Regulation

The 2017 Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) can help its attendees improve production, processing and marketing efficiency by providing them with insight into the latest available tools and research findings. Those planning to attend the concurrent conferences, set for Jan. 4-6...

Commentary By Blake Hurst Missouri Farm Bureau When the elections are over and the U.S. Congress returns to work, it’s time for regulatory reform. Why should that be a top priority of the new Congress? Well, let’s talk about Charlie and John. Charlie...

Presidential Candidates Answer Farmers’ & Ranchers’ Questions Every four years, the American Farm Bureau Federation asks the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees to address the issues that concern farmers and ranchers the most. The organization asked Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton...

Over the past few years, we have seen a significant number of Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspections in Texas. One reason for the uptick is the much higher number of injuries being reported to OSHA in response to...

Farmers use crop insurance to protect themselves against risk — primarily against crop failure and low market prices. In the United States, the federal crop insurance program has grown steadily since the mid-1990s and become the single largest individual program providing support to farmers under the 2014 Farm Act. Growth in crop insurance programs — both in the United States and in developing countries — appears to be driven in part by premium subsidies from governments. Unlike previous research on the topic, which emphasizes a farmer’s attitude toward risk as the primary driver of insurance uptake, this report analyzes the relationship between wealth, savings and insurance over time to identify alternative approaches to managing farm risk. What Did The Study Find? When farm households consider multiple growing seasons, insurance and savings are substitutes. Demand for insurance will fall as the interest rate on savings rises; similarly, farmers will save more and insure less as insurance premium rates increase. The exception is among farm households that are less wealthy; when wealth is low to start, additional savings complements insurance, allowing households to be able to afford to pay an insurance premium when they do not yet have enough savings to completely self-insure. Demand for crop insurance, when examined over multiple years, is primarily driven by the farmer’s financial wealth rather than the farmer’s attitude toward risk. Both uptake of insurance and choice of coverage levels are heavily determined by the producer’s income and savings. Crop insurance is in low demand at both

Although export of raw cotton has become essential to U.S. cotton producers’ economic well-being, the National Cotton Council continues its longstanding work for our domestic textile industry. How about assistance in the legislative arena? n A major effort is the NCC’s work to maintain the highly successful “Economic Assistance to Users of Upland Cotton” program first introduced in 2008 farm law and reauthorized in the 2014 bill. This program makes a payment of 3 cents per pound to U.S. textile manufacturers for all upland cotton consumed. Payments must be used for specific purposes such as acquisition, construction, installation, modernization, development, conversion, or expansion of land, plant buildings, equipment, facilities or machinery. More recently, the NCC has been working with the Washington D.C.-based National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) and key lawmakers to make sure the Berry Amendment is not weakened in the FY16 National Defense Authorization Act. That Amendment requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to purchase textiles and apparel made with 100 percent U.S. fiber and labor. Likewise, the NCC, NCTO and others have conveyed to lawmakers the critical need for Export-Import Bank Reauthorization. The Ex-Im Bank provides important financing for the U.S. textile industry and its ability to export products.

New Mississippi Facility Exceeds Wildest Dreams By Carroll Smith Editor Tucked away in Noxubee County, Miss., about 1½ miles down Deerbrook Road, Bogue Chitto Gin Inc. is an impressive testimony to area producers’ faith in cotton. The 25 stockholders settled on the...

By Steve Adler California Farm Bureau Federation Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed the agricultural overtime bill, Assembly Bill 1066, employment specialists are working to interpret its provisions and help farmers and ranchers prepare for them. The new law will...

Before members of Congress left Washington for the political conventions and August recess, the House of Representatives passed a 2017 appropriations bill that included California drought-relief provisions. California Farm Bureau Federation President Paul Wenger says passage of the appropriations legislation by the House represents an important step toward addressing problems that limit the flexibility of the California water system. By a vote of 231-196, the House passed the 2017 Interior appropriations bill, HR 5538, including the California-related water provisions. The inclusion of the provisions on water could help set the stage for negotiations with the U.S. Senate this fall, says Erin Huston, CFBF federal policy consultant.“This is the first time the House has passed an Interior bill since 2009, which can be seen as a milestone in itself,” Huston says. “This bill provides a potential path for desperately needed federal drought legislation. We are still working under a very limited calendar, but we will continue to urge a federal legislative solution.”

The National Cotton Council (NCC) is urging U.S. cotton producers to participate in USDA’s Cotton Ginning Cost-Share program (CGCS), a one-time initiative with a June 20-Aug. 5 sign-up window. What is the CGCS program’s purpose? Using administrative authority it has under the...

The National Cotton Council continues to work with Congress and the Administration to ensure farmers are not further burdened by over-reaching regulations. Any concerns conveyed recently to Congress? Those testifying at a recent House Agri-culture Committee subcommittee hearing agreed there were a number of factors driving up production costs, including increased prices for inputs, machinery and new technologies. The witnesses also agreed that another factor was the dramatic increase in the number of regulations and policies put in place by federal agencies, especially EPA. They explained that crop protection businesses that support American agriculture recently have seen serious deviations from the regular order, transparency and scientific integrity of EPA’s risk assessment-based pesticide review process. The witnesses urged Congress and stakeholders to work with government agencies, including EPA, to ensure that no policies are enacted that would prevent farmers and ranchers from economically producing food and fiber. They also emphasized that due to the rising costs and the recent collapse in net farm income, farmers and ranchers will need every tool available to help minimize their production costs. The witnesses’ testimonies are at http://1.usa.gov/1VBYrH6.

On April 12, Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Tom Buchanan urged Congress to hold the Environmental Protection Agency accountable for its burdensome regulations and aggressive tactics against U.S. farmers and ranchers. In testifying before the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management and Regulatory Oversight, Buchanan explained how Oklahoma’s farmers and ranchers are affected by the EPA’s regulations, especially its Waters of the United States rule. “After carefully studying the proposed rule, we at Farm Bureau concluded that the rule’s vague and broad language would define ‘waters of the United States’ to include countless land areas that are common in and around farm fields and ranches across the countryside. These are areas that don’t look a bit like water,” Buchanan said in his testimony. “They look like land, and they are farmed, but by defining them as ‘waters of the U.S.’ the rule would make it illegal to farm, build a fence, cut trees, build a house, or do most anything else there without first asking permission of the federal government and navigating a costly and complex permitting regime.” Buchanan also highlighted EPA’s misleading advocacy for its own rule, using public relations and social media campaigns to garner support.

In sports, it is inevitable that a player (or a team) will go into a slump. In every case, the recipe for getting out of that slump and back into high performance is to break down the training routine...

By Jodi Raley California cotton producers, ginners, pest control advisers and cotton industry organizations gathered in the halls of the Visalia Convention Center for the California Cotton Growers Association’s 26th Annual Meeting. With 2015 California cotton acreage hitting a historical...

At the National Cotton Ginners’ Association 79th membership and board meeting in Dallas in early February, the board covered reports from committees on a wide range of topics, including technology, safety and labor, and legislative. NCGA members are keenly aware...