IN THIS ISSUE:

• NCGA, USGC Officials See Positive Shift in European Attitudes on Biotechnology
• 2002 CUTC an International Success
• NCGA Voices Economic Importance of Mississippi River
• Ethanol, Renewable Fuels Standard Victories Touted at CUTC
• NCGA’s Yoder Talks Biotech at CUTC
• CUTC Begins with Positive Message from EPA’s Peltier

NCGA, USGC Officials See Positive Shift in European Attitudes on Biotechnology

NCGA and U.S. Grains Council (USGC) officials who are in Europe on a biotechnology fact-finding mission report a positive shift -- albeit slow -- in European attitudes regarding biotechnology.

“Most of the people we have been meeting with in the European Union indicate an understanding of the science behind biotechnology, and they are optimistic,” said NCGA President Tim Hume. “While we have not been meeting with consumer groups, we are seeing slow movement towards consumer acceptance, which hasn’t been the case in the past.”

Hume noted that most of the people the U.S. group has met with in the Netherlands and France are positive about biotechnology, but other forces, such as Green Peace, are still influencing public opinion.
The U.S. delegation arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday and began their series of meetings in Holland Monday morning.

Those meetings included:

Exploring opportunities for biotechnology in Europe with grocery manufacturer representatives from Unilever;

Discussions with representatives from Het Comite’, the Netherlands feed manufacturers association, on the impact of U.S. gluten feed and the possibility of importing distillers dried grains (DDGS) with increased U.S. ethanol production;

Dialogue with representatives from Royal Ahold, which owns grocery interests worldwide, including Giant Supermarkets on the East Coast;

Discussions with Dutch Ambassador Sobel and U.S. Agricultural Counselor Phil LeTarte on Ambassador Sobel’s placement of biotechnology as a top state department issue in the European Union.

Monday evening, the U.S. team flew to Paris in preparation for meetings Tuesday with French farm journalists, who questioned the group on biotechnology in the United States as well as the positions NCGA and USGC have on biotechnology. They also met with officials from AGPM, the French corn growers association, who also are positive about biotechnology and, according to Hume, are very public about their position despite the risk of going against popular opinion.

The delegation’s French itinerary also included a meeting with high-ranking officials from the French Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Rural Affairs.

“We discussed their position on biotechnology and opportunities to help influence consumer opinion, as well as labeling legislation currently in debate in European government,” said Hume. “Food labeling is already in place in Europe with other agricultural practices, so it’s not new to European consumers if biotech labeling does become law.”

U.S. officials noted that Europeans already consume bread, wine and cheese that contain biotech ingredients.

On Wednesday, the delegation traveled to rural France, where they toured a European seed distribution center, small and large corn farms, a local marketing cooperative as well as a cooperative that supplies final farm products to consumers. Later in the week, they traveled to Madrid, Spain, for more meetings with EU representatives.

In addition to Hume, the delegation includes NCGA Biotech Working Group member Jerry Ploehn (Alpha, Minn.) and Corn Board member Dee Vaughan (Dumas, Texas); USGC President and CEO Ken Hobbie and USGC Chairman Donald Jacoby.

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DID YOU KNOW??

http://www.ncga.com will be providing a Farm Bill Calculator in the weeks to come. NCGA’s calculator was put together with the help of growers all over the country to supply you with a better understanding of the benefits provided to you by the Farm Bill! A downloadable version is planned as well as implementation meetings throughout the country this summer. Watch this space for further updates!

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2002 CUTC an International Success

Understanding the future of America's number one crop is a topic of international interest. Researchers and industry professionals from 12 nations joined nearly 500 attendees this week at the 2002 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference (CUTC) in Kansas City, Mo.

The conference, hosted by the NCGA and the Corn Refiners Association (CRA), provided a prime outlet for corn growers and refiners to discuss developments in biotechnology, supply management, resource conservation, operations technologies and new and developing uses for corn.

International delegates were able to learn of the U.S. government's support for the U.S. corn industry first hand. Jean-Mari Peltier, counselor to the administrator on agriculture policy for the EPA, welcomed attendees to the conference. Peltier discussed advances in corn-related research, the Bush administration's support of biotechnology and how the value-added success of ethanol are indicators of a positive direction the nation's corn growers and corn refiners are taking.

Technical sessions during CUTC highlighted 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 conference also featured exhibits of corn processing equipment and technology and poster presentations on the latest research related to corn and corn processing. Winners of the student poster contest were: Fenguki Li, Iowa State University, first place; Eliza M. Tsui, University of Illinois, second place; Yulin Ji, Iowa State University, third place.

NCGA Voices Economic Importance of Mississippi River

A new dimension in a Jefferson National Expansion Memorial park ranger’s tour might now include reinforcing the importance of updating the Mississippi River lock and dam system. The nation’s rivers are a key avenue for the nation’s farmers to transport their product, and one of the most utilized river systems in the nation is the Upper Mississippi River

NCGA Director of Production and Marketing Paul Bertels recently instructed St. Louis-area park rangers on the economic importance of the Mississippi during a three-day session at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch). The Arch is located in downtown St. Louis on the bank of the Mississippi.

“Approximately 4 million visitors tour the Arch annually,” said Bertels, “and the rangers frequently answer questions concerning the river and barge traffic. The purpose of my trip was to provide information to the rangers concerning not only barge traffic, but also issues such as the need for new locks and dams, so they can provide factual information to tourists and river enthusiasts.

“If only 10 percent of the people who visit ask a question about the river,” he continued, “that’s 400,000 people who are going to hear our message and go away realizing the importance of the river to the nation’s corn growers.”

River transportation provides the least expensive mode of moving grain to world markets. Every year, more than 1.2 billion bushels of corn pass the Arch in barges bound for New Orleans, said Bertels.
“NCGA is one of the leading organizations on the issue of lock-and-dam renovation on the Mississippi River,” he concluded. “The river transportation system, which is more than 70 years old, is too small for most modern tows. Tows must be broken up before they can enter the lock, which causes delays and increases transportation costs. Ultimately, this results in lower prices farmers receive for their grain.”

Ethanol, Renewable Fuels Standard Victories Touted at CUTC

Larry Schafer, legislative counsel for the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), opened the final day of the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference (CUTC) by reviewing ethanol victories in the past year and opportunities in the upcoming one -- most notably the passage of the Senate energy bill which includes a renewable fuel standard (RFS).

“Ethanol set an annual production record in 2001 of 1.77 billion gallons,” he said, “and we are currently at a 2.3 billion gallons per year capacity today. The 14 plants under construction will raise that number to 2.7 billion gallons per year by the end of this year.”

Schafer reminded attendees that the Senate energy bill is still in conference and offered them an overview of the bill. “The energy bill will phase out MTBE in four years, eliminates the RFG oxygen standard while maintaining the air quality gains from that program, and creates the renewable fuels standard,” he said.

“The RFS is important because it requires a gradual and increasing percentage of renewable fuels, including ethanol and biodiesel,” he continued, “growing to 5 billion gallons per year over 10 years.”
In terms of the RFS, NCGA President-Elect Fred Yoder said the battle has been won, but the war is far from over. “People think we have an RFS as a law and they couldn’t be more wrong,” he said. “Right now, the energy bill is in conference and there’s a chance it will still be in conference by the November elections. Our growers have got to contact their elected officials and tell them to pass the energy bill. We must keep the RFS fresh in our legislators’ minds and let them know it’s important to us.

“We’ve got to keep up the fight,” Yoder continued. “We have to keep reminding people of the environmental dangers MTBE poses, while also keeping them informed of the benefits of ethanol.”

NCGA’s Yoder Talks Biotech at CUTC

NCGA President-elect Fred Yoder provided a grower’s perspective of biotechnology at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC).

Yoder said biotech planting is on the rise, with a 19 percent increase this past year. “Biotech crops accounted for seven percent of the world’s corn and the U.S. has led the charge by planting 68 percent of biotech crops globally. Worldwide, more than five and a half million farmers are using biotech.”

His presentation was one of three perspectives offered: a developer’s perspective, presented by Roger Untiedt, Minnesota Corn Processors; a grower’s perspective, presented by Yoder; and a food processor’s perspective, presented by Susan Harlander, BIOrational Consultants, Inc.

Yoder provided an overview of biotechnology, from its availability for commercial use in 1996 to the problems with StarLink last year. “StarLink was never a food safety issue,” he said. “It was a regulatory issue. It created a negative image for biotech corn that certain activists seized on.

“Biotech can and will be an important asset to us in the future,” Yoder continued. “It will help us conserve soil and water, it can provide a very selective insect control without destroying beneficial insects, it can provide a better-quality product to our customers and, most importantly, it has the capacity to help feed a hungry world, which may grow to 10 billion people by 2050.”

Yoder also explained NCGA’s goals and objectives concerning biotech. “We must minimize trade distortions related to the technology,” he said. “Consumers in the European Union (EU) have some concerns about biotech food products. We have a group of representatives from the U.S. Grains Council and the NCGA in Europe this week meeting with EU agriculture regulators and producers to discuss biotech issues.

“We are also expanding our ‘Know Before You Grow’ program and getting the facts out there to our growers to answer any questions they may have,” he said.

“If I sound excited about biotechnology,” Yoder concluded, “it’s because I am. But we must show value. Sometimes, the consumer doesn’t recognize any additional value with biotech. If we can’t demonstrate added value, we’ve lost the battle. If we don’t use this technology properly, we’ve lost the war.”

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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.

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CUTC Begins with Positive Message from EPA’s Peltier

Advances in corn-related research, the Bush administration’s support of biotechnology and the value-added success of ethanol are indicators of a positive direction the nation’s corn growers and corn refiners are taking, according to Jean-Mari Peltier, counselor to the EPA administrator on agriculture policy, and keynote speaker at the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference (CUTC) in Kansas City, Mo.

“The Bush administration has established a concrete record of support for renewable fuels, specifically ethanol.” Peltier said. We are particularly excited about the renewable fuels provisions included in the recently passed Senate Energy Bill. Without a doubt, ethanol is among the biggest value-added success stories in agriculture. It’s a value for which all producers can and have seen a benefit.”

She also discussed advances in corn-related research, specifically polylactic acid (PLA). “These innovations can make a tremendous impact on the industry as you find new ways to develop corn-based products and produce them in an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly manner.”

Peltier finished her address by voicing support for biotechnology. “Let me state for the record – this administration supports agricultural biotechnology and all its potential. It gives consumers more choices and it will give developing nations the opportunity to feed themselves.”

Fred Yoder, NCGA president-elect, introduced Peltier and offered a grower’s perspective during a biotechnology presentation. The Plain City, Ohio, grower commented that CUTC gives producers a different perspective on what they do. “Not all growers know the thoughts of those who use our end product,” he said. “As producers, we know what we need to do to supply corn, but this is a great opportunity to see all the different avenues that can be explored with the finished product.”

NCGA THIS WEEK

• June 11 NCGA Livestock Information and Programs Manager Tracy Snider is attending a meeting of the Iowa Dairy Beef Task Force in West Des Moines, Iowa
• June 12 Snider will be in Des Moines, Iowa for an Iowa Corn Producers Board Research and Livestock meeting
• June 13 NCGA Chairman Lee Klein and NCGA CEO Rick Tolman will attend a meeting of the U.S. Grains Council Executive Committee in Washington, D.C.
  
  

ST. LOUIS OFFICE

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE