May 20, 2005 * Volume 12 * Number 19

NCGA's Mission: To Create and Increase Opportunities
for Corn Growers

This is Corn Commentary, the weekly newsletter for state and national grower leaders of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). For complete stories and updated NCGA information, visit www.ncga.com or the NCGA Leader Resource Center, www.insidencga.com.

IN THIS ISSUE:

· Highway Bill Extension to Delay WRDA Action, NCGA Notes
· Tumbleson Farm Becomes Ag Classroom this Weekend
· NCGA’s Tolman Talks Renewable Energy with World Ag Leaders
· Agriculture Coalition Calls on Congress to Increase U.S. Natural Gas Supply Now
· NCGA’s Schmalshof Testifies on Natural Gas Pricing Impacts on Corn Growers
· NCGA’s Doggett to Participate in Agribusiness Summit
· Bush Reaffirms Commitment to Renewable Fuels, NCGA Notes
· NCGA Urges Support of Lock Modernization in Letter to House Committee
· Senate Energy Policy Set for Markup This Week, Notes NCGA

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Highway Bill Extension to Delay WRDA Action, NCGA Notes
As the House and Senate are work out details of a seventh extension of federal highway and transit programs, introduction and mark up of the House Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) will be delayed, notes National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Director of Public Policy Lisa Kelley. (More On This Story)

Tumbleson Farm Becomes Ag Classroom This Weekend
For the better part of a month, students in Thad Tumbleson’s first grade class have been preparing for a weekend farm tour in Martin County, Minn. Yet it’s the students’ parents who are surprised at the education they receive. NCGA First Vice President Gerald Tumbleson and his family—wife Joanne and sons Thad, Trent and Trace—along with other farmers in the area will open their farms to provide a hands-on learning experience about agriculture. (More On This Story)

NCGA’s Tolman Talks Renewable Energy with World Ag Leaders
NCGA CEO Rick Tolman joined more than 200 agriculture leaders from around the globe at the World Agricultural Forum World Congress in St. Louis this week. Tolman was one of five industry panelists in a roundtable discussion on the successes of bioenergy. (More On This Story)

Agriculture Coalition Calls on Congress to Increase U.S. Natural Gas Supply Now
The Agriculture Energy Alliance, of which the NCGA along with 59 other farm groups and agribusinesses is a member, calls on Congress to enact comprehensive energy legislation that integrates the use and development of domestic natural gas and stabilizes natural gas prices. (More On This Story)

NCGA Corn Board member Theresa Schmalshof testifies today before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources on the impact high natural gas prices has on farmers. NCGA’s Schmalshof Testifies on Natural Gas Pricing Impacts on Corn Growers Explaining the impact high natural gas prices have on farmers, NCGA Corn Board member Theresa Schmalshof testified this week before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. (More On This Story) NCGA’s Doggett to Participate in Agribusiness Summit Technology and the future of agriculture is one of the featured topics at the Agribusiness in the 21st Century forum May 20 where NCGA Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett will join other government and business leaders in discussing how the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems will improve agriculture’s ability to meet accelerating world needs for food and fiber. (More On This Story) Bush Reaffirms Commitment to Renewable Fuels, NCGA Notes President George W. Bush reaffirmed his commitment to ethanol and biodiesel during a visit to the Virginia Biodiesel Refinery near West Point, Va., Monday. NCGA Director of Public Policy Samantha Slater and Virginia Corn Growers Association Executive Director Ellen Davis attended the event where Bush outlined a four-point strategy that includes domestic production of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel to "address the root causes of high gasoline prices." (More On This Story) NCGA Urges Support of Lock Modernization in Letter to House Committee In anticipation of markup of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2005, the NCGA sent letters this week to members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee urging support for lock modernization on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. (More On This Story) Senate Energy Policy Set for Markup This Week, Notes NCGA The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will begin marking up comprehensive energy legislation tomorrow, the NCGA notes. (More On This Story)

AROUND THE CORN BELT News from State Associations MINNESOTA: This week, as builders at Granite Falls Energy (GFE) raise a 130-foot concrete corn storage building at a rate of about a foot an hour, the 800 people who've invested in the plant know their dollars are going just a little further because GFE will owe no state sales tax on all those tons of concrete being poured. In fact, the plant will owe very little in taxes to the state through the end of 2015, thanks to the Job Opportunity Building Zone program, or JOBZ. Granite Falls and the just-completed Northstar Ethanol Plant in Lake Crystal are the two ethanol plants that have signed JOBZ contracts with the cities in which they are located. Several other plants have opted not to participate, or have not yet completed negotiations. NEBRASKA: The Nebraska Pork Producers Association and Nebraska Corn Board sponsored the Taiwanese trade team’s visit to Nebraska, in cooperation with the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). The team visited meat packing plants in Crete and Madison, as well as Waldo Farm of DeWitt, and the University of Nebraska Animal Science Department of Lincoln this week. The team was very impressed with what they saw regarding quality and safety. The Taiwanese meat buyers stated it was great to have U.S. beef back in Taiwan. Taiwan is also the second largest foreign market for U.S. Corn. Mark Jagels of Davenport, chairman of the Nebraska Corn Board stated they were pleased to help host this trade team and build long-term relations of mutual interest. Taiwan is an important market for Nebraska corn farmers, whether marketing pork, beef or corn. The Nebraska Corn Board made a special allocation of $100,000 to USMEF to help re-establish lost beef markets in Asia, and a portion of this contribution has been utilized in Taiwan. The market is beginning to come back quickly which is good news for Nebraska corn farmers.

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© 2005 National Corn Growers Association

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