MEMPHIS (Special) - The National Cotton Council commended the
Senate for its passage of new six-year farm legislation on a 64-35
vote, and urged President Bush to sign the measure promptly.
"This represents a tremendous improvement in the safety net
for cotton growers," NCC Chairman Kenneth Hood said. "With the
President’s signature, our nation’s cotton growers can regain a
measure of optimism as they go about the planting of their 2002
crops. Today’s Senate action is certainly welcomed by all U.S.
cotton industry segments from growers to textile
manufacturers."
Hood said the farm bill includes many of the
principles that were recommended by NCC delegates, including an
effective marketing loan and a combination of fixed and
counter-cyclical payments.
"The absence of the
counter-cyclical program under the FAIR Act left growers badly
exposed to low prices on the New York Board of Trade," the Gunnison,
MS, producer said.
Specifically, this farm bill includes a
6.67-cent/lb. fixed payment, a 72.4-cent/lb. counter-cyclical target
price and a 52-cent/lb. base loan rate. It also makes a fixed
decoupled payment on 85 pecent of the enrolled base, and the
counter-cyclical payment also is made on 85 percent of the base
calculation.
He noted that a NCC analysis found that assuming
a cotton grower has program yield equal to actual yield, the least a
grower should expected to receive on an "average" pound of cotton is
69.9 cents under this farm bill.
Hood noted that of the 16
Cotton Belt states, there were 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats from
the Senate who were bipartisan in their support of this
package.
The NCC praised Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) for
pulling the Senate bill together and Senators Zell Miller (D-GA) and
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) for their support of the farm bill process
and of cotton’s issues specifically. The NCC also commended Senators
Thad Cochran (MS) and Tim Hutchinson (AR) for their leadership on
the Republican side of the Senate Agriculture Committee
and Senators John Breaux (D-LA) and John Edwards (D-NC)
for their work in getting the Step 2 threshold
eliminated.