Cotton Concerned About Lugar

The National Cotton Council (NCC) has joined other agriculture organizations in urging the Senate Agriculture Committee to expedite development of a new farm bill and in expressing concern with provisions of the proposal authored by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) that would phase out and ultimately eliminate the marketing loan in five years.

Although supportive of committee action, the NCC and other agriculture organizations urged the chairman to present a comprehensive package which allocates funds among titles in a manner similar to the House-passed bill before proceeding with title-by-title consideration.

"We continue to emphasize how important it is to have a new farm bill in place for next year," said NCC Chairman James E. Echols of Memphis. "The House passed a bill that provides a fair and equitable allocation of $73.5 billion in additional spending, as authorized in the 2002 budget resolution and maintained in a hard-fought battle to reject amendments to reduce commodity title funding during the House floor debate. We urge the Senate Agriculture Committee to consider both the funding level and the structure of the House bill as the committee begins its work." ,p>The NCC expressed concern with the five-year farm bill concept paper unveiled Wednesday by Lugar, saying "we believe it falls short of meeting the needs of U.S. farmers, ranchers and consumers at a time when the stability and safety of our food and fiber supplies is so critical to national security."

Echols continued, "The commodity title of Senator Lugar's bill is essentially a subsidized insurance product with inadequate coverage," said Echols. "It would phase down the marketing loan formula in its first three years and discontinue it entirely in the last two years. The marketing loan has been the cornerstone of the U.S. cotton industry's success since its introduction in 1985.

"We have expressed our concerns to USDA and have very strongly discouraged the department's support of the bill. We are deeply disappointed that USDA has expressed support for the concepts in the legislation, which includes the elimination of the marketing loan, and has indicated that in spite of the budget resolution it will support an increase in funding of only $25 billion over the baseline."

Echols said the cotton industry's leadership has requested a meeting with Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to discuss ways in which USDA can respond to the financial stress faced by U.S. agriculture and join in the effort to enact effective new farm legislation.