House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway looks to quell a Democratic revolt over his draft farm bill, just a week before his panel’s planned votes on it, while ethanol producers step up their efforts to head off a cap sought by refiners on the prices of biofuel credits.

 

Also this week, Republican leaders hope to move an omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Critical for agriculture, the bill is expected to include an agreement between farmer cooperatives and other agribusiness companies to overhaul the co-ops' newly enacted tax benefit.

 

Details of the changes to the Section 199A tax deduction have not been announced, but sources say that co-ops will be treated similarly to the way they were under the old Section 199 provision that was repealed by the new tax law. Still, the benefits for selling to co-ops will be scaled back. In some cases, it may be more beneficial to sell to a co-op and in other cases it won’t, said one source familiar with the agreement.

 

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