In May of 2022, the SC General Assembly passed H.1117 which expanded and modified the South Carolina Grain Producers Guaranty Fund. The Fund was expanded from 5 Million Dollars to 25 Million Dollars and added cotton lint as a covered commodity.
As far as cotton. Cotton ginned in the state will have 50 cents per bale collected at the gin. This is a similar collection to the Commodity Board, classing, ginning and other fees that the gin already collects. A producer may opt out but none of the cotton that producer grows will be available for recovering losses. Caution: The producer that opts out for some years and back in for others will be paid on a pro-rated basis for any losses.
Whoever writes a check to the producer for the purchase of lint will need to be licensed as a Dealer/Handler. This license comes with a bonding requirement. This is NOT related to warehousing. This is completely separate from any (state or federal) licensing or bonding for your warehouse.
All gins will need to collect the $.50 per bale. If you are a Dealer/Handler it will be part of that license. If you do not write a check to producers for lint, you can register as a non-purchasing gin and collect the assessment and remit it as part of that registration. All gins will be in one of those two categories. All gins should have been contacted by the state at this point to obtain the dealer/handler license or register.
Please see the links below for more information. Please contact us or John Stokes for additional information as well.
MEMO to all Gins From SCDA September 14, 2022
Dealer / Handler License Application Form
DSF