The influence of staff and interested third parties, such as agribusinesses, have kept NCGA operating at full tilt since 1984, even during busy planting and harvest seasons.

"Decisions are made faster now than even 10 years ago," says Hal Smedley, former executive director, Colorado Corn Administrative Committee. "The old structure was inadequate to deal with today's regulations and policies. We used to be able to deal with one major issue each year. Now we deal with all of them every year."

With the move to St. Louis in 1984, NCGA hired Jeff Gain as chief executive officer. Aided by the St. Louis Agribusiness Club, Monsanto Company and others, NCGA subleased office space from Pfizer at 1000 Executive Parkway in St. Louis. Monsanto helped finance the arrangement, even providing used furniture from their warehouse. NCGA occupied two suites until 1988, and then moved to its current location on the lower level with expanded office space to accommodate additional staff.

At this time, Varel Bailey, NCGA first vice president and a corn grower from Anita, Iowa, was leading a trade policy mission to Europe to protest the quota on U.S. corn gluten feed. Trip sponsor A.E. Staley created packets for the group sporting an "NCGA corn logo." Gain later asked Staley officials for permission to use the artwork on letterhead. The logo was swiftly adopted and is still in use by NCGA today.

By 1984, NCGA membership had climbed to more than 12,000 and dues averaged $30 per year, of which NCGA received $15. Between 1984-85, seven states had passed checkoffs and signed agreements with the NCDF and NCGA to fund and implement programs.

"NCDF lets farmers put their money where their mouth is," noted Nancy Heidemann, NCDF president 1988-89. "Every dollar spent must reflect the needs and goals of farmers who contributed it. Corn as an industrial feed stock is inexpensive, abundant, renewable and environmentally benign. What a combination!"

On the association side, the 1985 Farm Bill became the focus of policy discussions. NCGA members began receiving a monthly Corn Grower newsletter rather than a magazine, so timely information on such issues could be relayed. In addition, Colorado introduced the first ethanol legislation to be viewed as a carbon monoxide reduction strategy, and a USFGC/NCGA trade policy committee was formed to pursue international issues. NCGA moved its Washington office in 1987to 201 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E.

The mid-1980s also marked more prominent participation from agribusinesses. Ciba-Geigy Corporation funded the Leadership Development Program in 1985, becoming the first industry partner since NCGA opened its St. Louis office. Known now as the Novartis leadership program, it is the longest standing industry partnership with NCGA. The following year, FMC Corporation agreed to sponsor the newsletter and Dow Chemical Company became the national membership contest sponsor. The National Corn Utilization Project was co-sponsored by Funk Seeds International. The flurry of funding helped boost NCGA's industry partner roster from 19 companies to 47 in just two years.

Growth continued to follow NCGA as the decade progressed, too. The NCYC winners produced an average 246.69 bushels per acre in 1987, with more than 2,500 growers from 45 states participating. NCGA membership surpassed 15,000. More communications pieces were introduced, including Corn News Today daily radio spots, Corn Scene for industry partners and the World of Corn. NCGA renamed their annual meeting "Corn Classic", in 1987 and the first ever Corn Utilization Conference (CUC) was held with nearly 240 representatives from 23 states and several foreign countries. "Anything that can be made from a barrel of petroleum can be made from a bushel of corn," became a frequently-used phrase.

In fact, new uses for corn became a primary focus for the organization in 1988. "New uses for agricultural crops are not about agriculture. They're about the environment and other issues," observed then NCGA Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gain. Degradable plastics promotion began, including a joint project between NCGA, FFA and ICI Americas. Known as the "Corn in the Bag" fund-raiser, 8,300 FFA chapters sold starch-based garbage bags. While the technology was determined not to be ready for commercialization, NCGA made strides in learning about how to market new corn uses and helped found the Degradable Plastics Council.

Meanwhile, the 1988 drought was front page news as NCGA geared up for 1990 Farm Bill discussions. Ethanol was also more prominent. NCGA hired a full-time ethanol staff person who worked to retain ethanol's federal tax credit and to gain favorable inclusion in the Clean Air Act. Colorado's Oxy Fuels Program took the lead on ethanol. Once ethanol got in the marketplace, it sold itself.

Such issues helped draw more growers to NCGA. Membership broke records for nine years in a row, reaching more than 22,000 in 21 states by the late 1980s. Corn Classic attendance grew, with some 1,650 people attending the first-ever winter meeting in St. Louis, Mo. Agribusiness support reached $1.2 million by the end of the '80s, and Gain says, "We couldn't have done it without them."

The end of the decade also marked another turning point for the organization. During a controversial policy session, NCGA delegates narrowly voted down a proposal to pursue a national checkoff. Instead, corn growers became the driving force behind such efforts as the Alternative Agriculture Research and Commercialization (AARC) subtitle of the 1990 Farm Bill and worked on the Clean Air Act to promote the ethanol market. Membership during the 1989-90 year reached 25,684 in 45 states.

To kick off the 1990s, NCGA completed a management study and long-range planning process and worked to expand its presence and influence. For example, NCGA ran a full-page ad in USA Today to stem the tide of negative stories on degradable plastics. NCGA also expanded its reach to non-members by inserting the National Corn Grower newsletter quarterly in Corn Farmer magazine to reach 75,000 producers. By the mid 90s electronic communication via DTN expanded NCGA's exposure.

Consumers also got a closer look at NCGA when the association in 1991 and 1992 participated as one of the seeds in the "Seeds of Change" exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. The display was visited by an estimated two million people during its two-year run. The exhibit, along with new uses efforts, began to attract the attention of major national publications and wire services.

NCGA continued its outreach to urban, non-farm audiences with a proactive media campaign the following year that earned the June 1993 National Geographic cover story. The 500-year flood was the big news, followed by food, seed and industrial uses outpacing exports for the first time in history. NCGA also made history by joining with Pioneer Hi-Bred International to develop Corn Vision 2020, a strategic plan for the next 30 years.

Growers made the record books again in 1994, when more than 10 billion bushels of corn were produced. In order to help that extra corn find a home, NCGA worked with USFGC to promote corn exports and seek liberalized trade pacts. Curriculum kits were created for fourth grade classrooms, teaching an estimated 348,000 school children and their families about corn and its many uses. NCGA reached 30,000 members in 47 states by 1994.

This year began the service of Christine Wehrman as chief executive officer (CEO). With more than 20 years of administrative and association management experience, Wehrman became the seventh chief executive of the national association. Under her leadership, NCGA grower leaders and industry created a vision for the corn industry; defined NCGA mission to create and increase opportunities for corn growers in a changing world; and developed a strategic plan for the association. NCGA began to address corn as a product and NCGA as an integral part of the corn value chain within the corn industry.

Guided by Wehrman, NCGA restructured staff responsibilities to better reflect grower and member state needs as well as the needs of the corn market. The new NCGA in 1998 was combined NCGA and NCDF into one organization, as a way to involve more members and their states in the decision-making process. Under the new structure, growers serve in three new organizational bodies: as delegates of Corn Congress to help set overall direction for NCGA; on Corn Action Teams to address specific issues and programs; and 15 members serve on the Corn Board, which manages day-to-day activities for the new NCGA and oversees and implements programs and policies. The new structure will help states and members be more responsive in a quickly changing, more complex world than existed when NCGA was formed in 1957. Membership reached an all-time high of 30,963 in 1998.

"The organization is more effective with the action teams and is able to respond to market trends more quickly with a smaller, more focused board," says Mike Wagner, executive director, Ohio Corn Growers Association. "The Washington office is the strongest ever."

NCGA celebrated major ethanol success in 1998 when Congress approved a transportation bill extending the ethanol tax incentive through 2007. Economists estimate ethanol now adds up to 43 cents to the value of each bushel of corn sold, regardless of whether tat bushel is used in ethanol.

Current NCGA programs reflect the organization's success as well. The annual meeting in the 1960s became Corn Classic in the 1980s and evolved into Commodity Classic in 1996. A highly-successful and visible meeting, Corn Classic reached its highest attendance and trade show growth potential in the mid-1990s. NCGA took its interest in expanding educational opportunities, the trade show and entertainment to the American Soybean Association (ASA). The groups decided to join together their conventions in the early 1990s to form Commodity Classic, which is today managed by NCGA with oversight by a joint NCGA/ASA grower committee. Since its inception, the joint conference has annually attracted over 3,600 attendees and about 150 industry exhibitors, and is another example of the success NCGA has achieved over the years.