SSGA offers strong support for port terminal modernization

/0 Comments/in ,

The Specialty Soya and Grains Alliance (SSGA) recently sent a letter of support for the Northwest Seaport Alliance’ (NWSA) and SSA Terminal’s, LLC’s (SSAT) joint application for infrastructure funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).

Because a majority of SSGA members ship by intermodal container to supply high quality food grade products to their customers, the NWSA Seattle and Tacoma ports handle a strong share of the exports that go to Asian markets from our base of member exporters located in the Midwest.

The funding sought by NWSA and SSAT would be used for modernization of Terminal 5, a long- time key export terminal in the Seattle Harbor that has fallen nearly dormant because it is unable to adequately serve the new larger ships deployed by the main steamship lines.

Click here to read the complete letter, signed by SSGA Executive Director Eric Wenberg.

 

Germany will ban glyphosate after 2023 to save insects

/0 Comments/in

By Sonja Begemann for AgWeb

Germany will ban the use of glyphosate herbicides at the end of 2023. The country is making the decision as part of an environmental protection program the government cabinet agreed to this week, according to Dow Jones.

Glyphosate, owned by German ag and pharmaceutical company Bayer, has come under fire in the U.S. over the past year with claims the pesticide causes cancer. Germany’s concerns, however, revolve around the pesticide’s impact on food sources for insects in the country.

Bayer provided the following statement to Agweb regarding the announcement in Germany:

We respect political decisions by some EU Member States to reduce applications of Glyphosate. However, with regards to the German government’s intention to impose a unilateral ban on glyphosate in 2023, we have a different view. Such a ban would ignore the overwhelming scientific assessments of competent authorities around the world that have determined for more than 40 years that glyphosate can be used safely. Within the European Union, we have a common legal framework for authorization of plant protection active ingredients, backed by one of the world’s most stringent safety assessment schemes.

German officials say glyphosate use leading up to the 2023 ban will be systematically reduced starting in 2020. Restrictions will be placed on not only agriculturalists, but home and business owners, too.

Court challenges continue
Bayer’s legal challenges against glyphosate are ongoing. More than 15,000 plaintiffs are coming against the company concerning Roundup (one of the trade names for glyphosate). Plaintiffs allege the herbicide causes cancer, specifically non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

The next trial is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2019 in St. Louis, Mo. There have been three trials to date—all in California. In each of the previous cases juries ruled against Bayer.

Read more about safety studies, recent cases and general glyphosate updates here.

FMC approves container availability recommendations

/0 Comments/in ,

By Chris Gillis for Freight Waves

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission on Sept. 6 unanimously approved a set of recommendations to bring about fairness in the way demurrage and detention fees are administered by ocean carriers and marine terminal operators against American shippers.

Commissioner Rebecca Dye delivered her recommendations to Chairman Michael Khouri and Commissioners Daniel Maffei and Louis Sola for their consideration and approval on Aug. 27.

“I would like to convey how deeply appreciative I am for all the support from my colleagues at the commission and the freight delivery system,” Dye said in an interview.

She particularly complimented the ocean carriers and marine terminal operators, as well as the numerous American importers and exporters, for their input throughout the year-and-a-half-long fact finding investigation. “I’m thrilled,” she said.

Demurrage pertains to the time an import container sits in a container terminal, with carriers responsible for collecting penalties on behalf of the marine terminals. Detention relates to shippers holding containers for too long outside the marine terminals.

In the past five years, shippers have become increasingly outspoken about the way these fees are assessed against them, often pointing out that they are financially penalized for industry events such as sudden marine terminal congestion, which are largely out of their control.

In December 2016, the Coalition for Fair Port Practices filed a petition with the FMC requesting regulatory action against unfair demurrage and detention fee assessments, which was followed by public hearings at the commission in early 2018. The FMC approved the initiation of the Fact Finding 28 investigation in the spring of 2018 and put Dye in charge.

Dye’s recommendations to bring clarity to the way these fees are assessed include:

  • Promoting standardized language for demurrage and detention.
  •  Simplifying the dispute resolution process and billing practices associated with the assessment of these fees.
  •  Providing guidance on what evidence is relevant to promptly resolving demurrage and detention disputes between shippers, ocean carriers and marine terminals.
  • Ensuring consistent industry notice for container availability and equipment returns.

To put these recommendations into practice, the FMC will soon publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to establish “interpretive” rules for addressing future demurrage and detention disputes brought before the commission by the industry. (An interpretive rule is an agency rule that clarifies or explains existing laws or regulations.)

Dye has remained transparent with the ocean shipping industry during the investigation. She has further emphasized in industry forums that more work lies ahead in remedying problems related to demurrage and detention assessments.

Among the recommendations approved by the commission will be the establishment of a shippers’ advisory board that will work with the commission on solutions to future container availability problems.

Dye recommended the formation of a shippers’ advisory board that will work with the commission on myriad issues.

In addition, Dye proposed continuing the FMC’s Memphis Supply Chain Innovation Team, which since 2016-17 has brought together shippers, ocean carriers and railroads to address the shortage of available chassis for containers arriving and departing the railhead in Memphis, TN.

“The Memphis team concluded that current chassis provisioning models are not keeping up with growing intermodal container demand and that change is necessary,” Dye said in testimony on May 22 before a Surface Transportation Board hearing focused on rail demurrage and detention.

She explained to the STB members how the Memphis team concluded that a gray chassis pool should be implemented for the Memphis rail hub.

“Major U.S. importers and exporters shared their stories of millions of dollars in inventory held up in congestion in Memphis, resulting from a lack of chassis,” Dye told the STB. “U.S. agricultural shippers believe that they cannot afford another season with current chassis issues.”

The FMC commissioners on Sept. 6 also approved Dye’s recommendation to continue the commission’s involvement with the Memphis team to implement a gray chassis pool.

MFP 2019 Frequently Asked Questions Answered

/0 Comments/in

By Anna-Lisa Laca for AgWeb.com

USDA on Thursday provided more details on the 2019 Market Facilitation Program. We compiled answers to frequently asked questions.

Which crops will receive a payment? According to USDA, producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flaxseed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, mustard seed, dried beans, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, upland cotton, and wheat will receive a payment based on a single county rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings to those crops in aggregate in 2019.

How will payment rates be calculated? According to USDA, there will be one payment rate per county that will be calculated based on the economic impact the trade war has had on farmers within that county. Per county payments range from $15 – $150 per acre. Hog producers will receive $11 per head payment based on the number of live hogs owned on a day selected by the producer between April 1 and May 15, 2019. Dairy producers will receive $0.20 per hundredweight payment on production history. Individual payments will be calculated by local FSA. Sign up will begin Monday, July 29.

Will acres included in a prevent plant claim be covered? Yes and no. While Secretary Perdue originally said prevent plant acres would not be covered, they discovered a loop hole. Producers who planted MFP eligible cover crops on prevent plant acres will receive a $15 per acre payment for those acres.

Will acres added to a farm in 2019 be eligible for a payment? Yes, if those acres were planted to a Title 1 crop in 2018, according to Perdue. He provided the following example: “If you were planting 1,000 acres last year, and I planted 1,000 acres and you retired, and I took and planted your thousand, so I had 2,000. Those would be eligible because they were they were planted in 2018. But if I had 1,000 acres of grasslands and I said well, I’m gonna go plant wheat or soybeans so I get this payment, that will not be eligible.”

Can I plant a crop that’s outside of my normal rotation? Yes. According to USDA, per acre payments are not dependent on which of those crops are planted in 2019, and therefore will not distort planting decisions. Moreover, total payment-eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings. Perdue added “If those acres were farmed last year, and in those Title I crops, they will be eligible,” he said earlier this summer.

Who is eligible for a payment? When USDA initially announced the program Secretary Perdue said the means test for this program would “not necessarily be what people have been used to.” Eligible applicants must also have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 of less than $900,000 or, 75% of the person’s or legal entity’s average AGI for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 must have been derived from farming and ranching.

Will there be payment limits? Yes, but they are higher than 2018.

MFP payments are limited to a combined $250,000 for non-specialty crops per person or legal entity. MFP payments are also limited to a combined $250,000 for dairy and hog producers and a combined $250,000 for specialty crop producers. However, no applicant can receive more than $500,000.

When will the first payment be issued? According to USDA, the first tranche will begin mid-August “as soon as practical after Farm Service Agency crop reporting is completed.” The first payment will be $15 per acre or 50% of your county payment rate, whichever is higher.

What will determine whether a second or third payment are made? Trade negotiations. If the U.S. and China can agree to a trade deal that includes President Xi changing non-tariff barriers and “the things we’ve asked him to do which are absolutely reasonable” the administration will reevaluate the second and third tranche, Perdue said earlier this summer.

Have a question to add? Leave a comment below or send me an email at alaca@farmjournal.com

USDA extends deadline to report spring-seeded crops for twelve states

/0 Comments/in

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) extended the deadline for agricultural producers in states impacted by flooding and heavy moisture. The new July 22 deadline applies to producers in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin for reporting spring-seeded crops to USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices and crop insurance agents.

“These are challenging times for farmers, and we are here to help,” said Bill Northey, USDA Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. “This deadline extension is part of our broader effort to increase program flexibility and reduce overall regulatory burden for producers who are having to make some tough choices for their operations.”

Producers not in the selected states should have filed reports or been added to a county register by the original July 15 deadline.

“While producers in many parts of the country are experiencing a challenging spring and early summer, these states are seeing an especially large number of producers delayed in planting and unable to complete their other fieldwork,” Northey said.

Filing a timely crop acreage report is important for maintaining eligibility for USDA conservation, disaster assistance, safety net, crop insurance and farm loan programs. A crop acreage report documents all crops and their intended uses and is an important part of record-keeping for your farm or ranch.

Producers filing reports with FSA county offices are encouraged to set up an appointment before visiting the office. Acreage reports from producers in the affected states who set up appointments before the July 22 deadline are considered timely filed, even if the appointment occurs after the deadline. Likewise, reports from producers in non-affected states who set up appointments before July 15 will be considered timely filed.

“We encourage you to contact your FSA county office today to set up an appointment,” Northey said. “Our team is standing by to help you complete this important process that keeps you eligible for key USDA programs.”

Other USDA Efforts to Help Producers

USDA is taking additional steps to help producers across the country, including:

  • Updating the haying and grazing date for producers who have planted cover crops on prevented plant acres;
  • Offering special sign-ups through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for assistance to plant cover crops; and
  • Extending the deadline to report prevented plant acres in certain places.

For more information, visit our Prevented or Delayed Planting webpage.

More Information

To learn more, contact your FSA county office or visit fsa.usda.gov or farmers.gov/prevented-planting