NCGA Membership reaches new heights
Citing recent victories by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) as a key factor, Byron Keelin, NCGA's membership services manager, proudly announced membership for the corn grower organization is at an all-time high, with a national enrollment of 32,300 and rising.

"Our legislative successes have been key in increasing membership this year," he said. "NCGA has been instrumental in trade promotion authority passing, the renewable fuels standard being included in the nation's energy bill which is now in conference, and the passage of the farm bill. Congress sees NCGA as an ally in creating fair and consistent farm programs and that gives us a high level of legitimacy and respectability by the growers."

Strong programs and support of the NCGA Corn Board benefit all and help attract new members. "I also attribute the growth in membership to focused leadership from our Corn Board," continued Keelin. "Strong programs like the recent farm bill implementation meetings, the 'So You Want To Build An Ethanol Plant' meetings, the trade school, our distillers grains conferences, the National Corn Yield Contest (NCYC)...all of those have been key in attracting new members."

Membership is up more than 760 members in comparison to this time last year and up 374 members just in the last 30 days.

"I think it's fantastic," said NCGA Grower Services Action Team Chairman and Yuma, Colo., corn grower Scott Wall. "The fact we've gained that kind of support is great and we're going to continue to work to gain even more members."

Keelin said the recent surge in membership should continue to snowball and showcases NCGA as an organization with growers' rights as a priority. "Having the number of members we have--an historic number for us--especially in this time of national economic struggle and also with the drought conditions we're seeing, shows farmers recognize what NCGA is doing to promote new opportunities for them," he said. "They see membership in their state and national organizations as an investment."

The hard work put in by grower states and their recruiters has paid off and is one of the reasons for the high number. "Minnesota has done well and Ohio has done extremely well, having the largest increase in membership of any state. Missouri's membership is also at an all-time high right now. Iowa has done a great job; and Michigan has done well, winning our third-quarter recruitment award."

Ohio Corn Growers Association Executive Director Mike Wagner agrees with Keelin, saying legislative victories have been key in attracting new members. "I believe with what we've done nationally as far as passage of the farm bill and TPA has played a big role in increasing membership," he said. "We have an excellent board of directors who have done great work on our call-a-thons and have spent a lot of time and money getting the word out and it's paying off.

"The strength and success of NCGA policy and NCGA leaders has helped make all this possible," Wagner continued. "Without excellent people, we have nothing and we do have excellent people."

Keelin said even some of the smaller grower states have had a great recruitment year. "Tennessee won our second-quarter award this year," said Keelin, "so it shows even our small states are doing well with recruitment."

Affiliated State Association Membership Staff: