Ag Groups to Rally for Farm Bill Action as Congress Returns from Recess
With Congress returning to Washington next week after an extended August recess, NCFC will join with more than 60 farm and agriculture groups in urging Congress to pass a new farm bill benefitting all Americans. The Farm Bill Now coalition will hold a rally on Wednesday, September 12, on Capitol Hill to push for action before the current farm bill expires on September 30th.
As you may recall, the Senate passed its version of the bill by a wide bipartisan margin back in late June; the House Agriculture Committee followed up by approving its bill in July, and that legislation currently is awaiting action on the House floor.
The prospect of the House being able to pass a new farm bill before the end of the month appears bleak at the moment, however. Perhaps the biggest constraint on moving forward is the fact that the House will only be in session for eight days between now and the November election—in short, there just may not be enough time for the House to take up a bill as large and complicated as the farm bill. In addition, the political atmosphere in Washington will likely become increasingly poisonous as the parties fight tooth and claw in what will be a closely contested election.
With this in mind, it looks increasingly likely that action on a comprehensive farm bill will be pushed back until a lame duck session of Congress in November and December (bear in mind as well that Congress will also need to deal with the looming “fiscal cliff” during the lame duck.) It seems possible however that September will see some action on a disaster assistance package for livestock producers impacted by the drought. The House passed a drought relief bill before August recess, and this week Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) indicated in media interviews that there was a strong likelihood that the Senate would take up similar legislation in the coming weeks.
NCFC Outlines Farmer Co-op Concerns in Letter to OSHA as Agency Clarifies Severe Violator Program Provisions
In late August, NCFC sent a letter to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) as a follow up to a stakeholder meeting that NCFC organized in June between farmer co-op representatives and officials from USDA, the White House Rural Council, and OSHA. At the meeting, NCFC and our members outlined areas of concern, especially in regards to the enforcement approach to bin cleaning with sweep augers and railcar fall protection and implementation of the Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP). The letter reiterated these concerns and offered to make available industry experts from among the co-op community to help OSHA develop practical solutions to these concerns.
Shortly after the letter was sent, the first sign of progress came out of OSHA as the agency issued a clarification to regional offices on criteria for removing cooperatives from SVEP. The guidance stated that employers could be removed from the program after three years and provided that all violations have been fixed, all penalties paid, and all settlement provisions completed.
NCFC Announces Call for Entries in 2012 Cooperative Information Fair
NCFC announced this week that the organization is now accepting entries for the 2012 Cooperative Information Fair. The Info Fair recognizes those communications and marketing projects that effectively promote business, inform members, and disseminate information to the public. Professors from the journalism and mass communications school of a major university will judge entries in 34 categories, ranging from best press releases and best magazines to best marketing plans and best advertising campaigns and multi-media campaigns.
To help close out the International Year of Cooperatives and to complement NCFC’s Farmer Co-ops: Providing for America campaign, we will also be honoring the entry that best tells the farmer cooperative story with the third annual Chairman’s Prize. Judging criteria for entries in several of the writing and photography categories have been expanded to emphasize how well these stories, columns or photos communicate and promote the benefits of farmer co-ops.
Winning entries will be showcased to CEOs and co-op directors at the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives Annual Meeting, to be held February 6-8, 2013, at the Westin Kierland in Phoenix, Arizona.
The deadline to enter is Friday, October 12. All entries must have been completed between October 9, 2011 to October 12, 2012.
Info Fair entry rules and forms can be found online at http://www.ncfc.org/information/ncfc-cooperative-information-fair. Any questions can be directed to Justin Darisse, NCFC’s Communications Director, at jdarisse@ncfc.org.
Washington Roundup: Support Expressed for Swaps Clearing Exemption; NCFC Partners with 4R Program; NCFC Joins in Efforts to Ensure Access, Open Markets for Biotech Crops; Secretary Vilsack Announces Another Record Year for Ag Exports
- Support Expressed for Swaps Clearing Exemption: In mid-August, NCFC expressed its our support for the proposed clearing exemption for certain swaps entered into by cooperatives in a letter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The CFTC’s proposal is part of its ongoing implementation of Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
- NCFC Partners with 4R Program: NCFC this week announced that it had become a partner in the 4R program to promote nutrient stewardship and sustainable fertilizer use by producers and their co-ops across the country. Many NCFC members have already partnered with the program, the concept of which is to use the right fertilizer source at the right rate at the right time with the right placement. For additional information on the 4R program, please visit their web site at www.nutrientstewardship.com.
- NCFC Joins in Efforts to Ensure Access, Open Markets for Biotech Crops: NCFC joined with other agricultural groups in two instances this August in seeking to ensure that producers have access to the latest technology needed to boost productivity and U.S. agricultural exports. In the first, NCFC and other groups asked Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to reject petitions from environmental groups that would require USDA to conduct unnecessary and exhaustive environmental impact studies before approval of auxin herbicide resistant crops. In the other, NCFC joined with a broad range of groups in sending a letter to Vilsack, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk urging the U.S. to help lead like-minded agricultural exporting countries in developing a framework to address market access barriers to biotech crops.
- Secretary Vilsack Announces Another Record Year for Ag Exports: This week, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA has forecast record agricultural exports of $143.5 billion for fiscal year 2013; in addition, the forecasts for 2012 were revised upwards to $136.5 billion.
Upcoming Events:
NCFC Meetings
- September 25-26, 2012—NCFC Executive Council Meeting—Liaison Hotel, Washington, D.C.
- October 4-5, 2012—NCFC LTA Subcommittee Chair & Vice Chair Meeting—Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, San Diego, Calif.
- November 14-16, 2012—NCFC Government Affairs Committee Meeting—Vintner’s Inn, Santa Rosa, Calif.
- February 6-8, 2013—NCFC 84th Annual Meeting—Westin Kierland, Scottsdale, Ariz.