The August recess has allowed opportunities for producers and the cotton industry to discuss priorities and challenges with their elected officials.
On August 16, a Farm Bill listening session, hosted by West Texas A&M University, was held in Canyon, Texas, where many cotton industry representatives gathered to provide Reps. Ronny Jackson and Jodey Arrington with their priorities for strong farm policy regarding the 2023 Farm Bill.
PCG President Martin Stoerner, presented PCG’s priorities for the Farm Bill emphasizing the need to increase reference prices to reflect cost of production and to enhance crop insurance to further mitigate risk and alleviate the need for future ad hoc disaster assistance. Additionally, PCG supports abolishing the prohibition of a producer’s ability to participate in the Stacked Income Protection Program (STAX) and the Price Loss Coverage program (PLC).
“Due to the elevated input costs we are now experiencing, the reference price is no longer as effective as when it was initially set,” Stoerner added.
Curtis Stewart, manager of Spade Cooperative Gin, Inc.
communicated the need for infrastructure support.
“Long-term assistance for infrastructure in the form of affordable insurance or intermittent disaster assistance for cotton gins, warehouse, merchants and other downstream industry is needed to help weather the woes of Mother Nature, which is outside our control.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson, who serves on the House Agriculture Committee, joined Arrington the next day in Lubbock for a Farm Bill Roundtable. Complementary to Martin Stoerner’s testimony at the Farm Bill listening session, producer and President of RPCG Sutton Page of Avoca, Texas joined PCG at the Lubbock roundtable and reemphasized cotton’s main priorities for the next Farm Bill. In response to the current prohibition of combining STAX insurance with PLC, Jackson said, “I have five top priorities that I’m pushing for in the Farm Bill this year. And the possibility to combine STAX with PLC is one of them.”
Brady Raindl, director of USA Purchasing for ECOM USA and American Cotton Shippers Association (ASCA) director, emphasized the merchant/farmer partnership and encouraged both congressmen to remember the hardships of growing a cotton crop in West Texas.
“As a merchandiser, farmers aren’t just customers to me,” Raindl said. “They’re my partner. ASCA supports an expanded safety net for producers, increasing the current reference price, and focusing on stronger risk management tools like crop insurance and measures to ensure healthy and financially robust markets. And as we consider increasing the safety net, we believe that it’s important to modernize the Marketing Assistance Loan Program to ensure that cotton can move into the marketplace in an orderly fashion without incurring unnecessary cost to stakeholders or government support programs.”
In his closing remarks, Arrington emphasized the need for program integrity across the board, including farm programs. And both Arrington and Jackson highlighted the fight that will happen for upcoming farm policy and how both are willing to ‘go to bat’ for an effective Farm Bill.