Communications

Communications

Major activities carried out during 2010.

Public Attitudes

The National Cotton Council sent letters to the editor in response to the misinformation contained in Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Washington Post editorials about the U.S.-Brazil WTO case. The NCC stated that the WSJ was “quick to focus on 2009 government payments without clarifying that the payments were elevated because of low prices stemming from the global recession. It said the WSJ editorial failed to note that the World Trade Organization found no fault with a significant portion of the payments made to U.S. cotton. That letter was drafted from a more detailed response document the NCC prepared and sent to its leadership. The letter to the Post noted that newspaper’s crusade against the cotton industry, and that the editors were “quick with inflammatory adjectives but short on facts when it comes to agricultural policy and trade disputes.”

11nccreptvision21mediabriefing

NCC and Cotton Incorporated staff provided a progress report on the Vision 21 project’s 2010 activities to news media during the 2011 Beltwide Cotton Conferences.

The NCC also issued a response, available at www.cotton.org, to a Congressional Quarterly cover story on U.S. cotton policy and the U.S. cotton industry. The response noted that the story was steeped in error, surprising bias and fallacy, and that the author used every tried and true tactic to distort the picture -- from sentence structure to carefully missing facts. The NCC’s response emphasized that when Congress, the Administration and the United States cotton industry begin to consider new farm policy in the light of the next farm bill, “we are confident that debate will not lose sight of the importance of agriculture to America and the importance of cotton to agriculture in the United States.”

In another initiative, the NCC coordinated media coverage on the need for comprehensive disaster relief for producers who suffered from 2009 and earlier weather events. That included working with the agricultural writers and broadcasters and the distribution of localized news releases. The NCC also arranged for its leaders and staff to participate in various news briefings ranging from estate tax legislation to progress on activities such as the Vision 21 initiative.

The NCC updated its Boll Weevil Eradication Program and Pink Bollworm Eradication Program educational videos to keep both incumbent and newly-elected Congressional members informed of the significant progress – and the importance of completing eradication and preventing any re-infestation.

The NCC continued to support and offer input to America’s Heartland, the only nationally-distributed program on agriculture in America. The program began its sixth season in September on public television and RFD-TV with new stories and features demonstrating the importance of American agriculture to the nation and the world.

Information Services

11nccreptconserlandingpage

NCC-created web portals, including the “Conservation in Cotton Production,” provide members with updates in areas ranging from conservation programs to fighting weed resistance.

The NCC continued to post a wide range of information on www.cotton.org, from proposed government regulations to program fact sheets -- to keep NCC members informed of key Congressional, Administration and NCC activities.

That included information contained in the NCC’s “Conservation in Cotton Production” website portal at www.cotton.org/econ/govprograms/conservation-programs.cfm. The continually updated portal is aimed at helping NCC producer members determine which federal conservation programs would be beneficial to their operations and to better understand the programs’ requirements and enrollment process. The portal contains videos on the new Conservation Stewardship Program, the Conservation Reserve Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program and other easement programs as well as a “Tips” video that offers suggestions for improving producers’ odds of acceptance into these programs. The videos contain commentary from Bruce Knight, former chief of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, along with cotton producers who have utilized the programs.

The NCC updated its weed resistance management video to help producers address that threat.