Risk Management

Heath Tarbert, who officially began his term as the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on July 15, took the time to answer several questions posed by NGFA about the rulemaking agenda for the agency under his leadership. Tarbert was nominated by President Trump and approved unanimously by the Senate Agriculture Committee before being confirmed as chairman by the Senate in June with a broad, bipartisan vote of 84-9. The NGFA authored and coordinated a letter signed by 25 national production agriculture and agribusiness groups in support of Tarbert’s confirmation, ... Read More

By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on June 19 published long-awaited proposed rules to provide guidance on Section 199A of the U.S. tax code.  This particular proposal by the IRS addresses primarily the deduction for qualified business income of producers who are patrons of a cooperative, as well as Section 199A calculations for cooperatives. An additional set of final IRS regulations, published in early 2019, more clearly defined entities eligible for the Section 199A deduction. The June 19 proposal includes a 60-day public comment period, with ... Read More

By Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) should take an active role in assessing and addressing the risks of climate change, CFTC Commissioner Rostin (Russ) Behnam said this week. “Failing to address financial market risks associated with climate change will impede economic growth, and most likely hit rural communities the hardest,” Behnam said in a speech at CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee meeting on June 12.  Behnam said the committee should identify market risks and recommend “data-driven policy ... Read More

By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President for Marketing, Treasurer; and Sarah Gonzalez, Director of Communications and Digital Media Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Dawn Stump said her staff is diligently working with other commissioners on a speculative position limits rulemaking, but didn’t give a timeline for a proposal, during a June 11 address in New York City to the Annual Legal Forum of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA).  ISDA was one of the organizations that challenged speculative position limits in court in late 2011. Since that ... Read More

The Senate by an overwhelming 84-9 vote confirmed Heath Tarbert on June 5 as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). A Republican who currently serves as assistant secretary of the treasury for international affairs, Tarbert will succeed fellow Republican Chris Giancarlo. He is expected to be sworn in officially in mid-July, with Giancarlo leaving CFTC around that same time. During testimony at his Senate Agriculture Committee confirmation hearing earlier this year, Tarbert stressed the CFTC’s special obligation to “…ensur(e) that our derivatives markets are ... Read More

By Todd Kemp, Senior Vice President and Treasurer Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo provided an update on current issues at the agency – and on remaining priorities as he prepares to step down from his position in coming weeks – during a May 1 subcommittee hearing of the House Agriculture Committee. Subcommittee chairman David Scott, D-Ga., opened the hearing with a reminder that the House has three times approved legislation to reauthorize the CFTC, but the Senate has not followed suit. While authorizing legislation is not absolutely ... Read More

The NGFA joined 102 other organizations this week to support the so-called “Main Street Tax Certainty Act of 2019” (H.R. 216), which would make permanent the Section 199A 20 percent qualified business income deduction. Led by Reps. Jason Smith, R-Mo., and Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, in the House and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., in the Senate, the bipartisan legislation would help ensure permanent tax relief for employers organized as S corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships, as well as preserve Section 199A benefits for cooperatives and their farmer-owners. “Despite the economic ... Read More

The Senate Agriculture Committee on April 1 approved Heath Tarbert’s nomination to become chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), bringing him one step closer to leading the agency. A Republican who currently serves as assistant secretary of the treasury for international affairs, Tarbert would succeed fellow Republican Chris Giancarlo if confirmed by the full Senate. During his testimony at the committee’s March 13 confirmation hearing, Tarbert stressed the CFTC’s special obligation to ensure “that our derivatives markets are open, transparent, competitive and ... Read More

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Market Intelligence Branch in the Division of Market Oversight (DMO) issued a report on March 27 that analyzed the entering of orders manually and automatically in commodity futures markets in the United States to determine how technological change is affecting futures trading. DMO staff used internal CFTC transactional data for 30 futures contracts during the period January 2013 – December 2018, and examined what effects, if any, the manual and automated order placement mechanisms had on these markets. The research produced the following ... Read More

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Center for Risk Management Education and Research (CRMER) at Kansas State University will host the 2nd annual agricultural commodity futures conference on April 11-12, in Overland Park, Kan. The conference brings together federal, state, and local governments with agribusiness and academia to discuss a range of topics that are important to the agricultural community who depend on the futures markets. The full program, conference details and a registration link can be found here. Last year, the conference sold out, ... Read More