IN THIS ISSUE:

• NCGA's Yoder Testifies Before Congress on RFS: Stresses Energy Security and Benefits to Rural America
• Determined Corn Growers Overcome Obstacles To Rally for Renewable Fuels Standard on Capitol Hill
• NCGA Leaders Discuss Key Grower Issues with Ag Secretary Veneman
• NCGA Urges House Leadership to Preserve 2002 Farm Bill
• NCGA Urges USDA to Consider Alternative for Valuing Crops
• NCGA Lays Groundwork for Future Energy Uses
• NCGA Notes Corn-Derived PLA Used in DVD Player

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REMINDER: Be sure to visit the "Of Special Interest" section at www.ncga.com <http://www.ncga.com> to view the photo album of the 2003 Commodity Classic!
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NCGA's Yoder Testifies Before Congress on RFS: Stresses Energy Security and Benefits to Rural America
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NCGA President Fred Yoder testified Thursday before the Senate Environment and Public Works' Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety about the importance of passing renewable fuels standard (RFS) legislation. Representing agricultural interests, Yoder spoke to the panel about the positive impacts a national RFS will have on the farm sector and rural America. Energy independence was a chief component of Yoder's testimony. With current world events foreshadowing the nation's energy security, Yoder emphasized the need for the use of ethanol.

When asked by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, subcommittee chair, how ethanol plants are funded, Yoder discussed farmer cooperatives and the need to expand incentives for smaller ethanol producers. Yoder encouraged extending current law to farmer cooperatives that allows small ethanol producers a 10-cents per gallon production income tax credit on up to 15 million gallons of annual production. Yoder explained, as it is now, the provision applies to all small ethanol producers except those organized as farmer cooperatives. Yoder concluded his testimony by discussing NCGA's position on the Highway Trust Fund. Of great interest to NCGA is the preservation of the tax incentive for those producers who blend ethanol with gasoline. Per Congress, refiners and gasoline marketers using 10 percent ethanol blends receive a 5.2 cent per gallon reduction from the tax paid on straight gasoline.

Determined Corn Growers Overcome Obstacles To Rally for Renewable Fuels Standard on Capitol Hill
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The world was literally hours away from war. The downtown section of Washington, D.C., was blocked off for 48 hours because a tobacco farmer, angry with the government, drove his tractor into a pond in Constitution Gardens. Security was extremely tight, and tensions were high. But members of NCGA remained undaunted in their push for a renewable fuels standard (RFS) as they wrapped up the NCGA RFS Rally with vigor and enthusiasm. Growers demonstrated their grassroots strength by converging on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon, meeting personally with congressmen and senators and urging them to pass a renewable fuels standard. Growers from several states also blanketed every House and Senate office with materials outlining the need for an RFS. Capping off the rally Wednesday morning was Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who said an RFS was the "right thing to do," especially given world conditions and the fact that the United States currently imports 60 percent of its oil - 25 percent from the Middle East. Hagel concluded by calling an RFS "A model for value-added opportunities for farmers." Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., also encouraged the grassroots to make their voices heard to Congress.

The Rally for RFS also received considerable media attention, with coverage by reporters from various print and broadcast new outlets. Mike Adams, host of AgriTalk, broadcast his show live from the Rally, interviewing Hagel, NCGA President Fred Yoder, Ethanol Committee Member Daryl Haack of Illinois, Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett, Director of Public Policy Mark Palmer and CEO Rick Tolman.

NCGA Leaders Discuss Key Grower Issues with Ag Secretary Veneman
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NCGA leaders met Wednesday with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Ann Veneman to discuss the renewable fuels standard (RFS), crop insurance, and the Future Structure of Agriculture. NCGA President Fred Yoder, President-Elect Dee Vaughan, Chairman Tim Hume, CEO Rick Tolman and Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett attended the Washington, D.C., meeting. The NCGA leaders quickly thanked Veneman for the flexibility she has shown in executing the farm bill. The group told the Secretary they appreciated provisions she has made that make way for a speedier and more successful implementation.

NCGA sent Veneman a letter earlier this week warning of producers being less likely to purchase crop insurance providing higher levels of coverage if the value used for benefits is not appropriately considered. Moving on to the RFS, NCGA's Yoder spoke about the success of the Rally held in Washington this week and the pressing need to pass RFS legislation. Veneman, an ardent supporter of renewable fuels, said she talks about the RFS everywhere she visits. She also encouraged NCGA members to visit with key members of the California congressional delegation who may thwart the legislation because they do not understand the benefits of the ethanol provision. Yoder also shared with Veneman the report from NCGA's Future Structure of Agriculture's Task Force.

NCGA Urges House Leadership to Preserve 2002 Farm Bill
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Joined by 11 national commodity organizations, NCGA Tuesday sent a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging Congress to preserve funding of the farm bill. The organizations expressed concerns with the House Budget Committee's decision last week requiring $19.7 billion be cut from agriculture, including farm bill programs. The organizations cited the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute's (FAPRI) recent annual baseline projection, which reported that farmers' income suffered a "dramatic one-year $13 billion dip in 2002." According to the groups, FAPRI is predicting prices for major crops, including corn, soybeans and wheat, will likely decline later this year. Analysts are projecting only modest gains for cotton, rice and peanuts. The groups are advocating the new counter-cyclical program, which they say plays a "crucial role in shoring up many financially stressed farm operations." Further, said the groups, an important reason for strengthening the direct payment and marketing loan assistance programs "was to stem the tide of unbudgeted ad hoc assistance.

Joining NCGA on the letter are: American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Barley Growers Association, National Cotton Council, National Grain Sorghum Producers, National Sunflower Association, Southern Peanut Farmers Federation, US Canola Association, US Rice Producers Association, USA Dry Pea and Lentil Council, and USA Rice Federation.

NCGA Urges USDA to Consider Alternative for Valuing Crops
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NCGA, along with 10 other organizations, encouraged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Monday to consider recommendations on disaster assistance benefits. The letter to USDA Secretary Ann Veneman urges the agency to use the net crop insurance indemnity payment to compute benefits as well as alternate options to determine crop values and disaster payments. The net crop insurance payment uses a calculation of indemnity, less producer paid premiums and fees. According to the letter, "Depending on how the crop is valued, producers with qualifying losses who purchased higher levels of crop insurance coverage and revenue products in 2001 or 2002 may not receive a disaster payment at all due to the benefit cap. This would send the wrong message to the producer, especially when the farmer is required to purchase crop insurance in the future." The letter warns of producers being less likely to purchase crop insurance providing higher levels of coverage if the value used for benefits is not appropriately considered. The organizations propose the higher of the following be used to value the crop:

(1) season average price;
(2) established marketing loan rate; or
(3) the highest guaranteed price in effect under the crop insurance policy, which the producer held on the crop in the year of the loss.

In addition to NCGA, groups signing the letter include: American Association of Crop Insurers, American Bankers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Soybean Association, Crop Insurance Research Bureau, Inc., Farm Credit Council, Independent Community Bankers of America, National Corn Growers Association, National Cotton Council, and National Farmers Union.

NCGA Lays Groundwork for Future Energy Uses
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NCGA Research and Business Development Action Team Vice Chair Clark Gerstacker and NCGA Director of Business Development and Corn Processing Research Rene Shunk were two of a handful of agricultural representatives who traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to plan for the next two decades of research. The two worked with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Biomass Programs as they looked toward new ways to generate energy and utilize more of the nation's renewable resources. Gerstacker and Shunk represented the corn industry at the event. Also involved were a handful of agribusinesses and commodity organizations. The Biomass Feedstock Colloquy, held Tuesday, was organized by DOE along with the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory in an effort to begin developing a plan to chart a course for upcoming studies. The harvest, transportation and storage of corn stover and wheat straw were at the heart of the discussions.

NCGA Notes Corn-Derived PLA Used in DVD Player
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When many people think of corn, they often focus on food items, such as tortilla chips and popcorn, or livestock feed -- but that's changing. NCGA is pleased to learn Japanese electronics producer Sony recently released two new environmentally friendly products to the marketplace in Tokyo. The items, a DVD player and a robotic pet, both contain parts made from polylactic acid (PLA), a corn-based polymer, manufactured by Cargill Dow.

Corn farmers have invested grants and checkoff funds from 20 grower states allowing NCGA to partner with Cargill Dow in researching PLA, which can be used for a number of non-traditional uses, such as fibers to make clothing and, in this case, plastics.

The DVD player features a front plastic component made from PLA, manufactured in Blair, Neb. Each DVD player uses 123 grams of PLA, equivalent to 0.0123 bushels of corn. Sony has also released a new version of AIBO, a robotic pet, featuring components made of PLA.

PLA is used for the front and back marker bases of the electric charger for the AIBO. That particular part is optional and uses 133 grams of PLA or 0.0133 bushels of corn. Sony also has a Walkman on the market featuring components made from PLA. For a comprehensive listing of products made from corn, search the Corn-based Products Guide on the NCGA web site at www.ncga.com.
--U.S. Grains Council assisted with this story

NCGA THIS WEEK
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• March 24-26 NCGA Vice President of Marketing Brian Stockman and Director of Development Tom Sluenecka will attend the Commodity Classic Corporate Planning meeting in Las Vegas.
• March 24-25 The NCGA Research and Business Development Action Team will meet in Decatur, Ill.
• March 27-28 The NCGA Grower Services Action Team will meeting in Las Vegas.

2003 National Corn Growers Association

ST. LOUIS OFFICE

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE