IN THIS ISSUE:

• Ethanol Wins Big! Cox-Waxman Defeated
• Economic Assistance Package Goes Down to the Wire; Senate Passes House-Approved Package
• Army Corps of Engineers to Present Revised Environmental Plan for Water Controls for Missouri River
• NCGA Stresses Innovation in EPA's Proposed CAFOs Rules
• NCGA Applauds $10 Million Increase on Genome Research Funding
• Maintaining Land in Production Must be the Focus of the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill, NCGA Asserts
• Germplasm Research Receives $5 Million Increase
• NCGA/DOE AgVision Program Receives $18 Million Boost
• Roger Pine Represents NCGA at USDA's Agricultural Biotechnology Meeting
• NCGA Customer & Business Development Action Team Reviews Corn Checkoff-Funded Profit Opportunities
• Ten Additional Ethanol Plants Under Construction with More to Follow
• NCGA July Recruitment Campaign Ignites Fireworks in Five States
• Say "Cheese"...Digital Camera Awarded to Top August NCGARecruiter
• It's Time to Begin Planning for the 2001/2002 NCGA Action Team Appointments!
• NCGA This Week
• Corn Congress Photo Album

Ethanol Wins Big! Cox-Waxman Defeated

In a rare floor vote on an ethanol issue, the U.S. House of Representatives late this evening decisively defeated by a vote of 300 to 125 an amendment to the H.R. 4 offered by Reps. Cox (R-CA) and Waxman (D-CA) that would have given California a waiver from the RFG oxygen requirement. For more information on this story, go here.

Economic Assistance Package Goes Down to the Wire; Senate Passes House-Approved Package

Late Friday morning, the Senate agreed to pass H.R. 2213, the House-approved FY 2001 economic aid package that totals $5.5 billion. For more details, go here.

Army Corps of Engineers to Present Revised Environmental Plan for Water Controls for Missouri River

The Army Corps of Engineers Thursday released a statement that a Revised Environmental Impact Statement for the Missouri River Master Water Control Manual would be released at the end of August. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) has lead the bipartisan campaign to block the flow changes that could result in a "spring rise" in the river could cause floods and that an accompanying summer drawdown in the water level by several feet would threaten water supplies. For more details, go here.

NCGA Stresses Innovation in EPA's Proposed CAFOs Rules

In comments filed with the U.S. EPA's Office of Water on Monday, NCGA President Lee Klein cited several concerns corn growers have with a proposed rule that would apply to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). For more details on this story, go here.

NCGA Applauds $10 Million Increase on Genome Research Funding

The Senate Appropriations Committee, recently approved S. 1216, the VA, HUD & Independent Agencies appropriations bill for FY 2002. The bill includes $75 million, an increase of $10 million, for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Plant Genome Initiative that was established several years ago at the request of the National Corn Growers Association. For more information, go here.

DID YOU KNOW??
http://www.ncga.com provides a daily State News Roundup summary section. Read the latest news from state corn grower associations and state promotion boards.

Maintaining Land in Production Must be the Focus of the Conservation Title of the Farm Bill, NCGA Asserts

In testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee this week, NCGA President Lee Klein, said the conservation title of the next farm bill "should focus more on conservation practices of land in production, rather than conservation programs that take land out of production." For more information on this story, go here.

Germplasm Research Receives $5 Million Increase

Last week, the Senate Appropriations committee included an increase of $5 million for the USDA's National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) in its version of the FY 2002 agricultural appropriations bill. The NPGS collects, preserves, evaluates, and distributes germplasm that is essential for the development of new corn hybrids and other plant varieties. For more details, go here.

NCGA/DOE AgVision Program Receives $18 Million Boost

On July 19, 2001, the full Senate approved its version of the FY 2002 energy & water appropriations bill. The bill included $18 million for the DOE Bioenergy/Bioproducts integrated initiative. For more information on this story, go here.

Roger Pine Represents NCGA at USDA's Agricultural Biotechnology Meeting

Roger Pine, past NCGA President and Lawrence, Kan., grower, represented NCGA at the 5th meeting of USDA's Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology (ACAB) this week. Participants at the ACAB meeting reported the following results: achieved consensus on a soon-to-be-published document regarding the public plant breeding program; set long-term priorities for USDA's FY 2003 budget; and discussed issues associated with gene flow. Former USDA Secretary Dan Glickman, for the purpose of providing the department direction on current and potential agricultural biotechnology issues, initiated the ACAB meetings. ACAB meetings will apparently continue under the current administration, with the next ACAB meeting expected early next year.

NCGA Customer & Business Development Action Team Reviews Corn Checkoff-Funded Profit Opportunities

NCGA Corn Congress is always a busy event. Held twice a year, it is a time for NCGA officers and NCGA's 125 farmer-representatives of Corn Congress to discuss and take action on issues pertinent to the nation's corn growers. Key elements of Corn Congress are the NCGA Action Team meetings. The Customer and Business Development Action Team, along with the other three Action Teams -- Grower Services, Production and Stewardship, and Public Policy -- are an important part of the decision-making process for NCGA leadership, said Gerald Tumbleson, Corn Board liaison and Sherburn, Minn., farmer. For more information, go here.

Ten Additional Ethanol Plants Under Construction with More to Follow

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) today congratulated the farmers who invested in Dakota Ethanol LLC to make South Dakota's fourth ethanol production facility a reality. The farmer-owned cooperative will host a grand opening and ribbon cutting tomorrow in Wentworth to mark the start of production at the 40 million gallon per year plant. Broin and Associates, a South Dakota company, built the plant. A leader in ethanol technology, Broin designs, builds, and manages ethanol facilities throughout the country. "Dakota Ethanol is the latest example of the ethanol industry expanding to meet growing demand," said Bob Dinneen, president of the RFA. "We congratulate the farmer-owners of Dakota Ethanol and thank them for their commitment to the record breaking expansion taking place in the ethanol industry today." Since 1999, more than a dozen ethanol production facilities have opened and six major expansions to existing facilities were completed. Today, 57 ethanol plants can produce over 2 billion gallons per year. There are ten additional ethanol plants under construction with a combined annual capacity of 205 million gallons, 34 existing companies undergoing expansion totaling 235 million additional gallons, and dozens of additional proposed production facilities across the country in various stages of development, engineering and financing. At least two of these plants will begin construction this month. Annual ethanol production capacity is expected to reach 3.5 billion gallons during 2003. "Clearly the ethanol industry is rising to the challenge," said Dinneen. "We are building and expanding plants at a record pace. We are breaking monthly ethanol production records. And the pace is only going to pick up over the next two years. With the demand for safe, domestic energy growing, ethanol is playing a larger role in our nation's energy policy from coast to coast. That's good news for farmers, consumers, and the environment." For more information about ethanol, visit the NCGA website. For more information about RFA, visit their website.

NCGA July Recruitment Campaign Ignites Fireworks in Five States

While America celebrated its birthday with fireworks and picnics, the hard working recruiters continued their work in increasing the voice of NCGA. NCGA membership increased by 239 members in the month of July. Kudos go out to Illinois who increased their membership by 102 members, to South Dakota who increased their membership by 81 members, to Minnesota and Maryland who increased their membership by 20 each and to Iowa who increased their membership by 19. NCGA would also like to congratulate the four winners of the July Recruitment Campaign Prize Month.

The winners of the palm pilots were:

• Leslie Roach - Warrior Division - 345 new members, 1305 points
• Polk Glover - Force Division - 32 new members, 101 points
• Richard Harer - NCGA Division - 28 new members, 149 points
• Myron Peterson - Surpass Division - 141 new members, 546 points

Say "Cheese"...Digital Camera Awarded to Top August NCGA Recruiter

It's not to late to get involved in recruiting. For the month of August, members will have the opportunity to win an Olympus digital camera. The top recruiter in each division will be awarded a digital camera if they have recruited a minimum of 12 new members between August 1 and August 31, 2001. For more information about being a recruiter, call your state association or NCGA at www.ncga.com.

It's Time to Begin Planning for the 2001/2002 NCGA Action Team Appointments!

NCGA is in the process of contacting all current NCGA Action Team members asking if they would like to continue their service into 2001/2002, if selected. Letters are also being sent to state organizations offices to obtain applications from persons interested in future service on a Team.

Timeline:

• August 3--Mailings to current Action Team Members and to state offices
• September 7--Applications are due into Kathy at the NCGA/St. Louis office
• September 24 (week of)--Team appointments by 2001/2002 president (Tim Hume)
• October 1 (week of)--Announcement of teams and notification to all applicants.

Please watch your mail for "AT" information, and if you have any questions
about teams, service or applications, feel free to call me at the numbers
noted below. Thanks!

NCGA THIS WEEK

• Aug. 3-Sept. 6 Congressional Recess
• Aug. 9 NCGA meets with the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal to discuss ethanol issues

ST. LOUIS OFFICE

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE