6 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2018 THE AMERICAN SEED TRADE ASSOCIATION’S (ASTA’s) 2018 federal priorities for the coming year fall within three broad categories – maintaining access to interna- tional markets through robust trade agreements, securing seed related priorities in the Farm Bill, and actively engaging with the administration as they work to reduce regulatory burdens. “The Trump Administration continues to move forward with its renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),” says Jane DeMarchi, ASTA vice president, govern- ment and regulatory affairs. “The current plan is to have the negotiations concluded by March 2018. NAFTA has been an extremely beneficial trade agreement for agriculture and the seed industry specifically. Collectively, the message to the Trump Administration regarding agriculture and NAFTA has been to ‘do no harm,’” DeMarchi says. It is important for members of the seed industry to communi- cate with their elected representatives how important trade with Canada and Mexico is for seed companies – which currently sell $600 million worth of seed to those markets. As the 115th Congress works throughout 2018 to craft a new Farm Bill, ASTA is playing an active role in sharing priorities that are important to the continued success of the seed industry and our grower customers. Priority Farm Bill Issues •  Commodity Programs: Maintain current language ensuring that program requirements do not adversely affect hybrid seed growers. •  Conservation Programs: ASTA advocates for investments in flexible and efficient conservation programs that provide producers the financial and technical assistance needed to conserve our nation’s most precious resource. “The U.S. seed industry plays a unique role in conserva- tion programs,” says ASTA President and CEO Andy LaVigne. “Whether farmers are enrolling acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), signing up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to promote wildlife habitat or other environmental benefits, or strengthening conservation efforts on working lands by implementing management activities through the Conservation Stewardship Program, all of these have at least one thing in common: a need for quality, profes- sionally produced seed,” according to LaVigne. ASTA Federal and State 2018 Priorities With the renegotiation of NAFTA and a new Farm Bill, ASTA is advocating for a viable and efficient regulatory system for the industry. Joe Funk jfunk@issuesink.com