• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

National Grain and Feed Association

Over a Century of Service Protecting Your Business Interests

  • Sign In
  • News
    • NGFA Blog
    • Newsletter Archive (members only)
    • Press Releases
    • COVID-19 Updates
    • Podcast
  • Issues
    • Feed
    • Safety
    • Trade
    • Farm Bill
    • Biotechnology
    • Transportation
    • Barge Digital Transformation (BDT) Project
  • Events
    • Calendar of Events
    • Event Sponsorship
    • Ag Transportation Summit
    • Convention
    • Country Elevator Conference & Trade Show
    • NextGen
    • CONVEY
    • NGFA-PFI Feed and Pet Food Joint Conference
    • FSMA Courses
    • Trade Rules Seminar
    • Stand Up for Grain Safety Week
  • Training
  • Advocacy
  • Arbitration
    • Arbitration Overview
    • Decisions
    • File a Complaint
    • Volunteer
  • Trade Rules
    • Trade Rules Overview
    • Trade Rules Committee
    • Order Rules Booklet
  • About
    • Officers and Staff
    • Committees
    • Strategic Alliances
    • State/Regional Affiliate Associations
  • Membership
    • Join the NGFA
    • Benefits & Services
    • Get Involved
    • Member Companies
    • Membership Directory (members only)
    • Next Generation Agribusiness Leaders
    • Committee Apprentice Program
  • Foundation

06.19.20 Agriculture Policy, Newsletter

Senate Ag Committee schedules meeting to reauthorize U.S. Grain Standards Act

By Bobby Frederick, Vice President of Legislative Affairs and Public Policy

The Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled a meeting for June 24 to consider reauthorization of the U.S. Grain Standards Reauthorization Act of 2020 (USGSRA 2020).

This meeting will mark the first time the committee has gathered in-person since the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered operations on Capitol Hill. As a result, the committee’s business meeting will be conducted in a large room within the Dirksen Senate Office Building to allow for more adequate social distancing than what would be possible in the committee’s normal hearing room in the Russell Senate Office Building.

The U.S. Grain Standards Act initially was enacted in 1916 and has been reauthorized and amended 20 times over the past century to maintain and continually improve the U.S. Official grain inspection system, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS).

A handful of provisions in the existing U.S. Grain Standards Act law expire on Sept. 30, 2020, including the ability for Congress to collect appropriations for standardization and compliance activities, authorization for the Grain Inspection Advisory Committee to meet, as well as the current statutory limitation on administrative costs.

The Senate Ag Committee’s business meeting is the next step in a process that started more than a year ago to reauthorize this critical law for producers, grain handlers and end users. To that end, NGFA joined with the North American Export Grain Association in submitting the following policy proposals for consideration for inclusion in the new bill:

  • A proposal that states delegated authority by FGIS to provide Official inspection and weighing services be required to notify users of those services at least 72 hours prior to any intent to discontinue service – the same notification currently required to be provided to the secretary of agriculture.
  • A proposal stating that FGIS user fees assessments can be used to fund only inspection and weighing services.
  • A proposal requiring the reporting of requests for waivers, exceptions and other specific services granted by FGIS to help industry better understand the demands on the system, especially for the benefit of those that pay the user fees that maintain the system.
  • A proposal to reauthorize the Grain Inspection Advisory Committee, which provides expert advice to FGIS in helping the agency fulfill its core mission of ensuring that Official inspections are performed in a reliable and uninterrupted manner to facilitate U.S. grain exports.
  • A proposal requiring FGIS, for the first time since its creation in1976, to complete a comprehensive review of the current geographical boundaries for the Officially designated grain inspection agencies that provide service in the domestic marketplace to inform the agency and stakeholders on potential efficiencies and improvements to the system.
  • Raising awareness about the importance of avoiding trade barriers by protecting the integrity of phytosanitary certificates. For example, the NGFA and NAEGA objected strenuously to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s acquiescence to China’s demand in 2018 to require an additional declaration be placed on U.S. soybean shipments denoting shipments that contained 1 percent or more foreign material – which is a grain quality, not plant health or pest risk for which the phyto certificate is exclusively reserved.  The decision resulted in a precipitous decline in U.S. soybean exports to China long before China imposed retaliatory tariffs.

NGFA will provide a full report on the outcomes of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s action on the bill, which is expected to be made public on June 22.

sidebar

Blog Sidebar

Topics

  • Arbitration Decision (691)
    • Corn (6)
    • Rail (3)
    • Soybeans (2)
    • Truck (1)
    • Wheat (3)
  • Issue Advisory (18)
  • Newsletter (1,807)
  • Press Releases (269)
  • Subject-focused News (1,735)
    • Agriculture Policy (258)
    • Arbitration (35)
    • Biotechnology (104)
    • Education and Training (40)
    • Event News (217)
    • Feed (291)
    • Foundation (9)
    • NGFA (91)
    • Risk Management (131)
    • Safety, Health & Environment (196)
    • Trade (250)
    • Transportation (312)
  • Uncategorized (23)

Footer

National Grain and Feed Association

TwitterYoutubeFacebookLinkedin

Contact Us

ngfa@ngfa.org
1400 Crystal Drive, Suite 260
Arlington, VA 22202
202.289.0873

Member Login

Have an account? → Log in 
Need an account? → Register
Lost your account? → Reset

Manage Your Account

Copyright ©  2022 NGFA | All Rights Reserved
  • Sign in

Forgot your password?

Lost your password? Please enter your email address. You will receive mail with link to set new password.

Back to login

Lacy Holleman
Manager of Legal Affairs and Arbitration

lholleman@ngfa.org

Lacy provides staff support for one of NGFA’s premier member services – its more than century old system of industry trade rules and arbitration that facilitates the efficient marketing of grains, oilseeds and their derived products. She also works on contracting, legal and other related matters.

An Arkansas native, Lacy received her undergraduate degree with a double major in history and Russian studies from the University of Tulsa (Okla.) and her law degree from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. Prior to joining NGFA’s staff in November 2020, she managed a local business at the Pentagon and completed mediation training required by the North Carolina Supreme Court for those seeking to serve as mediators for settlement conferences and other settlement procedures in North Carolina Superior Court civil actions. She also has worked as an assistant for a law firm in her native state.