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July 24, 2015
 

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PAST ISSUES/ARCHIVES
 
Cotton's Week: March 22, 2024
Cotton's Week: March 15, 2024
Cotton's Week: March 8, 2024
Cotton's Week: March 1, 2024
 
 


 
Senate Panel Approves Tax Extenders Bill

The Senate Finance Committee passed a tax extenders bill with a bipartisan vote of 23-3. The bill extends for two years numerous tax credits and deductions, including Section 179 expensing and bonus depreciation. The provisions, which expired on Dec. 31, '14, were last extended in late Dec. of '14 retroactively to the beginning of the year.

The NCC joined other agricultural organizations on a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Wyden (D-OR) supporting the extension of these important provisions.

The letter, on the NCC's website at www.cotton.org/issues/2015/upload/15taxextendlet720.pdf, focused on both Section 179 small business expensing and bonus depreciation. Section 179 small business expensing provides agricultural producers with a way to maximize business purchases in years when they have positive cash flow. Under the expired law, the maximum amount that a small business can immediately expense when purchasing business assets instead of depreciating them over time is $25,000 adjusted for inflation.

The letter strongly encouraged the Committee to restore the maximum amount of expensing under Section 179 to $500,000 as it was previously set in '14. The letter also encouraged the inclusion of the expired 50% bonus depreciation for the purchase of new capital assets, including agricultural equipment.

 
House Passes Food Labeling Bill

The House passed the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act (H.R. 1599) by a 275-150 vote, including 45 Democrats. Four amendments were offered on the floor, all of which were defeated resulting in no changes to the legislation. 

This bipartisan legislation, originally introduced by Rep. Pompeo (R-KS) and Rep. Butterfield (D-NC) earlier this year, will provide a federal framework within USDA and the Food and Drug Administration to determine when food products would be labeled as either genetically-modified organism (GMO) or non-GMO and to pre-empt the various state-by-state food labeling actions.

Prior to the vote, the NCC sent out a letter of support to all Cotton Belt Members to express the importance of this legislation to the cotton industry and the agricultural community. The letter is on the NCC's website at www.cotton.org/issues/2015/labellet.cfm.

Senate action is uncertain as there has been no companion legislation introduced in the Senate and it is not certain when or if the Senate would take up the House-passed bill.

 
USDA Oversight Hearing Held

The House Committee on Agriculture conducted a hearing with USDA Secretary Vilsack that focused on oversight of USDA programs, including farm bill implementation, USDA's response to the avian flu outbreaks in poultry, Farm Service Agency (FSA) computer and staffing issues, and crop insurance.

Rep. Crawford (R-AR) raised concerns about USDA's proposed rule to define "actively engaged in farming" for farm policy purposes. Vilsack said that Congress "made sure we walked down a fairly narrow lane," but noted that the proposed rule issued earlier this year would limit the number of farm managers to a total of three. The comment period closed in late May and there have been no further updates or indications on when a final rule would be issued or when it would take effect.

Regarding crop insurance conservation compliance requirements, Vilsack noted that 98% of farmers have completed the necessary paperwork to ensure their compliance with the requirements. Rep. Abraham (R-LA) expressed concern with how FSA is determining a producer's share of crop base on farms with generic base and that have multiple producers on the farm. Vilsack agreed to look into the issue and follow up with more details.

A number of committee members also raised questions about how the EPA's "Waters of the US" (WOTUS) rule would affect agricultural land and what resolution is available if EPA makes one determination regarding a wetland and USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service makes a different determination. Vilsack commented that it is likely to require both the political and legal process to sort out the issues surrounding the new WOTUS rule.

 
Deregulation of 2,4-D Enlist Cotton Announced

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced its determination of nonregulated status for Dow AgroSciences' genetically engineered (GE) cotton that is resistant to the herbicides known as 2,4-D and glufosinate. This notice also includes the availability of APHIS' Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

In their announcement, APHIS said it is taking this action based on a final plant pest risk assessment that finds this GE cotton is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agriculture and other plants in the United States. APHIS also completed an environmental assessment to comply with NEPA that finds deregulation is not likely to have a significant impact on the human environment.

Under APHIS' regulations, pursuant to the Plant Protection Act, APHIS specifically is required to evaluate if this cotton variety is a plant pest risk to agricultural crops or other plants or plant products. The Act defines a plant pest as organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or insects that can cause harm to agricultural crops or other plants or plant products. If APHIS finds through its rigorous scientific review that a new GE plant is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk, then under its regulations, it deregulates the GE plant.

Copies of the Dow AgroSciences petition, determination, FONSI, and supporting documents are on the APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Services website at www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/news.

EPA is nearing completion of its concurrent review of the new use of the related herbicides on this GE plant. The agency is expected to make its proposed regulatory decision in the coming months.

The NCC and producer interest organizations recently provided comments to APHIS supporting the deregulation decision.

 
Spill Prevention Study Released

EPA recently released a study of Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) related to farms, according to an article in High Plains Journal magazine.

Section 1049 of the Water Resources and Reform Development Act of 2014 required the study and established an increased capacity exemption between 2,500 gallons and 6,000 gallons aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity as long as the operation has no reportable discharge history. The upper level for the exemption was subject to change based on the study.

The study determined that an appropriate threshold for all types of facilities should be 1,320 gallons. However, the law sets a base level exemption of aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity of 2,500 gallons for farms. A farmer can self-certify the SPCC plan if the farm has less than 20,000 gallons aggregate aboveground oil storage capacity, no individual tank with a capacity greater than 10,000 gallons, and no reportable discharge history.

The study is at www2.epa.gov/oil-spills-prevention-and-preparedness-regulations/oil-storage-us-farms-risks-and-opportunities.

A fact sheet on the current requirements for agriculture operations is at www2.epa.gov/oil-spills-prevention-and-preparedness-regulations/farms-fact-sheet-explaining-impact-water.

 
Mid-South Producers to See Texas Operations

Ten cotton producers from the Mid-South will see cotton and other agriculture-related operations in Texas on July 26-30 as part of the '15 NCC Producer Information Exchange (PIE).

The tour participants are: Arkansas – Cameron Boyd, Jonesboro; Louisiana – Adam Lemoine, Moreauville; and Victor Lemoine, Cottonport; Mississippi George Jeffords, Jr., Greenwood; Bill Skinner and Bill Skinner, Jr., both of Macon; and Gerald White, Marks; and Tennessee Jason Luckey, Humboldt; Freeman Smith, Brownsville; and Andrew Zarecor, Newbern.

Sponsored by Bayer CropScience through a grant to The Cotton Foundation, the PIE program is in its 27th year of helping its US producer participants improve yields and fiber quality.The program aims to help cotton producers boost their overall operation's efficiency by: 1) gaining new perspectives in such fundamental practices as land preparation, planting, fertilization, pest control, irrigation and harvesting and 2) observing the unique ways in which their innovative peers are using current technology.

The Southwest tour will begin on July 27 in Lubbock where the group will get an overview of High Plains cotton production from Plains Cotton Growers Executive Vice President Steve Verett, an update on managing weed resistance on the High Plains from Peter Dotray of the Texas Agri-Life Extension, and a tour of Bayer CropScience's research facility. Other activities that day include a visit to United Cotton Growers Gin in Levelland and tours of local cotton producers' operations as well as a visit to Farmers Cooperative Assoc. of Sudan and tours with cotton producers in that area.

On the 28th, the group will visit Smith Farms in Floydada and tour Hurst Farm Supply in Lorenzo. While in Lorenzo, the group will receive updates on Texas water rights and GPS and soil monitoring technology.

For the next two days, the group will be in the state's Coastal Bend area. On July 29 while in Corpus Christi, they will visit Stover Equipment Co., the Gulf Compress, the Port of Corpus Christi, and Gatefront, LLC's fertilizer terminal before touring individual farms in the Odem area. The tour concludes on July 30 with tours of farm operations in the Kingsville area and a visit to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Fish Hatchery in Corpus Christi.

In this season's other P.I.E. tours, Southeast producers saw operations in California on July 13-16; Far West producers will visit Georgia on Aug. 2-7; and Southwest producers will travel to Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi on Aug. 16-21.

 
COTTON USA Featured at Intermoda

The COTTON USA Sourcing Program promoted US cotton-rich products at its pavilion during the Intermoda trade show in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Participating in the July 14-17 event to expand business in the region were US mills: Buhler Quality Yarns, Corp.; Carolina Cotton Works, Inc.; and Frontier Spinning Mills. The show, which attracted about 23,000 visitors, offered good opportunities for designers, garment makers, textile mills and trim sellers to find new suppliers.

 
Sales, Shipments Steady

Net export sales for the week ending on July 16 were 96,500 bales (480-lb). This brings total '14-15 sales to approximately 11.7 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the '13-14 marketing year were approximately 11.1 million bales. Total new crop ('15-16) sales are 1.9 million bales.

Shipments for the week were 183,400 bales, bringing total exports to date to 10.8 million bales, compared with the 10.3 million bales at the comparable point in the '13-14 marketing year. With just a couple of weeks remaining in the marketing year, weekly shipments must average roughly 87,000 bales to reach the USDA projection of 11.0 million bales.

 

 
Effective July 24-30, ’15

Adjusted World Price, SLM 11/16

 50.02 cents

*

Fine Count Adjustment ('14 Crop)

0.58 cents


Fine Count Adjustment ('15 Crop)

 0.53 cents


Coarse Count Adjustment

  0.00 cents


Marketing Loan Gain Value

 1.98 cents


Import Quotas Open

13

 
Special Import Quota (480-lb bales)

875,769


ELS Payment Rate

0.00 cents


*No Adjustment Made Under Step I

 
Five-Day Average

Current 5 Lowest 13/32 CFR Far East

69.87 cents


Forward 5 Lowest 13/32 CFR Far East

71.50 cents


Fine Count CFR Far East

 71.24 cents

 
Coarse Count CFR Far East

0.00 cents


Current US 13/32 CFR Far East

74.55 cents


Forward US 13/32 CFR Far East

76.55 cents