Change proposed to U.S. ag trade committees

Change proposed to U.S. ag trade committees    The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative want to shift representatives from the planting seed industry from one Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) to another.
   This commodity comes under the ATAC for Trade in Tobacco, Cotton, Peanuts and Planting Seeds. The USDA and USTR want to move it to the ATAC for Trade in Grains, Feed and Oilseeds.
   'The justification for this structural change is that many of the issues that the GFO (Grains, Feed and Oilseeds) committee addresses, such as genetically modified organisms, new technologies and international negotiations, are common within the U.S. planting seeds industry,' the agencies said.
   The committees provide representatives of the private sector the opportunity to express their views on agricultural trade policy to the federal government.
   Comments related to the proposed changes are due to the USDA by Nov. 8. The Federal Register notice is available here.