CURRENT ISSUE ARTICLES

USTR Report Outlines Trade Challenges

Climate-Smart Appropriations Requests Relayed

Registration Open for Two Remaining Gin Schools

Sales Weak, Shipments Stay Strong

Capital Calendar

 

USTR Report Outlines Trade Challenges

The Office of United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai released its yearly report outlining the challenges posed by foreign trade barriers.

While most of the world’s countries and regions are covered in the USTR report, China receives the most attention. The report highlights numerous challenges for U.S. agriculture exporters engaging with the East Asian country, including a frequently unclear and time-consuming biosafety certification process applied to new genetically engineered commodities, including cotton. Mexico’s continued rejection of applications for cultivation of GE cotton also is addressed in the document.

The full report can be accessed at https://bit.ly/3U1GFk7.

Climate-Smart Appropriations Requests Relayed

The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance, of which the NCC is a member, sent a letter to House and Senate appropriators urging them to fund numerous efforts in fiscal year 2025 via increased funding for conservation programs.

More specifically, and among many other requests, the letter at https://bit.ly/3TDBDJa asks for at least $1.2 billion in funding for the Natural Resources Conservation Service at USDA to support “voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs.” The letter also requests at least $1.95 billion for USDA’s Agricultural Research Services in recognition that “addressing methane emissions is one area that ARS research can play a key role.”

In the coming months, Congress will begin drafting legislation to fund the government in FY25, which begins on October 1.

Registration Open for Two Remaining Gin Schools

Certified ginners, gin managers and superintendents are urged to register for one of the two remaining 2024 Gin Schools.

School locations and dates are: Western Ginners School at the Southwest Ginning Research Laboratory Mesilla Park, NM, on May 7-9; and the Mid-South-Southeast Ginners School at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, GA on June 4-6. The Mid-South-Southeast school will return to the Stoneville, MS location in 2025.  

Online registration and course descriptions are at www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/index.cfm. The schools will continue to offer the Levels I, II and III of course instruction as well as the continuing education courses. Please note that due to limited class size and availability, there will be no onsite registration. 

The three schools' programming is coordinated by the National Cotton Ginners Association (NCGA), working in conjunction with the three USDA ginning laboratories. Cooperators include USDA's Agricultural Research Service, NCGA and its member associations, the NCC, the Texas Cotton Ginners Trust, Cotton Incorporated, gin machinery/equipment manufacturers and suppliers, and select land grant universities.

The school’s Continuing Education Courses agenda and topics can be found on the NCGA website at https://www.cotton.org/ncga/ginschool/upload/CE-Agenda_SW-2024-2.pdf.  

Sales Weak, Shipments Stay Strong

Net export sales for the week ending March 28, 2024 were 88,900 bales (480-lb.).  This brings total ‘23-24 sales to approximately 11.5 million. Total sales at the same point in the ‘22-23 marketing year were approximately 12.2 million bales. Total new crop (‘24-25) sales are 1.1 million bales (480-lb.). 

Shipments for the week were 383,900 bales, bringing total exports to date to 7.5 million bales, compared with the 7.1 million bales at the comparable point in the ‘22-23 marketing year.

Capital Calendar

The House and Senate are in recess.

Next Week

April 8

The Senate convenes.

April 9

The House convenes.