Senate Agriculture Committee Invites NCGA's Testimony on 'NASA' Proposal

NCGA President Lee Klein will testify before the Senate Agriculture Committee next Thursday, July 12. Klein will present testimony detailing our vision of the next farm bill, specifically, NCGA's counter-cyclical income support proposal, now formally known as the National Agricultural Security Act (NASA). Klein testified before the House Agriculture Committee on April 25. The Senate Agriculture Committee is only beginning the hearing process that its House counterpart completed this spring. Nevertheless, NCGA has been meeting with policymakers and briefing them on our NASA proposal.

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee Could Begin Work on Energy Legislation Next Week

The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Air and Energy may mark up a bill next week that contains provisions on boutique fuels. Hill sources have told NCGA that renewable fuels legislation will not be a part of the package of bills under consideration next week, but will most likely get subcommittee attention after the August recess. There is one development, however, that deserves vigilance by corn growers. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is threatening to introduce an amendment providing California with a waiver from the oxygenate requirement of the reformulated gasoline program. NCGA will continue to monitor this situation closely, and will communicate our opposition to subcommittee members regarding any such amendment.

Corn Growers' Legislative Agenda Goes into Maximum Overdrive

Even though Congress is out of town this week for the July 4th recess, corn growers must rise to the challenge of the busiest - and most portentous - legislative agenda they may ever face. Because, for the next three weeks beginning July 9, Congress and the Bush administration have scheduled an aggressive agenda that includes several issues that will affect the future of corn growers. For more details, go here.

NCGA Continues to Increase Use of Renewables with Ag Vision 2020

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), in cooperation with the Department of Energy (DOE), continues to focus on the Plant/Crop-Based Renewable Resources Vision 2020. Ag Vision 2020, funded in part by farmers who contribute to 20 state checkoff funds, is a broad-based partnership of agricultural, forestry and chemical industry experts working to create plant-based, renewable products that would replace petroleum-based consumer products as fossil-fuel supplies dwindle. For more information, go here.

NCGA Task Force Probes Agriculture's Future and Value Added Opportunities

The major forces driving U.S. agriculture, opportunities to influence those forces and ways corn growers can take advantage of upcoming changes in agriculture were the focus of the second meeting of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Future Ag Structure Task Force recently near Chestertown, Md. For more information on this story, go here.

NCGA Seeks a Lot, Not a Few, Good Members

An organization is only as strong as its members and, with a roster of nearly 31,000 growers, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is getting stronger every day. Representing the interests of the nation's corn growers to government, industry and international leaders, the NCGA is a force to be reckoned with in the grain industry. NCGA continues to seek prospective members with the start of its 2002 recruitment program, sponsored by Syngenta Seeds and Syngenta Crop Protection. A kick-off meeting for state association recruiters is scheduled for Sept. 19-20 in Minneapolis, Minn. "We are excited to have the two Syngenta divisions as our sponsors," said NCGA Membership Services Manager Byron Keelin. "We appreciate their continued commitment to the corn industry and the importance of membership in the organization that represents corn growers nationwide." For more details, go here.

Ihnen's Testimony Underscores NCGA Support for Renewable Fuels Legislation

"It is time for us to declare our energy independence" from foreign suppliers of petroleum and support passage of "The Renewable Fuels and Energy Security Act of 2001" (S.1006), according to Hurley, S.D., farmer Darrin Ihnen. As Vice President of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, Ihnen voiced support of this bill Thursday when he testified at a Senate Energy Committee field hearing on the bill in Sioux Falls, S.D. Sen. Tim Johnson (R-SD) scheduled the meeting, and he introduced the bill along with Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE). S. 1006 sets national standards for replacing energy used to power highway vehicles with renewable energy. Those standards call for ethanol comprising as much as 3 percent of all highway fuels by 2011 (9 billion gallons of ethanol) and as much as 5 percent by 2016 (16 billion gallons). For more on this story, go here.

China Poised to Enter World Trade Organization

A series of "major breakthroughs" have been achieved regarding China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). During talks held in Geneva the past week, China and WTO officials have resolved several obstacles to the country's accession into the organization. China's negotiator in those talks will remain in Geneva for another round of discussions next week. It appears the next step will occur at the WTO's ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, in November, when China's membership is officially endorsed. That development would enable China to become a full member early next year. China and the WTO reached agreement on issues such as agriculture, subsidies, patents and intellectual property rights and anti-dumping measures. Under WTO rules, developing nations have the right to subsidize 10 percent of agricultural output. But U.S. trade officials did not accept that figure for China, arguing that China was not a developing nation. Eventually, the United States and China reached an agreement whereby China could subsidize up to 8.5 percent of its ag output. Several other nations objected to the U.S.-China agreement, concerned it would enable the United States to demand even stricter subsidy terms on developing nations in the future. So they called for language in the final WTO agreement with China that the U.S.-China ag subsidy deal does not set a precedent. U.S. representatives rejected this language. The WTO will adopt language stating that agricultural subsidy agreements "are solely those of China and will not prejudice developing countries' existing rights or future negotiations."

NCGA Contributes to Energy Independence

Every July 4th, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) joins the rest of the nation in celebrating the founding of the most successful example of representative government in world history-the United States of America. Millions of citizens have fought and died to protect this nation. Despite the United States' status as the most powerful nation on earth, it has glaring vulnerabilities on an issue that is central to preserving the American way of life - energy. Because the United States imports nearly 60 percent of the petroleum used in refining gasoline, the American economy faces unacceptable risks concerning supply disruption and price escalation. "The energy crisis of the 1970s provided historical proof of how these threats can plunge the U.S. economy into a steep recession, and otherwise bring everyday activities we take for granted to a complete standstill," said Boyd Smith, chairman of the NCGA Ethanol Task Force, and a farmer from York, Neb. "These are among the reasons why President Bush considers U.S. energy policy to be a national security issue. Fortunately, our elected leaders have viable options that can reduce the vulnerabilities we face on energy." For more information, please go here.

Corn growers can let their voices be heard on a comprehensive energy policy that includes renewable fuels by contacting their congressional representatives. Letters can be sent directly to congressional representatives from the Legislative Action Center on the NCGA web site.

NCGA This Week

• July 9 Congressional reconvenes
• July 11 NCGA Director of Business Development Bob Sedlacek will attend a polyols project team meeting in Lansing, Michigan.
• July 12 NCGA President Lee Klein to testify before Senate Ag Committee on National Agricultural Security Act (NASA).
• July 14-17 Corn Congress, Washington D.C.

ST. LOUIS OFFICE

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE