Letter to Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow - Isakson Fights for Georgia Cotton Farmers

Letter

Dear Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow:

As the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry prepares to consider the 2018 Farm Bill, we urge you to oppose any amendments within committee or on the Senate Floor that would serve to weaken or eliminate important cotton policy provisions. We understand the committee had no new funds to use to develop this farm bill and the needs across agriculture and rural America are great. However, there are no new cotton policies included in the bill, but rather a simple continuation of current policy.

Cotton producers struggled economically for the first four years of the 2014 Farm Bill due to global factors and policies impacting cotton trade that pressured cotton prices lower without an adequate safety net. Congress addressed this policy shortcoming in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 by including budget neutral Seed Cotton policy, which places cotton on par with other crops that are eligible for the ARC/PLC programs in the current farm bill. The committee bill continues this policy along with other important cotton provisions that help support the livelihoods of farm families and thousands of jobs in the cotton infrastructure and processing sectors across rural areas.

However, there are other cotton policies that need to be maintained and not weakened by amendments in the committee or on the floor. The upland cotton marketing loan program, the Economic Adjustment Assistance Program (EAAP) for U.S. textile mills, and the Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton loan and competitiveness provisions are important to the economic viability of the industry.

Thank you for your leadership in developing a balanced and bipartisan farm bill that can advance through the Senate. We ask that you please work to defeat any amendments that would weaken cotton policy and upset the important balance represented by the committee's bill.

Sincerely,