IN THIS ISSUE:

• NCGA Commends Senate's Quick Passage of Farm Bill
• NCGA National Corn Yield Contest is Underway
• Ethanol Opponent's Flawed Theories Shot Down Again
• Corn Industry to Benefit from 2002 CUTC
• Product Sits in Port after Russia Lifts Poultry Ban
• Corn Board Candidate Richard Peterson Builds Campaign on Knowledge, Experience

This is Corn Commentary, the monthly newsletter for state and national
grower leaders of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) available via
the U.S. Postal Service. Updated NCGA information is always available
online at http://www.ncga.com.

EACH WEEK, CORN COMMENTARY WILL FEATURE PROFILES OF EACH OF THE PERSPECTIVE CORN BOARD MEMBERS SEEKING ELECTION DURING THIS SUMMER'S CORN CONGRESS. THE REMAINING SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS:
MAY 10-RICHARD PETERSON
MAY 17-KEN MCKAULEY
MAY 24-SCOTT WALL
MAY 31-CAL DALTON

NCGA Commends Senate's Quick Passage of Farm Bill
After two days of debate, the U.S. Senate approved the farm bill, 64 to 35, Wednesday afternoon. The bill, which will boost commodity program support and will raise conservation spending by 80 percent, now goes to the president's desk for his already promised signature. Once enacted, the legislation will:

• Increase direct payments for corn to 28 cents per bushel over the next six years.
• Include a new target-priced based countercyclical payment program, which will reduce U.S. agriculture's dependence on emergency assistance packages. NCGA has promoted the countercyclical payment program as essential to protecting farm income at times of depressed prices and adverse crop production.
• Increase conservation program spending to a projected $13.2 billion over the next 10 years.
• Increase the marketing loan rate for corn five percent to $1.98 per bushel, the first increase since the mid-1990s. After two years, the loan rate will be adjusted downward to $1.95 per bushel. At the same time, the target price for corn in the countercyclical program will rise from $2.60 per bushel to $2.63 per bushel.

The new bill, according to a recent analysis by the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute, projects an increase in annual net farm income by an average of $3.8 billion. Conservation programs will contribute an estimated $0.7 billion per year. Once the president signs the legislation into law, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will turn to the difficult task of implementing the new policies and programs over the next few months.

DID YOU KNOW??
http://www.ncga.com is the premier source for information regarding Biotechnology, Ethanol, Trade, Transportation, Research and Business Development and Farm Bill Policy.

NCGA National Corn Yield Contest is Underway
The 2002 NCGA National Corn Yield Contest is underway, with the initial deadline for entries set for June 15, 2002. For the last four consecutive years, the CYC has been the playground of Manchester, Iowa, corn grower Francis Childs, who won last year with a record-breaking yield of 408.2 bushels per acre.

Last year, more than 3,200 growers from 45 states entered the contest. The resulting top yields from farmers who placed first, second and third in the respective categories ranged from 408.2 to 224.8 bushels per acre. Once again, NCGA has incorporated additional questions into the entry form regarding entrants' non-contest corn production. This limited information will allow NCGA to demonstrate that its contest entrants are not only outstanding farmers, but are committed stewards to the land.

Winners of this year's NCYC will be announced Dec. 15 and honored at the 2003 Commodity Classic, the combined convention and trade show of the NCGA and the American Soybean Association (ASA), Feb. 27-March 1 in Charlotte, N.C. Along with national recognition, winners may receive prizes from participating seed and crop protection companies.

Deadlines for entries and fees are June 15, $50; July 1, $60; and Aug. 1, $80. Entry forms are located on the NCGA website at http://www.ncga.com/02profits/CYC/main/index.html. More information is available by calling NCGA at 636-733-9004.

Ethanol Opponent's Flawed Theories Shot Down Again
Dr. David Pimentel, an entomologist (a scientist who studies bugs) from Cornell University, has received lots of media focus lately on his flawed analysis of ethanol and ethanol production. At the same time, there are people lining up with facts in hand awaiting their turn to prove Pimentel wrong.

The NCGA, which has long been refuting Pimentel's assertions, was pleased to see Pimentel's faulty analysis shot down again, this time by Dr. Rob Horsch, a plant biologist and vice president of product and technology cooperation for Monsanto, during a meeting at USDA-sponsored by the National Research Council Horsch said during the question and answer session of the "Science and Conservation Colloquium: Farm Bill Opportunities and Challenges" meeting Pimentel began criticizing ethanol as a renewable resource, saying it takes more energy to create ethanol than it produces. This has been a consistent element of Pimentel's thesis, but it is based on inaccurate analysis of data. Scientists trained in engineering and economics agree that ethanol has a positive energy balance.

"I got up to the microphone immediately after his comments, and challenged his analysis," said Horsch "I have looked at a variety of sources on ethanol sources and am aware there are opinions (on the matter) other than his that the audience should know about. The best figures I have looked at have shown a net positive contribution of ethanol from corn.

"I went on to say there were other reasons to support ethanol besides it being energy positive, such as national security and clean air benefits," he continued. "He rebutted by saying if ethanol were such a great energy source, it would not be subsidized and the only reason we have ethanol as a fuel source is because it is subsidized. He also said how the USDA projections completely ignored the energy used to grow the corn that is turned into ethanol."

Horsch went on to explain to Pimentel that all forms of new energy are subsidized as part of the alternative fuels program. Horsch also reminded Pimentel of the entomologist's wish for gasoline prices to jump to $10 per gallon and pointed out to him gas prices do not have to rise anywhere near that price to be economically viable. It was also noted the petroleum industry has and continues to receive generous subsidies and that ethanol will continue to become more and more competitive even if imported oil prices do not rise in the near term.

Horsch has been filling his cars with ethanol-supplemented gasoline for years and is a strong supporter of such new, better and more efficient technologies. "I wanted to make sure that everyone in the audience knew that there more recent studies than the one Dr. Pimentel was sighting, so I just got up and publicly challenged him and made sure the audience knew there were other sources of information out there that came to very different conclusions.

"It just irks me," he concluded, "because a lot of people in the audience probably didn't know much about ethanol and if all they hear are Pimentel's theories, that's what they'll go away believing."

For NCGA's official rebuttal of Pimentel's research, visit the NCGA website at http://www.ncga.com/ethanol/pdfs/EthanolfFuelsRebuttal.pdf.

Corn Industry to Benefit from 2002 CUTC
Corn growers, corn refiners and researchers will all benefit from knowledge and relationships gained at the 2002 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC) by exploring the growing role of corn in sustaining the environment. Just around the corner, CUTC will be held June 3-5, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo. NCGA and the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) are teaming up again to host this important event. The conference will be opened with a keynote address by Jean-Marie Peltier, Counselor to the EPA Administrator on Agriculture Policy. Technical sessions during CUTC will highlight biotechnology, resource conservation, supply chain management, operations technologies, opportunities and threats for corn growers and refiners, and corn as the feedstock of the future.

The CUTC also features exhibits of corn processing equipment and technology and poster presentations on the latest research related to corn and corn processing. A golf tournament sponsored by conference exhibitors is also planned.

For the first time, CUTC will offer first, second and third place Outstanding Poster Awards. The poster awards will encourage new research of interest to corn growers and the corn wet milling industry.

For 2002 CUTC registration information contact NCGA's Sandra Wright at
636-733-9004 (ext. 119), or by e-mail: wright@ncga.com.

For information on 2002 CUTC exhibit and sponsorship opportunities, please contact CRA's Melanie O'Donnell at 202-331-1634, or by e-mail: modonnell@corn.org.

2002 CUTC agenda and registration information will be updated regularly on the web at http://www.corn.org/web/program.htm.

DID YOU KNOW??
http://www.ncga.com provides a complete guide to state web sites and contact
information. Click the drop-down listing on the front page to visit state web sites.

Product Sits in Port after Russia Lifts Poultry Ban
Russia lifted the month-old ban on U.S. poultry April 15, but introduced stricter requirements. During the next two to three months, Russia still will not be accepting chicken exports from the states of North Carolina, Virginia, Maine and Pennsylvania, where Russian inspectors found diseased chicken. That ban will remain in place for another six months. In addition, 14 U.S. poultry plants that had exported salmonella-tainted chicken to Russia will be banned from the Russian market. The plants have not been identified.

Russia is expected to demand that U.S. producers conduct gene analyses, antibiotics analyses and other tests. It is also expected that Russian agricultural officials also would place stricter requirements on Russian food importers, the conditions of the poultry's storage and its transportation.

Russian officials applied the ban after complaining about sanitary conditions in U.S. plants, including salmonella contamination and the use of antibiotics and feed additives in chicken production. More provisions of the draft protocol include limitations on the use of feeds from grains improved through biotechnology.

Russia's State Veterinary Service warned Monday it might re-impose a ban on poultry imports from the United States if health safety standards agreed between the two countries deteriorate again.

Chicken is the top U.S. export to Russia, bringing in $600 million to $700 million a year to producers in 38. states. What does this mean to corn growers? The poultry exported to Russia eat close to 2 million tons of corn per year. That's 35,714 bushels or about 260 acres of corn. Poultry in the United States consume nearly 15.3% of the annual corn crop and co-products of industrial processing.

Corn Board Candidate Richard Peterson Builds Campaign on Knowledge, Experience
Having served on the NCGA Corn Board for the past three years, Richard Peterson of Minnesota brings knowledge and experience with him for this summer's elections to be conducted during Corn Congress in Washington, D.C. "I would like to continue my service with the Board," said Peterson, "because I believe in NCGA and I believe in what we're trying to accomplish. I believe NCGA should continue to be a grassroots organization with growers' best interests in mind."

Peterson and his wife, Kathy, own a family farm operation in Mountain Lake, Minn. Along with his brother Eugene, he raises corn and soybeans, and has farmed for 38 years on the farm their grandfather settled in the late 1800s. In addition to his stint on the Corn Board and his role as Board Liaison to the Grower Services Action Team, he has served the Minnesota Corn Growers in many leadership positions, including treasurer, vice president and president.

Peterson got his start with the corn growers with the original Jackson County (Minn.) Corn Growers Association, and around 1990, he was asked to join the state association, which, in turn, led to his work with NCGA. Over the years, he has spent a substantial portion of time working on building membership in his state and national organizations. "I feel that membership and leadership development are very important to the organization," said Peterson. "I've recruited many members over the past 10 years and have participated in many of the leadership programs. "I also believe in the importance of public policy," he concluded, "and supporting our checkoff-funded research programs to create new uses for corn. I truly believe programs like these will keep NCGA the nation's leading farm organization."

NCGA THIS WEEK

• May 13-15 Tolman and NCGA Vice President of Marketing Brian Stockman will be in Dallas attending the State Executives Meeting
• May 16-17 NCGA Membership Services Manager Byron Keelin will be in Santee, S.C., attending the South Carolina Corn and Soybean Association Meeting
• May 17 Slunecka will be meeting with Taiwanese biotech representatives in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS OFFICE

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE