As farm bill implementation proceeds challenges remain for U.S. cotton

by Eric

img9459

| Delta Farm Press

Even though implementation is still under way for programs included in the 2014 farm bill, there are “already amendments being introduced in Congress to try and weaken the legislation,” says Gary Adams, president and chief executive officer of the National Cotton Council.

“Both from a market perspective and a policy perspective, U.S. cotton still has a lot of challenges, and our staff and leadership take them all very seriously,” he said at the annual joint meeting of the Mississippi Boll Weevil Management Corporation and the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Cotton Policy Committee. “We have to remain diligent to protect cotton’s interests as implementation of this legislation moves forward.”

The bill brought major changes, he says, including a resolution of the long-running trade dispute with Brazil, and provisions for new insurance products specific to cotton, including the Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX).

“These new insurance products have now been implemented in more than 99 percent of the cotton counties across the U.S. We’re just now starting to see some of the initial data as to how many producers have opted to purchase a STAX product. Across the cotton belt, the numbers would suggest about 12,000 policies have been purchased, and that’s in addition to any other crop insurance that may have been purchased on those acres.”

In Mississippi, Adams says, data show about 430 policies have been bought. “We don’t yet know how many acres that covers. The numbers indicate that premiums paid have averaged about $8 per acre for policies that have been purchased.

“We still have some issues to work through for next year — changes we hope will be in place when producers are evaluating their insurance purchases for 2016. These include flexibility on how you purchase STAX by production practice; for example, irrigated versus non-irrigated.”

The council will continue its wide-ranging educational effort on farm policy changes, Adams says. Numerous seminars were held this past winter and spring to inform growers about provisions of the legislation.

related articles