No Ill-Advised Changes
Mark Lange
NCC President & CEO
What specifics did the NCC letter ask?
The NCC's letter urged that the Committee's Cotton Belt Members reject any efforts, such as those proposed by the Administration, to: impose a $500,000 gross revenue test to determine eligibility for direct payments; establish a $250,000 cap on all program benefits, including the marketing loan; modify the crop insurance program; modify certain conservation programs; terminate cotton storage credits; and cut Market Access Program funding by 20 percent – even though that program is World Trade Organization consistent and central to main- taining and growing U.S. export markets.
Also noted was the Administration's ill-advised, proposed new cap on total benefits to limit the marketing loan benefits available to producers when prices are low. Marketing loan benefits are critically important to all farmers and provided only when prices are very low – a time when producers most need the assistance. The Administration's proposal would greatly increase the risk associated with lower prices and could significantly affect a producer's ability to obtain financing. Likewise, the recommendation to institute a new eligibility test for direct payments based on lower gross revenue – not a net profitability measure – is inconsistent with the new, lower adjusted gross income tests enacted in the 2008 farm law. The proposed gross revenue limit is so low that it will hurt many family farmers even though those operations may lose money or barely break even.
source : cottonfarming
Mark Lange
NCC President & CEO
What specifics did the NCC letter ask?
The NCC's letter urged that the Committee's Cotton Belt Members reject any efforts, such as those proposed by the Administration, to: impose a $500,000 gross revenue test to determine eligibility for direct payments; establish a $250,000 cap on all program benefits, including the marketing loan; modify the crop insurance program; modify certain conservation programs; terminate cotton storage credits; and cut Market Access Program funding by 20 percent – even though that program is World Trade Organization consistent and central to main- taining and growing U.S. export markets.
Also noted was the Administration's ill-advised, proposed new cap on total benefits to limit the marketing loan benefits available to producers when prices are low. Marketing loan benefits are critically important to all farmers and provided only when prices are very low – a time when producers most need the assistance. The Administration's proposal would greatly increase the risk associated with lower prices and could significantly affect a producer's ability to obtain financing. Likewise, the recommendation to institute a new eligibility test for direct payments based on lower gross revenue – not a net profitability measure – is inconsistent with the new, lower adjusted gross income tests enacted in the 2008 farm law. The proposed gross revenue limit is so low that it will hurt many family farmers even though those operations may lose money or barely break even.
source : cottonfarming
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