ADVOCACY REPORT
Washington Update: The Latest on Federal Advocacy
Over the past few months, Blue Diamond’s federal advocates have been keeping a close watch on the issues affecting
growers and the industry. The following are highlights on some key topics.
Tax Reform
The focus last year during fall and
winter was on tax reform. As you
know, tax reform was passed by
Congress and signed into law by
the President just before Christmas.
This period was devoted to
obtaining provisions in the tax
bill that benefit grower-owners
and their farming businesses.
The provisions focused on were
IC-DISC, section 199, SALT and
immediate expensing of capital
acquisitions.
The Senate wanted to eliminate IC-
DISC, while the House did not. In
the end, the House prevailed and
IC-DISC was preserved. This was
very important to grower-owners
since it results in tax savings. It was
also possible to get limited relief
from SALT. A deduction of up to
$10,000 for either state income tax
or property tax was obtained.
Preserving section 199 was very
difficult and required constant
effort and attention. Both the
House and Senate wanted
to repeal and eliminate this
provision and was successful. The
cooperative worked on this with
the National Council of Farmer
Cooperatives. Together, the House
and Senate were persuaded that
this needed to be fixed, otherwise,
co-op farmers in California and
across the United States would
have received a tax increase in
the new tax bill. Extensive time
was required to prepare and
furnish sample tax returns of
Blue Diamond
members, which
documented what the results would
be without section 199 and
IC-DISC.
This work resulted in a new section
199A, which benefits all agricultural
cooperatives and their members.
Farm Bill
Early this year, the House Agriculture
Committee will take up the new Farm
Bill. The Committee plans to have it
on the House floor for passage in
March. The Senate will work on its
Farm Bill later this year.
Blue Diamond
is working hard
to prevent the Dairy Pride Act
from becoming law. The national
dairy industry representatives
have stated that getting this Act
adopted in the Farm Bill is its top
priority. If successful, it would
prevent labeling and selling
almond milk as “almond milk.” The
Dairy Pride Act is a critical issue
for our Congressional friends
because many work with both the
almond and dairy industries. This
bill also impacts California rice,
soybeans and other plant-based
milk ingredients.
There are other provisions on
which we are focused in the Farm
Bill: getting MAP authorized with
increased funding and maintaining
the TASC program. We are also
working to maintain crop insurance
for almonds.
Trade
Trade continues to require constant
attention. Immediate concern is focused
on the NAFTA and Korea-US free
trade pact (KORUS) negotiations. The
outcome of both will have an important
impact on
Blue Diamond
. The President
continues to discuss withdrawing from
NAFTA. This would have a direct
adverse impact on sales to Mexico.
The discussions on KORUS are
proceeding in a less high-profile
manner. Agriculture has benefitted
significantly from the KORUS, and
we continue to advocate for its
continuation.
Additionally, there are a range of
bilateral trade issues of importance
that are being carefully addressed.
This includes several issues with
India, which is a very important
market. We continue to focus on
China and opportunities to improve
access to this growing market.
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