The Internal Revenue Service on Aug. 8 issued proposed regulations to implement the Section 199A tax provision allowing owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships, trusts and S corporations to deduct 20 percent of their qualified business income. The Section 199A deduction, or the deduction for qualified business income, was created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and is available for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017. Eligible taxpayers can claim it for the first time on the 2018 federal income tax return they file next year. The NGFA will be reviewing the proposed rule ... Read More
Risk Management
Senate Ag Committee conducts CFTC confirmation hearing
By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Treasurer The Senate Agriculture Committee conducted a confirmation hearing July 24 on the nomination of Dan Berkovitz to fill the Democratic vacancy at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Assuming his nomination is reported favorably by the committee, which could come as early as next week, Berkovitz will be paired with Republican nominee Dawn Stump for consideration by the full Senate. The NGFA is working with other agribusiness and producer groups to send a letter of support for both nominees to Senate ... Read More
CFTC Chairman Giancarlo answers NGFA’s questions about the future of the CFTC and important measures for agriculture
Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo was confirmed unanimously by the Senate in August 2017 after being nominated by President Donald Trump. Giancarlo has served as a CFTC commissioner since June 2014, after being nominated originally by President Barack Obama to fill a Republican vacancy at the agency. Giancarlo, who spoke at NGFA’s 2017 Annual Convention, has discussed removing regulatory barriers for agriculture as well as improving the efficiency of the CFTC. In an exclusive interview, he answered some of NGFA’s questions about the ... Read More
CFTC releases report on grain, oilseed block trading
By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Treasurer On July 2, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) released a report prepared by its Market Intelligence Branch (MIB) – a relatively new unit within the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight – analyzing block trading activity in certain agricultural contracts, including grain and oilseed futures contracts. The analysis looked at block trading activity beginning on Jan. 8, 2018 (when such trading in agricultural contracts was implemented) through March 31. Among the report’s significant findings were ... Read More
CME announces increases to corn and soybean futures storage rates
By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Treasurer The CME Group on July 10 announced long-discussed changes to storage rates for its corn and soybean futures contracts. For both contracts, storage rates will increase from 5 cents per bushel per month to 8 cents per bushel per month and will be implemented, pending CFTC review, starting with the November 2019 soybean and December 2019 corn futures contracts. The changes, filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, come at the end of a lengthy review of potential revisions to enhance convergence in the two ... Read More
NGFA conveys corn/soybean storage rate input to CME
At the culmination of many months of discussion both internally and with the CME Group, the NGFA on June 20 transmitted a letter to CME with recommendations for changes to the storage rates for corn and soybean futures contracts. The letter from NGFA Risk Management Committee Chair MJ Anderson, director of risk management and merchandising at The Andersons Inc. in Maumee, Ohio, acknowledged the huge importance of the corn and soybean contracts for purposes of risk management and price discovery in the grain, feed and processing industry, but also expressed belief that convergence ... Read More
NGFA, other ag groups ask Senate appropriators to fully fund CFTC
ARLINGTON, Va., May 31, 2018 -- In a letter to the leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Financial Services Subcommittee, the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and several other significant U.S. agricultural producer and agribusiness groups urged the lawmakers to incorporate the full budget of $281.5 million requested by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). “The commission’s responsibilities have expanded dramatically in recent years, but funding has not kept up,” noted the NGFA and 15 other ag groups in a May 31 letter submitted to Subcommittee Chairman ... Read More
NGFA, other ag groups ask House appropriators to fully fund CFTC
Prior to the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee’s May 9 meeting to consider its 2019 fiscal year agriculture appropriations bill, several significant U.S. agricultural producer and agribusiness groups urged the committee to incorporate the full budget of $281.5 million requested by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). “The commission’s responsibilities have expanded dramatically in recent years, but funding has not kept up,” noted the NGFA and 13 other ag groups in a May 7 letter to Subcommittee Chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and Ranking Member Sanford Bishop, ... Read More
NGFA members invited to give feedback on corn/soybean contracts
As follow-up to customer conversations and an industry focus group meeting last month in Chicago, the CME Group has initiated a broader industry survey to take feedback on potential changes to its corn and soybean contracts. In particular, CME invites NGFA-member firms to react to a potential increase in the fixed storage rate for the corn and soybean contracts by completing the survey here. Responses are requested by May 18. The survey comes in the wake of numerous conversations between CME and NGFA, led by the Risk Management Committee, about inconsistent convergence especially ... Read More
Full, five-member CFTC on the horizon?
By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Treasurer With the April 24 nomination of derivatives lawyer and former Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) general counsel Dan Berkovitz to fill a vacant Democratic seat, the agency soon could have a full complement of five commissioners for the first time in several years. Berkovitz joins Republican nominee Dawn Stump, who was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee last year but has been awaiting a confirmation vote by the full Senate to fill a vacant Republican seat. Traditionally, it is common for nominees ... Read More
National Grain and Feed Association
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