Almost one hundred US congressmen from the cotton-growing states have appealed to the Obama administration for price support to help struggling farmers, with new subsidies since losing a trade case with Brazil last year.
The House of Representatives members signed a letter urging Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to allow cottonseed, a secondary product of the crop valued mainly for its fibre, to qualify for subsidies available to other oilseeds. The industry's support program was stopped in the 2014 Farm Bill after the United States settled a trade case with Brazil with promises that it would not give direct subsidies for fibre. But cottonseed, a by-product, can be made eligible.
Other crops such as soybeans are eligible for two U.S. Department of Agriculture programs which pay producers when their revenue from a commodity or that commodity's price falls below a certain level. The 2014 Farm Bill allows the USDA to designate crops as ‘other oilseeds’ for purposes of the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs, according to a copy of the letter posted on the NCC's website.
The industry would also circulate a similar letter to Vilsack for US senators from cotton belt states.
