NCC Urges Congress to Complete Work on Multi-Year Farm Bill

By Beck Barnes|August 2, 2013

The National Cotton Council (NCC) released a short statement on August 2, urging Congress to complete its work on a comprehensive, multi-year farm bill.

The statement stressed the importance of such a piece of legislation to farmers across the United States. In July, NCC Vice President of Economics and Policy Gary Adams elaborated on the potential paths Congress could take towards completing this round of farm bill legislation. Among other things, he noted the difficulty Congress would likely encounter in crafting a farm bill in 2014, which is an election year.

The statement from the NCC reads, in full:

“The National Cotton Council (NCC) is urging leaders of the House and Senate agriculture committees to work expeditiously to resolve the differences between their respective farm bills so that Congress can take final action and the President can sign the legislation.

“Timely enactment of new farm legislation is critically important for production agriculture and especially for the U.S. cotton industry,” stated NCC Chairman Jimmy Dodson, a cotton producer from Robstown, Texas. “Building on the hard work done under the leadership of Chairman Lucas, Chairwoman Stabenow, and their respective ranking members, Representative Peterson and Senator Cochran, we strongly urge that work to resolve the differences in the two bills begin immediately. When members return in September, a formal conference committee can be convened and remaining differences can be resolved in a timely manner. Enactment of a multi-year farm bill in early fall is imperative for upland cotton’s Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) to be made available by RMA for the 2014 crop of cotton and for the new legislation to serve as the basis for a final resolution of the cotton portion of the longstanding WTO Brazil case.”