USA Rice Daily

Today, the House passed a $1.3 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that funds the federal government through September 30. The text was released just last night, setting up a sprint to pass the legislation before Friday evening to avert another government shutdown.

It looks like Congress has a possible fix to the Section 199A cooperative deduction in the recently passed tax bill. However, the fix is being stalled in the Senate.

This week, 100 members of USA Rice representing all six rice-producing states gathered in the nation’s capital to meet with legislators and administration officials for the annual Government Affairs Conference (GAC). For two days, USA Rice members met with Congressional leaders to discuss the Farm Bill and other priorities for the rice industry, breaking with tradition by including visits to members of Congress outside of rice-producing areas.

The Arkansas Rice Farmers board recently created a task force to develop crop management guidelines to address community concerns about smoke created when farmers burn row crop field refuse each fall. The task force had their second and final meeting earlier this week where they finalized the Voluntary Smoke Management Guidelines for Agricultural Burning.

During the recent American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Convention here, President Zippy Duvall convened a special meeting for a select group of nationally recognized commodity and farm organizations to facilitate dialogue around the wide array of farm bill priorities and to identify common ground among the diverse group. USA Rice was among the exclusive list of participants, along with executives from every major commodity organization, presidents of state farm bureau chapters, and Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS), as well as staff from Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue’s office.

Last Thursday Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced a huge tax reform bill he says will simplify the tax code, lower individual rates, and create jobs. The “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” includes several obvious wins for agriculture including the repeal of the estate tax and maintaining stepped-up basis for the inheritance of farm property, however, there are still questions about how beneficial the tax plan will be for farmers and ag businesses.

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that starting November 1, 2017, farmers with base acres enrolled in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage safety net program can enroll for the 2018 crop year. Producers who have enrolled in ARC and PLC programs in the past are reminded that they must still enroll during the 2018 enrollment period. The 2018 enrollment period will end on August 1, 2018.

A key trade figure has been nominated and acting undersecretaries named.

New guidance from USDA's RMA on Practical to Replant Provisions available.

New guidance from USDA's RMA on Practical to Replant Provisions available.