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California Association of Wheat Growers (CAWG)

February 28, 2006

CAWG OFFICERS HEAD TO WASHINGTON, DC. CAWG President Larry Hunn, Treasurer Ian Anderson, and Executive Director Janice Cooper are traveling to Washington this week to carry California wheat growers’ issues to federal policy makers. California Wheat Commission Executive Director Bonnie Fernandez will also join them for several meetings. The group will participate in a multi-state session at USDA to discuss loan rates and posted county prices. The California team will then meet with the Risk Management Agency to air concerns about crop insurance. The group will then move to Capitol Hill where, over three days, meetings are scheduled with close to 20 members of the California Congressional Delegation. At these meetings, the CAWG team will thank the members and staff for helping solve critical issues (wheat assessment, Mexico trade ban, stripe rust disaster aid) in 2005 and discuss the proposed budget cuts and emerging Farm Bill. These annual trips help build key relationships that enable CAWG to effectively represent is members.

2007 FARM BILL HEARING TO BE HELD IN STOCKTON, CA. The House Agriculture Committee is organizing a series of field hearings to help shape the federal farm policy. The current Farm Bill expires in 2007 and discussions began last year on the replacement bill. Members of the Committee will hear testimony from a variety of witnesses; additional public comment may be submitted in writing. One issue that CAWG and the California Wheat Commission intend to raise is the need to give state directors of various USDA programs (like FSA, RMA, and others) enough authority to modify program rules to meet local demands. In many cases, federal programs are designed to fit Midwest farming practices. Since California growers farm differently, some flexibility is needed in order to fully utilize federal programs. This message will be discussed in Washington, DC as well.

NAWG URGES “MEANINGFUL MARKET ACCESS” AT DOHA ROUND. NAWG signed onto a letter this week urging meaningful market access and fairness in restrictions for some self-declared “developing” countries when world trade modalities are set in the Doha Round. The letter was sent Friday to Robert Portman, the U.S. Trade Representative, and Mike Johanns, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

 The letter said: “We very much support a final agreement that significantly improves market access for each of our U.S. agricultural exports, and are prepared to accept concessions in order to achieve this and other goals in the negotiations.  However, we will find it difficult to support an agreement that does not result in real, meaningful market access improvements for each of our farm and livestock products in both developed and developing country markets.  We will also find it difficult to support an agreement that would allow our world-class, developing country export competitors to continue or further stimulate their export sectors through broad-based special and differential treatment.”

 NAWG JOINS FOOD UNIFORMITY COALITION. NAWG joined a coalition recently that is supporting legislation to promote uniformity in food safety regulation and labeling.  The coalition is coordinated by the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) and includes 88 food-related companies and trade associations, at last count.

 The National Uniformity for Food Act (H.R. 4167, introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.) provides for national, uniform food-safety standards and warning requirements.  The legislation amends the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to create a uniform, national system that not only recognizes the role of state and local governments in the regulation of food products, but also integrates them into the national system.  Under the current system, food regulation is composed of a variety of different, and sometimes inconsistent, requirements.  The bill seeks to harmonize those differences to achieve national uniformity.

 The bill takes a measured approach to national uniformity for food by providing a mechanism for a thorough, orderly review of existing state regulations that may differ from a federal regulation.  The bill allows for the states to petition the FDA to adopt theirs as a national requirement or exempt it from national uniformity.  No existing state requirement that differs from a federal requirement would be preempted without the opportunity for petition, and state requirements would remain in effect while FDA considers the states’ petitions.

 Uniformity would be achieved gradually as FDA acts on the states’ petitions, either adopting them as national requirements or concluding that they should not continue in effect.  FDA’s decisions on state petitions would occur only after public input through a comment process.

 The bill provides that where FDA has acted by setting a safety standard for a food ingredient or constituent, the states would adopt and enforce the same standard.  If FDA has not set a safety standard for a particular substance in food, the states would remain free to set and enforce their own standard.

The bill would also provide for national uniformity in product warnings.  States would not be permitted to require the regulated industry to communicate a warning in labeling, advertising or any other form of public communication if that warning differs from that imposed under federal law.  The authority of the states to issue warnings remains unhindered.  States remain free to issue their own public warnings under state laws at any time and under any circumstance. For more information on the coalition and the Act, visit: www.uniformityforfood.org 

FSA REMINDERS.

• Growers can get a Level 2 electronic authentication through their county office and sign up for e-LDPs; delivery of these payments electronically reduces the burden on county office staff and gets the money to the producers within 48 hours of a claim. 
• Use FSA Form 633EZ to lock the right to claim LDPs up to the point they lose beneficial interest.  This form greatly simplifies what used to be a complicated and difficult process.
• Find more information on this and other issues at: www.fsa.usda.gov

 ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT TOOL AVAILABLE ONLINE. Intercorp, Inc., a company which sells Pollution Legal Liability (PLL) Insurance to growers, has launched Enviro-I.Q., an online, environmental risk-assessment tool, available through www.enviroiq.com

This tool asks questions and then provides a ranking of 1, 2 or 3 based on the severity of potential environmental risk.  It also allows users to get a rough estimate of insurance costs for that level of risk.

 PLL insurance is designed to fill the coverage gap left by the absolute pollution exclusion.

CLOSING THE GAP ON AGRICULTURE. (News from WETEC) U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman met with European Union Trade Minister Peter Mandelson this week in Washington, D.C. and made some progress on areas of the agriculture negotiation. USTR Portman said the two top trade officials discussed sensitive products and how they should be treated relative to the treatment of other products.

The two sides scheduled this meeting as a run up to the April 30 deadline to set modalities for agriculture and non-agricultural market access. Modalities is the term officials use for the actual percentage cut in tariffs agreed to in a World Trade Organization Trade Round.

Mandelson also held out the possibility of another EU agriculture market access offer if the EU sees better offers on industrials and services, a hint for Brazil and the G-20 to improve their offers. Both officials said continued U.S.-EU cooperation was necessary for a successful round. However, the talks were not completely positive as the two officials failed to produce breakthroughs on the Boeing/Airbus dispute or the U.S. Extraterritorial Income Tax exclusion.