By Jessica Domel
News Editor
American cotton farmers will not have access to farm bill safety net programs through cottonseed as they had hoped and requested from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Vilsack announced today that U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lawyers believe the department lacks the authority to list cottonseed as an oilseed, which would have made cottonseed eligible for farm bill safety net programs like Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC).
According to the Hagstrom Report, Vilsack said Congress did not grant the authority in the 2014 Farm Bill and through appropriations has forbidden it to use the Commodity Credit Corporation to provide the assistance to farmers or cotton gins. He added Congress would need to find $1 billion over 10 years to pay for allowing cottonseed to be listed as an oilseed.
He said the USDA would like to help cotton growers, but is unable to at this time.
Texas cotton farmers are extremely disappointed in Vilsack’s decision.
“It could have very far-reaching effects. A lot of cotton producers in our state, especially on the South Plains, are having a hard time getting refinanced for the next year,” Dan Smith, Texas Farm Bureau state director and cotton grower, said. “This could have gone a long way in helping those people be refinanced for another year and try again.”
The cotton industry asked Vilsack to consider the listing as cottonseed is a coproduct, not a byproduct, of the cotton-growing process. If cottonseed were eligible for ARC or PLC, cotton growers would have an effective safety net for aid in times of low prices, bad weather or other disasters.
Cotton, the fiber, was not included as a program commodity in the recent farm bill.
Losing that coverage couldn’t have come at a worse time for American cotton growers.
Cotton prices are low, which is affecting the infrastructure-intensive industry. Farmers rely on a network of people, from the field to the gin to the textile plant, to ensure their product is delivered to consumers.
The situation, paired with high input costs to grow cotton, could force some farmers to consider other crops.
“Up around Lubbock we have a saying, ‘We’re just a few cents away from losing the cotton industry,’” Smith said. “We really are because when we go below 60 cents, it’s going to be impossible to grow it. No one is going to loan you money to grow it. You could lose the industry, all the infrastructure and an entire way of life. This is a very serious situation.”