A growing chorus has urged Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to use authority granted in the 2014 farm bill to designate cottonseed as an “other oilseed.”

This would make cottonseed eligible for Price Loss Coverage (PLC) and Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) available for farm safety net participation on program crops.

Cotton lint lost its status as a program crop as part of a trade settlement dispute with Brazil. But cottonseed, a byproduct that generally accounts for 20 percent to 25 percent of cotton-related revenue for producers, can be eligible.

A bipartisan coalition of 100 U.S. House members signed a letter urging Vilsack to use his authority to help struggling cotton producers.

“Lower prices for cotton lint and cottonseed contributed to a decline in average market revenue of more than $150 per harvested acre in 2014 compared to 2013,” the letter from both rural and urban congressmen said.

“And current expectations for prices and yields indicate that market revenue will decline by another $24 per acre in 2015, resulting in cotton revenues 25 percent lower than the average market returns for 2010 through 2013,” the letter added.

The National Cotton Council applauded the leadership of House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Midland, and Ranking Member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., for their leadership on the cottonseed push.

“This designation is much needed as our industry is facing very difficult economic conditions to say the least,” said NCC Chairman Sledge Taylor, a Mississippi cotton producer and ginner.

“We want to thank all those members that signed the letter for standing up for U.S. cotton producers who continue to be unfairly disadvantaged by foreign governments highly subsidizing their industries.”

Taylor said the designation for cottonseed to be covered under either the PLC or ARC programs would provide much-needed stability in the U.S. cotton industry.

Earlier, a High Plains producer and a Lubbock banker joined a six-member panel headed by NCC Vice Chairman Shane Stevens in testifying on “stress in cotton country” before the General Farm Commodities and Risk Management Subcommittee.

Stevens, a Greenwood, Mississippi, warehouseman, emphasized that a thriving cotton industry is critical to the success of many local economies.

“With the lowest cotton acreage in more than 30 years, the smallest exports in 15 years and cotton prices at their lowest level since the 2009 recession, economic pressure is mounting,” he said.

“Cotton demand, 10 percent below the peak in 2006, is struggling due to increased competition from synthetic fibers, and government support for international cotton production is increasing.”

Shawn Holladay of Lamesa, president of the Lubbock-based Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., and a NCC director, stressed the importance of a sound federal crop insurance program as a critical risk management tool.

“However, it is important to understand that crop insurance benefits are not profit,” he said.

“Thanks to the occasional good years and crop insurance, we have been able to get through tough times,” Holladay said. “However, crop insurance was never designed to deal with anti-competitive trading practices by countries like China and India. Yet (crop insurance) is almost exclusively what a cotton farmer must rely on today.”

Mike Wright, executive vice president of agricultural lending at City Bank in Lubbock, told the subcommittee that projections of continued declines in market revenue coupled with elevated production costs are causing concerns among the lending community.

“The margins in agricultural production have been getting tighter every year due to higher production costs and lower commodity prices,” he said. “Producers need above-average yields just to break even.

“There is no doubt that some cotton farmers will not quality for financing next year,” Wright added. “We are concerned about our ability to continue to meet the lending needs of AmericaΆs cotton farmers in years to come.”

State, regional and national letters supporting actions to stabilize the U.S. cotton industry also were sent to Vilsack from agricultural lenders that included more than 375 signatures of individual banks, the Farm Credit Council, the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers Association.

Nathan Reed of Mariana, Arkansas, state chairman of American Cotton Producers, said he feared the Mid-South is at a tipping point with regard to cotton acreage and the remaining infrastructure.

“If some stabilizing policy is not implemented very soon, cotton acres are likely to continue their decline to the point that what is left of our infrastructure cannot survive,” Reed said.

Regarding farm bill implementation, Reed said a significant concern is rulemaking to determine whether an individual is “actively engaged” in a farming operation and eligible to participate in farm programs. He urged the subcommittee to work closely with USDA to ensure any changes to “actively engaged” provisions adhere to the intent of the farm bill.

Also testifying were Kent Wannamaker, president of Southern Cotton Growers of Saint Matthews, South Carolina, and Cannon Michael, an NCC director from Los Banos, California.

In a statement, Conaway said: “AmericaΆs farmers are currently experiencing a 55 percent freefall in net farm income, with huge losses due in part to the culprits of natural disasters and the unfair trade practices of foreign countries that use high and rising subsidies, tariffs and non-tariff barriers to elbow U.S. farmers out of world markets.

“Cotton farmers are getting hit the hardest right now and they are doing all they can just to hold on without access to key risk management tools under the farm bill,” the chairman added.