USDA reminds producers to file a Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Certification form (AD-1026) with their local USDA Service Center by June 1, '15. The '14 farm law requires producers to have the form on file in order to remain eligible, or to become eligible, for crop insurance premium support.
Many producers already have a certification form on file because it is required for participation in most USDA programs including marketing assistance loans, farm storage facility loans and disaster assistance. However, producers who only participate in the federal crop insurance program must now file a certification form to receive crop insurance premium support. These producers might include specialty crop producers who may not participate in other USDA programs.
"USDA is making every effort possible to get the word out about this new Farm Bill provision," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "We want to make sure that those who are required to act do so by the June 1 deadline. We want all eligible producers to be able to maintain their ability to protect their operations with affordable crop insurance."
The Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Certification form AD-1026 is available at local USDA Service Centers or online at www.fsa.usda.gov/AD1026form. When a producer completes this form, USDA's Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service staff will identify any additional actions that may be required for compliance with highly erodible land and wetland provisions. USDA's Risk Management Agency, through the Federal Crop Insurance Corp., manages the federal crop insurance program.
The Senate voted 62-38 to invoke cloture on the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill, setting up negotiations on which amendments will be considered before a vote on the bill's final passage. There are eight amendments currently pending to the bill, and dozens of others have been filed. Senate leaders were working to find a path forward for a vote on final passage of TPA before they departed for the upcoming Memorial Day recess week.
One of the issues affecting progress on TPA is the pending expiration of the Export-Import Bank on June 30. Senators supporting extension of the Export-Import Bank obtained a commitment from Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) that the Senate would vote in June on an extension of the bank. Another key issue is the attempt to add a currency manipulation amendment to TPA, which is a provision the Administration opposes and has indicated would result in the bill's veto. Senate leadership continued their discussions to try to reach agreement on a package of amendments that will be considered before moving to the bill's final passage.
Of concern to the cotton and textile industries are two amendments that have been filed by Sens. Cardin (D-MD), Menendez (D-NJ) and Nelson (D-FL) that would extend tariff preference levels (TPLs) on textile/apparel products from Nicaragua, Morocco and Bahrain. At Cotton's Week's publication deadline, neither of those amendments had been offered and efforts continued to ensure the TPL amendments are not added to the TPA bill.
Preliminary Deregulation of Enlist Cotton Issued
USDA's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the availability for review of a preliminary regulatory determination, draft Environmental Assessment, preliminary Plant Pest Risk Assessment and preliminary finding of no significant impact (FONSI) in response to a Dow AgroSciences petition to deregulate cotton (Enlist) genetically engineered for resistance to the herbicides 2,4-D and glufosinate.
These documents will be available for public review and comments will be accepted for 30 days upon publication in the Federal Register. A final determination by APHIS is expected shortly after the conclusion of the comment period.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) issued its ruling on the US appeal of the country of origin labeling (COOL) law that requires labeling of beef, pork, and poultry products. The decision, which rejected the US appeal, is the end of a long-running WTO process where Canada and Mexico challenged the US COOL law at the WTO.
In response to the ruling, the House Agriculture Committee approved a bill (H.R. 2393) to repeal the COOL provisions for beef, pork and poultry while leaving intact the labeling requirements for other products covered under the COOL law. To avoid trade retaliation by Canada and Mexico against these and other products, the United States must either repeal or modify the COOL requirements.
Committee Chairman Conaway (R-TX) has indicated that he expects the House to consider H.R. 2393 in June. The Senate Agriculture Committee has not yet indicated what action it will take or when in response to the WTO ruling.
Pollinator Health Task Force Report Released
The Pollinator Health Task Force released its report "National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators" which identified three overarching goals:
Honey Bees: Reduce honey bee colony losses during winter (overwintering mortality) to no more than 15% within 10 years.
Monarch Butterflies: Increase the Eastern population of the monarch butterfly to 225 million butterflies occupying an area of approximately 15 acres in the overwintering grounds of Mexico, through domestic/international actions and public-private partnerships, by '20.
Pollinator Habitat Acreage: Restore or enhance seven million acres of land for pollinators over the next five years through federal actions and public/private partnerships.
The report identifies multiple agencies involvement as well as efforts to enhance public-private partnerships in an "all hands on deck" approach as directed by the Presidential Memo of June '14. The report acknowledges multiple factors involved and outlines multiple approaches, including research efforts, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the value of pollinators and factors needed to prevent their decline.
The report also identifies international collaboration to address global concerns with pollinator health. The strategy calls for an additional $1.56 million in new funding to the US Geological Survey to support research priorities, $1.5 million to EPA to study toxicity and risk management options, $0.5 million to EPA to augment work of states and tribes to develop pollinator protection plans, and $56 million to USDA for research and associated statistical surveys.
The Task Force's strategy expands beyond honey bees to include Monarch and other pollinators including native pollinators that are poorly understood. The plan outlines many efforts to increase pollinator habitat and increase educational efforts for enhancing pollinator health. The plan outlines research action as well as metrics to document the pollinator health improvements outlined in the goals.
The NCC is reviewing the complete plan to determine impacts on agriculture, and is encouraged with the plan's recognition of the multiple factors affecting pollinator health as reported by scientific studies. The NCC also is encouraged with 1) plans to develop habitat through various conservation programs and 2) the recognition that state pollinator plans can mitigate risk at local level.
Some concerns have been identified. Among those are EPA's analysis of seed treatments similar to their published analysis for soybeans. Another concern is EPA's determination "that the protection of milkweed is consistent with its responsibilities under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act and that it will take actions, as part of its regulatory decisions and voluntary programs, to establish practices and requirements to protect critical milkweed resources."
Pesticide Program Panel Meets
The Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee (PPDC) gathered in Washington, DC, for its bi-yearly meeting to provide feedback on a variety of pesticide regulatory, policy and program implementation issues.
Committee members provided updates on: PPDC resources and budgets, the Endangered Species Act, the Public Health Working Group, state/tribal managed pollinator protection plans, incident reporting, EPA website changes and others.
Since the National Academy of Sciences '13 report on endangered species, EPA has been working with industry task forces to decrease the number of crop protection products with a species impact that are released into the environment. The actions taken range from consolidating agency priorities to holding educational webinars and workshops for stakeholders. EPA also has developed a three-step process to assess a pesticide to determine whether or not it has an impact on a specific species and determine under what conditions it should be registered. Currently, there are three pilot chemicals going through the assessment process which EPA plans to have draft evaluations for by this fall with a final opinion coming out in Dec. '17. EPA also is creating a website, Bulletins Live! Two, which can be used to access specific pesticide use limitations across the country.
In response to multiple federal reports identifying impacts on pollinators over the past few years, EPA was required by the President to engage states and tribes in the development of state pollinator protection plans. Currently, there are five states with plans in place, which normally establish local and appropriate agreements and best practices for managing the needs of crop producers and beekeepers. Moving ahead, EPA plans to seek public input on proposed mitigation, urge other states to develop states plans where appropriate, and monitor the success of plans to determine whether further regulatory action is needed.
Committee members also provided brief updates on other topics. In '14, EPA proposed revisions to the Worker Protection Standard to protect the nation's farmers and applicators from pesticide exposure. EPA currently is reviewing comments to the proposals and hopes to have a final rule published later in '15. In addition, EPA has been working to better evaluate spray drift and volatilization in their risk assessments. It plans to finish responding to comments by the end of '15 and will continue to ask for stakeholder involvement. EPA also has been reassessing glyphosate as part of a scheduled registration review and will release a risk assessment in the next couple months for public comment.
Celebrities, fashion designers, musicians and consumers gathered across Asia to celebrate their shared love of US cotton during COTTON USA "Cotton Days" in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand. Cotton Council International (CCI) President Dahlen Hancock, a Texas producer, represented the United States in each of the countries.
"Experiencing Cotton Days first hand, you truly feel the energy, enthusiasm, support and trust in superior U.S. cotton," Hancock said. "It's our reputation built up over the years in these important markets that sets us apart and makes us the fiber of choice. Let's keep the momentum!"
Cotton Day festivities kicked off in Korea with a fashion event directed by Korean fashion icons Mack & Logan, which featured fabulous cotton womenswear in vivid and stylish themes, as well as denim ready-to-wear items. US Ambassador Mark Lippert attended the COTTON USA event and made a congratulatory speech to COTTON USA and the success of the Korean textile and fashion industry. Through cooperation with the Spinners and Weavers Association of Korea, COTTON USA provided the opportunity for young Korean designers to showcase their creativity through the "Cotton T-Shirt Design Contest."
In Japan, CCI provided opportunities for designers to showcase their creativity through a T-shirt design contest, in cooperation with the Japan Spinners' Assoc., Japan Cotton Promotion Institute and Cotton Incorporated. More than 400 industry and media representatives celebrated Cotton Day in Japan.
The celebrations in Taiwan featured a live music concert by new COTTON USA ambassador group, Cosmos People. The band created a COTTON USA theme song "And You" to link with "I Love My Cotton," which its record company will promote with a music video. CCI President Hancock presented COTTON USA licensee certificates to its spinner partners: Far Eastern New Century Corp., Tah Tong Textiles, Tai Yuen Textiles, Chia Her Group and Tah Yao Textile. More than 160 representatives from the news media and COTTON USA licensees and consumers participated.
Cotton Days concluded the Asian tour in Bangkok, Thailand, with an exciting "I Love My Cotton" fashion show. Taking COTTON USA's three essential promises of "purity," "quality" and "responsibility," CCI selected three top Thai designers and challenged them to craft new garment designs made with 100% cotton fabrics supplied by COTTON USA-licensed fabric mills in Thailand. A second fashion show featuring COTTON USA garments supplied by 34 COTTON USA licensees in Thailand capped off the show, illustrating the versatility and importance of cotton for the entire family. CCI President Hancock thanked the Thai textile and garment industries for their loyal and continued support of high quality US cotton. Another Texas native, US Agricultural Counselor Bobby Richey, rounded off the event with his reflections of growing up in Lubbock, TX, where his family still operates a cotton farm.
This year's Cotton Days events also celebrated the 26th anniversary of COTTON USA while illustrating the genuine, passionate and visionary aspects of the brand.
Sales Steady, Shipments Strong
Net export sales for the week ending on May 14 were 74,400 bales (480-lb). This brings total '14-15 sales to approximately 11.0 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the '13-14 marketing year were approximately 10.6 million bales. Total new crop ('15-16) sales are 1.2 million bales.
Shipments for the week were 372,900 bales, bringing total exports to date to 8.6 million bales, compared with the 8.9 million bales at the comparable point in the '13-14 marketing year.
