Cotton’s Agenda

Gary Adams

Proclaiming Priorities

The National Cotton Council is engaging with Congress well before development and debate of the 2023 farm bill.

How have farm bill priorities been conveyed thus far?

■ Early this year, the NCC provided testimony at a House Agriculture Committee hearing, “A 2022 Review of the Farm Bill: Commodity Group Perspectives on Title 1.” Jaclyn Ford, a Georgia producer/ginner, emphasized the importance of the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage safety net for cotton and the integral role of the marketing loan program for multiple cotton industry segments regardless of market prices. She also noted the harmful economic disincentives created by lower program payment limits and more restrictive program eligibility requirements.

American Cotton Producers Chairman Nathan Reed, left, testified at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on U.S. cotton’s 2023 farm bill priorities.

More recent testimony was provided at the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry Committee’s hearing, “2023 Farm Bill: Perspectives From The Natural State.” Nathan Reed, chairman of the NCC’s American Cotton Producers, reiterated Ford’s points emphasizing the NCC maintains that effective farm policy must maximize participation without regard to farm size or income. Reed also cited the growing usage of the Seed Cotton Recourse Loan that enables producers to store production at harvest and provides more orderly marketing of cotton throughout the year. In general, Reed testified that producers’ safety net in the next farm bill must consist of 1) an effective commodity policy that provides either price or revenue protection to address prolonged periods of low prices and depressed market conditions that span multiple years and 2) a strong/fully accessible suite of crop insurance products that producers can purchase for tailoring risk management that addresses yield and price volatility during the growing season. He said the combination of commodity program options and crop insurance provides producers, as well as their lenders, the confidence entering the planting season that downside risk is mitigated in periods of steep price decline or a significant production loss.

What other farm bill needs were shared?

■ The Senate panel was urged to help secure appropriate funding to write a farm bill that recognizes the current and future needs of all industry segments. For example, Reed pointed to today’s 1) higher input prices which have resulted in significant increases in producers’ production costs and 2) supply chain/logistical challenges that have wreaked havoc on producers’ ability to get necessary inputs/equipment parts and created major disruptions and additional costs for merchandisers in delivering cotton to customers.

Reed said the Committee should consider including either a permanent disaster assistance program in the upcoming farm bill or seek policy options to help further minimize the deductible producers are left to cover under most existing, affordable crop insurance products. He also called for: 1) a strong Conservation Title that delivers robust funding for working lands programs; 2) more funding for the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program; and 3) continued support for the U.S. textile sector which has become more competitive under the 2008 farm law’s Economic Adjustment Assistance for Textile Mills. That farm bill initiative has allowed textile manufacturers to make crucial investments in new equipment and technology.

A Case For Making Crop Insurance Rates More Accurate

Importance Of Historical Weather Information To Setting Premiums

Anew study by agricultural economics experts from Texas A&M AgriLife and Virginia Tech makes a strong case for using historical weather information in crop insurance programs for even more accurate policy pricing.

The study “Incorporating historical weather information in crop insurance rating,” authored by Yong Liu, Ph.D., a Texas A&M AgriLife Research agricultural economist and assistant professor in the Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics, Bryan-College Station, was recently published online in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

It was co-authored by Ford Ramsey, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech.

About Crop Insurance Rates

Crop insurance is the most expensive agricultural policy in the United States, with more than $110 billion in liability in 2020. Agricultural producers and others purchase crop insurance to protect against either the loss of crops due to natural disasters or loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities.

In the U.S. federal crop insurance program, a key principle in the design of crop insurance policies is that they should be actuarially fair, meaning the expected indemnity under the policy should be equal to the premium.

“Achieving this objective requires accurate pricing of policies, and accurate pricing depends on accurate modeling of all the variables causing losses,” Liu said.

Traditionally, he said, known or fixed historical yield data or historical loss cost data have been used to estimate yields or loss costs.

“For example, soil information is fixed or known at the time the policy is sold,” he said. “Incorporating this type of known information is conceptually similar to dealing with time trends and other fixed determinants of yields or loss costs.”

Liu said loss probabilities and expected losses are then used to calculate premiums. Many rating procedures exclusively use fixed or deterministic variables in determining expected losses.

“But it is widely recognized that a large part of the observed variation in yields and loss costs is due to changes in weather and other variables,” Liu said. “Current loss variables used in determining crop insurance rates can be amended to incorporate other applicable variables like the weather.”

Stochastic (randomly determined) variables, like the weather, have a random probability distribution or pattern that may be analyzed statistically but not be precisely predicted. Unlike fixed variables, stochastic variables are unknown when the policy is sold.

“Including these variables, most particularly incorporating long-term weather data, would allow for a more thorough and accurate estimation of the distribution over time,” Liu said.

Historical Weather Information

Liu noted that in the federal crop insurance program, historical weather information is already incorporated to a degree through after-the-event rate adjustments. He also noted that reinsurers frequently use weather information when evaluating crop insurance portfolios and risk.

“Yield distribution that is related to weather has been shown to roughly approximate yield distribution based on observed yields,” he said. “And several previous studies have discussed the potential benefits of using weather or climate information in crop insurance rating.”

He also noted weather data are often available over a greater period than yield data or loss-cost data.

“This is especially the case at the farm level where yield records are notoriously short, in counties where production is sporadic, or for crops with limited historical production,” he said.

Liu said if weather data are useful for making predictive assumptions about yields and loss costs, then incorporating historical weather information in setting crop insurance rates should provide additional accuracy.

“Our approach uses observations where the loss variables are missing,” he said. “Including historical weather data necessarily involves observations with missing dependent variables.”

Study Used Bayesian Approach

In this study, Liu and Ramsey implemented a Bayesian approach for incorporating historical weather information into crop insurance ratings. The Bayesian paradigm has the advantage of reflecting uncertainty from all unknowns instead of only known information.

“We treated the cases of weather information as a stochastic predictor of both crop yields and loss cost ratios,” Liu said.

BY PAUL SCHATTENBERG

Yong Liu, Ph.D., agricultural economist and assistant professor, Texas A&M Department of Economics, is trying to make crop insurance rates more accurate.

A WAY TO SUSTAIN: Pollinator Fields

Bringing Biodiversity And Sustainability Into The Equation Daily

BY CASSIDY NEMEC

ASSISTANT EDITOR

When approached by Delta F.A.R.M. years ago, Michael and Doreen Muzzi of TKT Farms in Shaw, Mississippi, made a decision that would reap benefits for years to come. The question was whether they’d be interested and able to put in a pollinator field. The answer was an easy yes.

What made the answer to create this 10-acre pollinator field so simple? It was a no brainer, Doreen said.

“It was just pasture beforehand, so why not?”

Pollinator Fields For Sustainability

Since 1998, Delta F.A.R.M., or Delta Farmers Advocating Resource Management, has advocated for and worked toward a more sustainable environment throughout the Mississippi Delta.

Today, Delta F.A.R.M. works closely with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) within the USDA to accomplish goals as they relate to bringing sustainability through the use of pollinator fields.

The NRCS’s website stated, “Unfortunately, some species of pollinators have seen a 90% decline in their populations over the last decade.”

The concern over the decline in pollinator numbers has inspired many to implement pollinator fields on their own farms throughout the Delta.

The field on the Muzzi farm is part of Delta F.A.R.M.’s Operation Pollinator initiative, originally developed by Syngenta. Operation Pollinator is one of many sustainability initiatives put forth by Delta F.A.R.M. to help address environmental conservation and stewardship — one that has proven effective in ensuring diverse beneficials are making their homes on TKT Farms and others in the Delta.

Katherine Parys, USDA entomologist, sweeping the pollinator habitat field on TKT Farms.

“If we can do something this easy from a public relations and sustainability standpoint, we should do it,” Doreen said. “If we can make changes that conserve and improve the land we depend on as farmers, it’s our responsibility to do so. We trust the experts to tell us how best to go about doing that.”

Pollinator Fields For Conservation

The “experts” Doreen speaks about, specifically for TKT Farm’s pollinator habitat field, include Tim Huggins of Delta F.A.R.M. and Dr. Katherine Parys of USDA.

Huggins, executive director for Delta F.A.R.M. and Delta Wildlife, said they have more than one million acres enrolled in Delta F.A.R.M.. He said membership is free, and they only ask members to fill out a conservation assessment for their operation each year.

“We plant it, manage it and spray it with help of Syngenta,” he said.

Huggins spoke on several techniques they follow when establishing and managing a pollinator habitat field. These include a chemical burndown in late summer or fall, a light disking of the area and a broadcast planting with a no-till planter of wildflower seed to start the field. Moving forward, he said there are a few herbicide applications and typically a third-year burn or disk based on biology of the field.

“We want a flush of flowers throughout the year,” he said. To do this, they plant a combination of perennials and annuals.

Michael said they do their best to control only the weeds not wanted. “It’s intentionally weedy,” he said. “Both flowering species and weedy species are included in the pollinator plant mix.”

Katherine Parys, research entomologist with USDA ARS’ Pollinator Health in Stoneville, Mississippi’s Southern Crop Systems Research Unit, collaborates with Delta F.A.R.M. and Operation Pollinator. She monitors and documents pollinators using pollinator plantings in the region.

“We use a mixture of active and passive collecting methods to examine what bees are there and when,” she said.

For active methods, she remarked, “We are out in the field with nets — documenting which bees are visiting which flowers. The passive collection methods utilize trapping methods, which often catch species that are active when we’re not there.”

Pollinator Fields For Biodiversity

While certain crops, like cotton and corn, are self-pollinating, numerous additional benefits — such as increasing the weight of cotton bolls — can still be seen by incorporating pollinator fields.

The Muzzis said the greatest benefit they see is undoubtedly the proliferation of beneficial pollinator species.

“The beneficials are thriving … the diversity of pollinators is really mind-blowing,” Doreen said.

“We didn’t truly understand how beneficial pollinator fields could be until we began to see Katherine’s findings,” Michael said as he spoke on how impressed he is with USDA coming out to their field and finding pollinators native to other areas like California and not commonly found in the Delta.

He emphasized the bad rap farmers tend to get regarding the environment. “This is our way of showing people that as farmers, we care as much or more about the environment as they do.”

Parys reiterated the added benefit of biodiversity farms obtain with a planted pollinator field.

“Planted areas like the one on TKT Farms often provide more benefit than people would generally assume, as they not only provide season-long floral and nectar resources but also substantial nesting habitat — as the majority of native bees are ground nesting,” she said.

Pollinator Fields For The Future

Parys suggested this work is significant and beneficial both now and for the future.

“Long term, this is important and powerful work, compiling general baseline information about what bees here in the Mississippi Delta are visiting what plants and when. This dataset is a great source of both conservation and on-farm information,” she said.

Huggins said everyone from farmers and industry people to beekeepers visit the demonstration sites (pollinator fields). He noted the opportunity this brings to educate individuals and groups on the benefits of implementing pollinator habitat fields.

“Showing them you can take a spot near a production agriculture field and with a little bit of management, it can become a biodiverse habitat … instead of mowing it every other week, you can make a positive out of it,” he said.

Huggins conveyed there is financial assistance through such programs as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) through NRCS for those interested in adding pollinator fields to their operation.

Contact your state wildlife biologist to get started.

“Production and conservation efforts don’t have to be exclusive to each other,” he said. “You can have both agriculture and a pollinator site. They can coexist.”

DOREEN MUZZI Michael (left) and Doreen Muzzi of TKT Farms in Shaw, Mississippi, pictured with Tim Huggins, executive director of Delta F.A.R.M.

Irrigation Safety And Lightning

It’s summer, farming is in full swing — as are thunderstorms and lightning. For farmers who irrigate, Clemson Extension agents say spending a few extra bucks can help save a life or prevent permanent disabilities.

Lightning and thunderstorms typically occur during spring and summer months when farmers irrigate. Lightning can be deadly if they do not properly check their irrigation systems.

Chase Smoak, Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service horticulture agent for Lee and Sumter counties, reports a local farmer was checking his center pivot irrigation system when a storm blew in. The grower could have been electrocuted had he not spent a few seconds to take one important step.

“After the storm had passed, he noticed the pivot was not functioning correctly, so he used a voltage tester to test the pivot before opening the panel box,” Smoak said. “The pivot carried an electrical charge, and the outcome could have been life-threatening had the farmer not checked the system.”

Small Price To Pay

Voltage testers are used to check for voltage in wires or devices without users having to touch any electrical parts. Some testers cost less than $10. Charles Davis, Clemson Extension row crop agent for Calhoun and Richland counties, said this is small price to pay for such an important tool.

“Lightning can strike an area before, after and in the absence of rain, so it is good to get in the habit of using a tester to check a system each time before touching it,” Charles said. “Test before you touch. It could save your life.”

After a storm has passed, people should check their pivot irrigation systems with voltage testers to avoid injury or possible death. They should also ensure ground rods are correctly installed and securely connected to the system.

The Clemson Extension Ag Safety and Water Resources Program team is mailing noncontact voltage testers to a list of South Carolina farmers with center pivot irrigation systems. Water Resources team member Becky Davis said irrigators who don’t get a voltage tester can contact her at 803245-2661 or rwllms@clemson.edu and have their name added to the list.

“A voltage tester is an important tool everyone irrigating with center pivots should have on-hand,” Becky said. “But it’s a tool that can give you a false sense of security if not used properly. Always confirm the proper operation by first checking a known live circuit and by reading the manufacturer’s instructions to understand its limitations.”

Irrigation Professional’s View

Mark Davis, owner/operator of Broadwater Irrigation in St. Matthews, South Carolina, has been working with irrigation systems since he graduated from Clemson in agricultural mechanization and business in 2007. He said irrigation system operators must keep safety in mind.

“Operators shouldn’t get complacent,” he said. “They should always conduct safety checks, as well as use important safety measures when operating a system. This could mean the difference between life and death.”

Safety measures include checking to be sure the system is properly grounded and “backhanding” the pivots to prevent possible electrical shock.

“When checking a system, it is best to touch the pivot with the back of the hand,” Mark said. “Backhanding a system means brushing the back of the hand against any irrigation metal structure before grasping it with their palms.

“If a metal pivot is energized and a person grasps it with their palm, the electrical current can cause their hand to clamp around it and the person most likely will be electrocuted.”

Other tips when working with irrigation systems include not wearing jewelry and not working alone: Always have someone with you or let someone know where you’re going. Wear rubber-soled boots and don’t get on your knees to check something low.

“I always squat so that my rubber soles are touching the ground,” Mark said. “The ground can accept an infinite amount of electricity, whereas the human body can’t.”

For more research-based tips, follow the Clemson University Agricultural Safety Program on its blog, Clemson Agricultural Safety, https://blogs.clem son.edu/agsafety/.

Clemson master’s student Shelley Lovern uses a voltage tester to test a center pivot irrigation system at the Clemson Piedmont REC’s Simpson Research Farm.

“Test before you touch. It could save your life.”

CHARLES DAVIS, Clemson Extension row crop agent

The study shows incorporating historical weather information into the data used to determine crop insurance rates for crop failures will make those rates more accurate.

NIKA LERMAN/DREAMSTIME

Continued from page 6

“In the case of yields, we used county-level corn yields from seven states in the Midwest. For loss cost ratios, we used county-level corn and soybean loss cost ratios in Illinois and Iowa for the federal crop insurance program.”

The models were embedded in a Bayesian algorithm that used historical weather information to estimate the required actuarial factors for determining crop insurance premiums, he said.

Liu said that in the case of yields, the study was able to demonstrate that:  A private insurer incorporating weather information can develop rates that give them a competitive advantage over crop insurance rates set by the government.  This advantage is strengthened when there is additional historical weather information. Using more informative data that covers a longer period will improve the overall accuracy.  This advantage is slightly stronger at lower coverage levels.

He said in the case of loss costs, the study was able to demonstrate that:  Historical weather-related loss cost distributions differ modestly from those without historical information.  Weather weighting can be incorporated through a streamlined single-step process. insurance. The first was implementing a theoretically consistent Bayesian approach for incorporating historical weather data into estimating conditional predictive yield distributions.

“In this, we show that incorporating historical weather information results in economic gains for private insurers by demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed approach,” Liu said.

He said the second contribution was implementing the same approach for loss cost distributions.

“This involves a single algorithm for bounded loss costs, and we find that the historical weather-conditioned distributions differ modestly from empirical distributions based on observed loss costs,” he said.

Liu said the study results have implications for the design of crop insurance programs both in the United States and worldwide.

“This study suggests that increasingly large, and often disparate, data sets can be combined and used to improve agricultural policy,” he said. “As measurement and modeling of weather and crop production continue to evolve, so will crop insurance products and actuarial methodologies.”

He said by developing rates that reflect heterogeneous risk exposure across locations, the methods developed in the study may encourage increased program participation and minimize adverse selection.

Two Primary Contributions

Liu said the study makes two primary contributions to the discussion of crop Paul Schattenberg is a communications and media relations specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Communications.

Bayer is a member of Excellence Through

Stewardship® (ETS). Bayer products are commercialized in accordance with ETS Product Launch Stewardship Guidance, and in compliance with Bayer’s Policy for Commercialization of BiotechnologyDerived Plant Products in Commodity Crops. Commercialized products have been approved for import into key export markets with functioning regulatory systems. Any crop or material produced from this product can only be exported to, or used, processed or sold in countries where all necessary regulatory approvals have been granted. It is a violation of national and international law to move material containing biotech traits across boundaries into nations where import is not permitted. Growers should talk to their grain handler or product purchaser to confirm their buying position for this product. Excellence Through Stewardship® is a registered trademark of Excellence Through Stewardship.

ALWAYS READ AND FOLLOW PESTICIDE

LABEL DIRECTIONS. It is a violation of federal and state law to use any pesticide product other than in accordance with its labeling. NOT ALL formulations of dicamba, glyphosate or glufosinate are approved for in-crop use with products with XtendFlex® Technology. ONLY USE FORMULATIONS THAT ARE SPECIFICALLY LABELED FOR SUCH USES AND APPROVED FOR SUCH USE IN THE STATE OF APPLICATION. Contact the U.S. EPA and your state pesticide regulatory agency with any questions about the approval status of dicamba herbicide products for in-crop use with products with XtendFlex® Technology. B.t. products may not yet be registered in all states. Check with your seed brand representative for the registration status in your state. Performance may vary, from location to location and from year to year, as local growing, soil and weather conditions may vary. Growers should evaluate data from multiple locations and years whenever possible and should consider the impacts of these conditions on the grower’s fields.

Products with XtendFlex® Technology contains genes that confer tolerance to glyphosate, glufosinate and dicamba.

Glyphosate will kill crops that are not tolerant to glyphosate. Dicamba will kill crops that are not tolerant to dicamba. Glufosinate will kill crops that are not tolerant to glufosinate. Contact your seed brand dealer or refer to the Bayer Technology Use Guide for recommended weed control programs. Insect control technology provided by Vip3A is utilized under license from Syngenta Crop Protection AG. Bayer, Bayer Cross, Bollgard®, Respect the Refuge and Cotton Design®, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® and XtendFlex® are registered trademarks of Bayer Group. LibertyLink® and the Water Droplet Design® is a trademark of BASF Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2022 Bayer Group. All rights reserved.

e3 Sustainable Cotton Program Gains Momentum

BY CARROLL SMITH

EDITOR

BASF’s e3 Sustainable Cotton Program recently reported a substantial uptick in grower participation. More than 900 farmers, who grow FiberMax and Stoneville cotton, enrolled by registering cotton bales from their 2021 growing season — a 25% increase in enrollment from the previous year.

Besides being connected to these two cotton brands, another component that makes the program unique is its traceability aspect. The e3 cotton can be traced from an individual cotton bale in the field all the way to the garment or home good that ends up on the shelf.

“The e3 Sustainable Cotton Program is a good way to learn about what U.S. cotton farmers do to produce cotton in a sustainable way right there on their farms,” said Rachel Walters, BASF Regional Grower and Channel Marketing Manager – North America Seeds. “It adds value for growers, the environment and the end user, and our enrollment numbers prove the future is bright for the sustainable cotton industry.”

Chris King, who is a Stoneville grower and first-time e3 Sustainable Cotton Program member from Georgia, said, “I’m excited to join the e3 cotton program to further the efforts of sustainable cotton, and I’m always looking for ways to be a better steward of the land.”

A Helpful Data Source

When growers enroll fields in the e3 program, they commit to tracking eight on-farm metrics. The measures include:  Irrigation water use and quality.  Pesticide management.  Soil and fertility management.  Greenhouse gas reduction.  Energy conservation.  Worker health and safety.  Soil carbon.  Identity preservation.

Walters said BASF is not asking growers to do a lot of new things on their farms. “Many of these measures have been foundational in their operations,” she said. “Tracking them gives growers the confidence that they are doing things that are important to have a sustainable farm and to help people who don’t know anything about farming feel good about U.S. grown cotton and the products they are buying.

“One of the really neat things we added last year is a grower impact report that shows how well an operation did on the eight metrics,” Walters said. “This allows the farmers to compare, say, how they grew their cotton in 2020 and how they grew it in 2021. They can see the areas in which they improved and the areas that may need some adjustments.

“If they are renting ground, the grower can take the report to the landowner to show what they are doing on the farmland to make it better for the next year or the year following that one. It’s also a good data source for e3 cotton farmers to take to their bankers to affirm they are making smart decisions.”

Consumers And Sustainability

Earlier this year, the e3 cotton program announced a collaboration with the United Nations-hosted Conscious Fashion and Lifestyle Network for a series of convenings in New York City throughout 2022 and 2023.

BASF said, “e3 will join industry stakeholders, United Nations representatives and news media to explore how the fashion and lifestyle industries are uniquely positioned to collaborate and engage on the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The e3 cotton farmers also see the value in connecting and sharing their farms’ stories with retailers and consumers.

“Consumers care about sustainability, and the e3 Sustainable Cotton Program is helping to meet the demands of the industry,” said e3 grower Kim Rentz, who farms Stoneville cotton in Bainbridge, Georgia. “The program also provides solid economic benefits to the grower, and it’s making it easier for us to market our cotton.”

Walters noted that there are more sustainability programs on the scene today.

“I believe that, collectively, we are raising more awareness about these sustainability programs and the benefits to cotton growers,” she said. “Farmers are becoming more educated and more interested in sustainability as we make the programs more available and more top of mind, which is causing an increase in all the programs.”

Matthew Vaughn (left), BASF Agronomic Solutions Advisor, talks with Richard Adams (right) and Richard’s son, Andrew Adams. The Adams grow e3 cotton — FiberMax and Stoneville — in Lubbock, Texas.