Three senators introduced a bill in February to overhaul the U.S. government's sugar program, aiming to lower price-support levels and change domestic supply restrictions.
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who introduced the legislation, said in a news release that the sugar program has cost consumers more than $14 billion since 2008.
In addition to lowering price supports that U.S. sugar growers get—which proponents say help growers at times of low market prices—the bill would allow the U.S. Department of Agriculture more flexibility in doling out domestic supply allotments.
The lawmakers have repeatedly tried to reforms the U.S. sugar program.
Shaheen led a coalition in June 2014 that pushed for similar reforms through an amendment to budget appropriations. The three senators introduced the same reform measure a year ago. They previously pushed for it as an amendment to the farm bill, but their proposal failed to win approval in May 2013.
Supporters of the existing sugar support program say that it usually operates at no additional government cost and supports farmers.
“It is unfortunate that opponents of agriculture are working so hard to reopen the new farm bill, which was the result of years of thoughtful debate and more than 40 hearings,” said Phillip Hayes, ASA spokesman. “A farm bill is America’s five-year contract with the men and women who feed and clothe the nation, and farmers and ranchers deserve certainty rather than coming under constant attack just one year into that bill.
“When it comes to sugar policy, lawmakers clearly spoke during the farm bill process and voted five times to reject misguided efforts just like this,” he said. “U.S. sugar policy is by far the least costly major commodity policy in the farm bill, operating at zero taxpayer cost 11 of the past 12 years and projected by the USDA to remain no cost for the next 10 years.
“This bill would gut a successful policy, jeopardize 142,000 U.S. jobs, and outsource America’s sugar production to unreliable, heavily subsidized foreign suppliers,” Hayes added. “If lawmakers are truly interested in developing a global free market for sugar, like U.S. producers are, then they should support the zero-for-zero sugar policy and reject attempts to unilaterally disarm.”
The bill arrives in a tumultuous time for the sugar industry, as participants await a decision from the U.S. government on whether to maintain duties on imports from Mexico, the country's top foreign supplier.
Luther Markwart details the options that might result to the antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) suspension agreements as a result of the challenges by the Imperial Sugar Company and AmCane in this issue.
ASGA Annual Meeting
Participants at the meeting in Long Beach, Calif., recognized the retiring and new ASGA board members on the closing day Feb. 3.
Retiring members are Nicholas Ludowese (Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative), Jeff Whelan (Red River Valley Sugarbeet Growers Association), Roger Stutzman (Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association) and Mark Wettstein (Nyssa-Nampa Sugarbeet Growers Association).
New members are Dan Church (Nyssa-Nampa), Neil Rockstad (Red River Valley) and Bruce Solvie (Southern Minnesota). A member from Idaho will be determined in March.