximately 9.4 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the '13-14 marketing year were approximately 9.0 million bales. Total new crop ('15-16) sales are 595,800 bales.
Shipments for the week were 291,900 bales – also a marketing-year high – bringing total exports to date to 3.4 million bales, compared with the 4.1 million bales at the comparable point in the '13-14 marketing year.
