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June 2, 2000

Cotton acreage reporting rules clarified
The Texas Department of Agriculture recently adopted rules designed to let Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Foundation personnel easier discover all cotton being grown in active zones.

Under the rules, which clarify the language contained in the Agriculture Code, all commercial cotton producers in active zones must report all information about commercial cotton, non-commercial cotton, and all cotton grown for ornamental, research or any other purpose.

The reporting may be accomplished in two ways.

First, producers may certify their acreage through their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) by the final reporting date set by FSA for their area.

If producers choose not to certify their acreage through FSA, they must report the acreage to the foundation on a form available through the foundation’s district offices. The deadline for reporting the acreage this way is the same as the final FSA reporting date.

Foundation personnel say patches of ornamental cotton, volunteer growth or any other unreported cotton can be breeding grounds for boll weevils and need to be monitored in the same way as commercial fields.

Progress made on Cuba trade
Amid growing support among trade groups and agribusiness, lawmakers on Capitol Hill see reason for optimism that food and medicine will soon be exempt from the United States’ 40-year-old trade embargo with Cuba.

Legislation already has cleared the committee stage in both the House and Senate. The measure could reach the full Senate in a matter of days, and House floor later in the season.

“We’re finally going to break the back of these sanctions on food and medicine,” predicted Sen. Byron Dorgan. “There are times in the Senate and House when a fundamental shift occurs, and I think that’s what has occurred with this issue.”

Cuba currently buys an estimated $700 million worth of food annually, mostly from Canada, Europe and Latin America. If the sanctions are lifted, America’s farmers and ranchers are in an ideal position to tap this market.

Groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, pushing for exempting food and medicine from the sanctions, say the embargo has done little to promote democracy in Cuba, and have only served to deprive U.S. farmers of badly needed sales at a time when grain and meat prices have hit near record lows.

Democrats eye farm vote
Democrats hope there is enough discontent among farmers and ranchers over the Republican-written 1996 farm bill that they will vote for Democrats in this year’s House elections.

Democrats are trying to regain a majority in the House. It is uncertain, however, whether there is enough dissatisfaction with the law for conservative voters in farm states to vote for Democrats.

“Most of the swing votes are in districts with a large rural contingency,” said Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-Texas), who is in line to become chairman of the Agriculture Committee if Democrats win control of the House.

Stenholm and a group of conservative Democrats known as the “Blue Dogs” is developing a set of farm proposals that would rewrite the 1996 Farm law, also known as Freedom to Farm.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, said the Clinton administration should do more to help U.S. farmers. He emphasized trade, taxes and fuel prices are areas that could help rejuvenate the farm economy. He said congressional Republicans hope to give U.S. farmers a boost “to help compensate for the Clinton administration’s mistakes.”
Frio County Farm Bureau sponsored an Ag in the Classroom field day on May 17 for the fourth consecutive year for area fourth grade students. One new twist to this year’s field day, however, was an invitation to some LaSalle County students to join the fun. Eddie Geyer, who coordinated the event for Frio County, said LaSalle County was invited “so they can get some ideas on how ‘Farm Day’ takes place.” LaSalle County FB President Jay Watson was grateful. “I’ve never been to one so I came up to see what was going on,” Watson said. “We might in the future do the same thing down in LaSalle County.” Pictured above is a group of the 330-plus students who attended the event.

Notable Quotables
“We’re growing hemp, not pot. Maybe if we all gang up on the DEA, they might give in and say, ‘Go ahead. Grow whatever you want!’ ”
Charles Puffinberger, an assistant secretary in the Maryland Department of Agriculture, in comments on a new Maryland law that allows the production of hemp. There’s one major drawback to the law: under federal drug laws, growing hemp is illegal. However, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is currently reviewing its hard-line approach against hemp production.