Mar. 11: Today, the U.S. House of Representative’s Agriculture Committee held a hearing on agriculture sales to Cuba. Bart Schott, the National Corn Growers Association first vice president and a grower from Kulm, N.D., participated in the commodity panel’s discussion on increasing one-way exports to Cuba.

Mar. 10: With the 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference quickly approaching, the time to register is now. Over the coming weeks, chairs heading the 10 technical sessions will explain what attendees can expect to learn from their sessions during the conference. This week, Nathan Danielson, chair of the New Products and Revenue Streams Technical Session, talks about the learning opportunities that his session will offer.

Mar. 9: During Commodity Classic, U.S. Grains Council Chairman Rick Fruth and Senior Vice President of Operations and Industry Relations Keith Heffernan announced the tentative lineup of speakers for the upcoming Global Food Security Symposium, sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council.

Mar. 9: The National Corn Growers Association would like to remind growers of a significant enhancement in the federal crop insurance program as the March 15 sales closing date for federal crop insurance fast approaches. A national pilot program advanced by NCGA and adopted in the 2008 Farm Bill increases the federal government’s cost share of premiums for policies to better reflect the additional risk by producers who change from optional unit to enterprise unit policy coverage.

Mar. 5: At a news conference held March 2, before the opening of the FOODEX JAPAN trade show, U.S. Grains Council President and CEO Thomas C. Dorr joined the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and several Japanese food industry leaders to announce the upcoming “Partners in Agriculture” events.

Mar. 5: Agricultural Economist Jay Lehr passionately urged Commodity Classic General Session attendees to become strong advocates for agriculture in the face of ongoing attacks from groups such as the Humane Society of the United States, the Environmental Defense Fund and many others. Outlining the vehicles and messages that growers should use, Lehr pushed for the sustained advocacy efforts.