Bill Huffman
Director - Government Relations

The Friday Report

April 17, 2009

Congress remains in recess for the Easter holiday. The House of Representatives will return on Monday and the Senate next Tuesday.

Interior Secretary Salazar Visits California

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was in California Wednesday for a tour of the Bay/Delta complex with the Governor and for discussion about the drought situation with other California officials including State Water Resource Control Board Chairman Charlie Hoppin.

On Wednesday, Secretary Salazar announced that President Obama’s economic stimulus bill would bring $40 million to California for “immediate emergency drought relief”. Some of this money will be used for drilling wells for farms and cities in areas where water supplies are in extreme short supply. The money is part of a $260 million water package for California under the President’s stimulus program.

In announcing a series of water related stimulus projects, Secretary Salazar said, “In the midst of one of the deepest economic crises in history and in the drought environment in California, President Obama’s economic recovery plan will not only create jobs on basic water infrastructure projects, it will help address both the short and long-term water supply challenges facing the Golden State”.

Among the list of water projects scheduled for funding is a $109.8 million appropriation to build a “screened pumping plant at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam” to protect fish while improving the delivery of water to agricultural users in the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority service area, which encompasses approximately 150,000 acres on the west side of the Sacramento Valley in Tehama, Glenn, Colusa and Yolo Counties.

Key USDA Appointment

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the appointment of Michael T. Scuse to be Deputy Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. This is the position previously held by Floyd Gaibler during the Bush Administration.

Scuse is a former Chief of Staff to Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner and was Agriculture Secretary in that state. He and his brother operate a grain and livestock operation in Delaware. He is a former chairman of the Delaware State Farm Service Agency State Committee.

He will oversee the operations of the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), the Farm Service Agency (FSA), and Risk Management Agency (RMA), all agencies that interact with the U.S. rice industry.

Taiwan Announces a New Tender

The government of Taiwan has announced two new tenders for medium grain rice. The first is for 19,000 metric tons of U.S. medium grain with bids to be received by April 21st.  The second tender is for 25,934 metric tons of medium grain from any world source.  Bids for this tender are due on April 27th. 

Taiwan, as we’ve reported before, has rejected all U.S. bids recently saying that bid prices were above the Taiwan ceiling price. The country hasn’t purchased any California rice for over 18-months and is approximately 180,000 tons in arrears on their agreement to purchase U.S. rice under a trade agreement with this country.

The California rice industry continues to emphasize that the Taiwanese ceiling price is not reflective of current rice market prices around the world.

Congressman Jerry Moran Visits California

Kansas Republican Congressman Jerry Moran visited California this week for a fundraising event in Marysville hosted by the California Rice Fund and Farmers’ Rice Cooperative Fund. Mr. Moran is a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Kansas in 2010.  He serves on the House Agriculture Committee and is a former chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management.

Congressman Moran has been one of the key Congressional leaders trying to break the 50-year trade and travel deadlock with Cuba resulting from the Castro regime. He has sponsored legislation making it easier for the U.S. rice industry to do business with Cuba, a country that once was the largest importer of long grain rice. While here, Mr. Moran met Betsy Ward, President and CEO of the USA Rice Federation, who thanked him for his effort in trying to open the Cuban market to U.S. rice. He was also briefed on the Taiwan situation mentioned in the article above.

The California rice industry appreciates Mr. Moran’s support of our industry and his willingness to listen and work with industry leaders on solving some of these troublesome trade matters such as Cuba and Taiwan.

We wish to thank the growers who attended Tuesday night’s dinner honoring Mr. Moran, which was held at the Peach Tree Golf & Country Club in Marysville.