August
2 , 2002 * Volume 9 * Number 28
IN THIS ISSUE:
- NCGA Wins Again;
Senate Passes Trade Promotion Authority
- USDA Report
Supports NCGA Claims that Ethanol is Efficient to Produce
- NCGA Calls for
USDA Drought Task Force; Corn Growers Feeling the Heat
- NCGA: Corps'
Interim Navigation Study Report Should Be Signal for Congress to Move
Forward with River Improvements
- NCGA Urges Members
to Contact Officials Concerning RFS Passage
- NCGA's Glass
Calls for Cooperative Effort to Improve Rural Economic Conditions
- NCGA Seeking
Grower Applications for Action Team, Committee Positions
- Nebraska Corn
Growers Provide Push for RFS During Corn Congress
NCGA Wins
Again; Senate Passes Trade Promotion Authority
NCGA is celebrating yet another legislative victory with Senate passage
of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) Aug. 1. The Senate voted 64-34 in
favor of the conference report, which cleared the House July 27.
"Once again,
our grower members demonstrated their influence and commitment to free
and fair trade by contacting their senators and urging them to approve
trade promotion authority," said NCGA President Tim Hume.
The NCGA, working
on behalf of its 32,000 members, has emerged as a leading advocate of
TPA, which gives the president fast track or expedited authority to
negotiate trade agreements, opening the doors to free and fair trade,
noted Hume.
"With TPA,
the president can negotiate trade agreements with world leaders that
not only open more export markets for corn, but also for value-added
corn products, such as meat, poultry, corn gluten feed, corn syrup and
biodegradable plastics," he said. "TPA increases market choice
and reduces costs for American farmers, workers, consumers and businesses
- while protecting U.S. corn growers from unfair subsidies being levied
to benefit our competitors."
Hume congratulated
the Senate for passing this important piece of legislation -- which
the president will sign on Aug. 6.
"The Senate
has the foresight to realize that the president needs the authority
to negotiate trade agreements in order to enhance export markets for
U.S. products," he concluded.
USDA Report
Supports NCGA Claims that Ethanol is Efficient to Produce
A report released Aug. 1 by the USDA confirms what the National Corn
Growers Association (NCGA) has been saying all along - that ethanol
is efficient to produce and should play a positive role in reducing
U.S. dependence on imported oil.
The report concludes
that the net energy value of corn ethanol has become positive in recent
years due to technological advances in ethanol conversion and increased
efficiency in farm production.
"Critics of
ethanol production should take note of the fact that USDA itself has
found that ethanol produces much more energy than it consumes when compared
to other products such as petroleum," said NCGA President Tim Hume.
"Moreover, the USDA report supports NCGA's claims that ethanol
production uses abundant domestic supplies of energy to convert corn
into a premium liquid fuel that can displace petroleum imports."
The report, "The
Energy Balance of Corn Ethanol: An Update," published by USDA's
Office of the Chief Economist, concludes that ethanol production is
energy efficient because it yields 34 percent more energy than is sued
in growing and harvesting the corn and distilling it into ethanol."
"Ethanol has
come under considerable attack in recent months, and many of the critics
have quoted inaccurate, outdated data from a Cornell University researcher
who claimed ethanol production consumes more energy than it produces,"
said Hume.. "In its report, the USDA says studies using older data
tend to overestimate energy use because the efficiency of growing corn
and converting it to ethanol has improved significantly over the past
20 years."
The report notes that today's higher corn yields, lower energy use per
unit of output in the fertilizer industry and advances in fuel conversion
technologies have greatly enhanced the economic and technical feasibility
of producing ethanol.
"The USDA
report also illustrates the need for a renewable fuel standard (RFS),"
Hume concluded. "Agriculture consumes and produces energy; and
energy legislation is critically important to American agriculture.
We need stable energy markets and we need enhanced economic opportunities
in rural America, and the RFS contained in the Senate bill currently
in conference provides both of those. Again, we urge passage by the
Congress."
For the complete
report, click on the link on the NCGA web site, www.ncga.com
<http://www.ncga.com>. To urge Congress to approve the conference
report on comprehensive energy legislation, click on the action alert
on the web site.
NCGA Calls
for USDA Drought Task Force; Corn Growers Feeling the Heat
Weeks of searing heat with little precipitation are having a serious
impact on crop and livestock producers. Due to the damages caused by
the drought, Tim Hume, president of the NCGA sent a letter July 31 to
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman urging the USDA to immediately
form a task force to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the losses
caused by drought conditions over the last two years.
Damages caused
by this prolonged drought include substantial reductions in crop yields,
forced liquidation of cattle herds, increases in crop pests and diseases,
critically low water supplies, and decimated forage. In Kansas, one
of the states hard hit by the drought, the Kansas Agricultural Statistical
Services ranked the condition of corn as 18 percent very poor, 26 percent
poor, 28 percent fair, 25 percent good, and 3 percent excellent. And
on July 31 Kansas Gov. Bill Graves increased the list of drought warning
counties to 83. Kansas has 105 counties.
"The NCGA
believes it is imperative that the U.S. Department of Agriculture use
its full authority and the maximum resources available to help mitigate
the losses being suffered by farmers and ranchers," Hume said in
the letter. "While we commend USDA's decisions to approve immediate
assistance through the Emergency Conservation Program, Emergency Loans,
and Emergency Haying and Grazing Assistance, we are very concerned by
reports that this assistance is not reaching producers in an expeditious
and timely manner. We are also deeply concerned that the drought conditions
may not be recognized for the purposes of reporting prevented planted
acreage."
Ron Blaesi, a Sharon
Springs, Kan., grower, said this is the third year he's experienced
drought conditions. "We've received 2.055 inches of rainfall this
year," he said. Last year Sharon Springs had a little more than
10 inches of rainfall; in an average year Blaesi said his western Kansas
farm gets 15 to 16 inches of rainfall.
Blaesi said he
would need to get 9-10 inches of rain to recover from the drought, which
is "next to impossible" at this time of year. On average,
Sharon Springs gets 2 inches of rain in August and just over 1 inch
in September, he said.
Over in Ohio, conditions
aren't quite as severe, yet growers are facing below-average yields.
Heavy spring rains kept many growers out of their fields and the summer
heat and lack of rainfall are now taking their toll.
Gene Baumgardner,
a Pickerington, Ohio, grower, said the area received some rain nearly
10 days ago, but the situation is still bad. "Due to the recent
rain, our late corn is looking okay, but our early corn looks bad,"
he said. "Quite a bit of Ohio hasn't seen much rain. It's the first
of August and we've been hit hard. We're seeing little spots of rain,
a tenth of an inch here, two-tenths there, but it's not enough to help
us.
"It's been
a difficult year from beginning to end," Baumgardner continued.
"We didn't start planting until June because we had such a wet
spring and now this. It doesn't look good."
In his letter to the USDA, Hume also requests the task force evaluate
legislative options, including proposals that have been offered to supplement
the announced emergency assistance.
"We believe
it is important for the department to receive input from affected producers
as to the extent of the drought, its effects and practicable actions
for the mitigation," Hume said.
NCGA: Corps'
Interim Navigation Study Report Should Be Signal for Congress to Move
Forward with River Improvements
The NCGA welcomes the long-awaited interim report on the navigation
study for the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, which outlines
the importance of modernizing the nearly 70-year-old lock and dam system.
The report, issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, should be a cue to
Congress to move forward on the overdue improvements, the NCGA says.
"The Corps'
interim report, which recommends action on lock modernization and environmental
restoration, has been in the works for nine years, and it's time Congress
recognizes the urgency of the situation," said NCGA Corn Board
member Greg Guenther. "Farmers are losing millions of dollars a
year, and the United States is losing its competitive edge in world
markets because of the inadequate and antiquated river infrastructure."
Guenther, a corn
grower from Belleville, Ill., whose operation relies largely on Mississippi
River transportation, noted that the Corps' interim report could persuade
Congress to begin the modernization process through Water Resources
Development Act (WRDA) legislation this fall.
Earlier this year,
25 members of Congress and six senators in the basin states signed letters
supporting the authorization lock modernization and environmental restoration,
which is estimated to take 10 to 15 years. State legislatures in Missouri,
Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota also passed resolutions supporting
immediate action toward lock modernization.
"River transportation
has proven to be the most efficient, economically feasible and environmentally
friendly means for farmers to move their commodities, but all of that
is in serious jeopardy if the wheels aren't immediately put in motion,"
Guenther concluded.
NCGA Urges
Members to Contact Officials Concerning RFS Passage
The House of Representatives and the Senate have passed a national energy
bill that includes a renewable fuels standard (RFS), but the battle
is far from won. The bill is in conference and with the continual onslaught
against ethanol in the media, there is a chance the RFS may die in conference.
NCGA is urging its members to contact their elected officials and inform
them of the importance of ethanol and renewable fuels.
"A renewable
fuels standard would reduce our dependence on foreign oil, improve our
trade deficit, boost farm income, create new opportunities for rural
businesses and reduce farm program costs," said NCGA CEO Rick Tolman.
A recent analysis
by John Urbanchuk of AUS Consultants shows implementing the RFS would
lead to the annual use of 7.6 billion gallons of ethanol by 2016.
"That level
of ethanol use could reduce crude oil imports by 2.9 billion barrels
by 2016, an average of 302 million barrels annually," said Tolman.
"That equates to approximately one oil supertanker a day for the
next 15 years."
He added, "These
reductions in imports would lower America's dependence on imported oil
to 65 percent compared to the 70 percent projected by the U.S. Department
of Energy in 2016."
Other benefits
of an RFS include:
- Decreased oil
imports thereby reducing the U.S. trade deficit by $63.4 billion
- Creatione 300,000
new American jobs
- Increased U.S.
household income by $71 billion
- Increased use
by 2.5 billion bushels of corn for ethanol production by 2016. Current
U.S. corn production is 9.4 billion bushels of which 650 million bushels
are used in ethanol production
- Increased corn
prices by an average of 28 cents per bushel. Net farm income will
increase an average of $6.6 billion annually. That could reduce direct
government payments to farmers $7.8 billion through 2016
- $10.5 billion
in new rural economic investments by 2016 to build or expand the renewable
fuel production facilities. Much if this new investment would be through
farmer-owned, value-added businesses
"It is vital
that the nation's corn growers contact their elected officials immediately,"
said Tolman. "I cannot emphasize this enough. Our Congress passed
the 2002 Farm Bill because of the voices of our growers and we need
those voices to speak again for ethanol and renewable fuels."
Growers can contact
their elected officials by utilizing the Legislative Action Center at
NCGA's web site, www.ncga.com <http://www.ncga.com>,
and clicking on the alert, "Pass Comprehensive Energy Legislation."
NCGA's Glass
Calls for Cooperative Effort to Improve Rural Economic Conditions
NCGA Vice President, Research & Business Development, Richard Glass,
testifying before the USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service on July
31, called on Congress and the Bush administration to "move in
a new direction" and work toward improving the economic conditions
of farm rural areas. The NCGA, he said, can play a major role in that
rural development process.
Glass was one of
several representatives of farm groups, universities and rural development
organizations who expressed their views on implementing the USDA's new
Agricultural Innovation Center Demonstration Program. In his testimony,
he encouraged the USDA to use NCGA's Commercial Development Center (CDC)
model as a blueprint, or consider using NCGA as a candidate for an Agricultural
Innovation Center.
"This CDC
will provide opportunities and knowledge for grower members to develop
business partnerships and explore economic ventures related to NCGA's
goals," Glass explained. "We believe that the vision for the
new Agricultural Innovation Center Demonstration Program is similar
to ours and we would like to partner with the Department of Agriculture
on its implementation."
Such a partnership,
he said, would be in line with a report that Agriculture Secretary Ann
Veneman released last fall entitled, "Food and Agricultural Policy:
Taking Stock for the New Century" in which she outlined "opportunities
for the creative application of programs and policies and ...unique
partnerships among the spectrum of American institutions - different
levels of government, the business community, public advocacy groups
and local organizations."
"As the panel
discusses the direction for the Innovation Centers, we want to emphasize
the need to provide a tool that helps farmers and rural America can
use," Glass continued. "The economic crisis in rural America
is real, and the time for study has long since passed. What we need
now is action."
He concluded that
the new Innovation Center Program needs to help commodity producers
across the country achieve their entrepreneurial vision and goal of
economic dependence.
"Together,
we have a unique opportunity to construct a tool that can help rural
America achieve economic success and to provide value-added ventures
to increase grower-owned equity downstream while also providing opportunities
where farmers are independent of government assistance," Glass
said.
NCGA Seeking
Grower Applications for Action Team, Committee Positions
NCGA is accepting applications for action team or committee appointments
for fiscal year 2003, beginning Oct. 1. Teams and committees will be
appointed in early October 2002, and announced during the first week
in October. You can access application materials by visiting the Leader
Resource Center at <http://www.insidencga.com/?p=916>
and scrolling down on the page to the "What's New" section.
Applications have
also been mailed to state organization offices, current team and committee
members and NCGA delegates and alternates. That mailing includes updated
NCGA Policy and Position Papers, and a copy of the Executive Summary
from the July 22-23, 2002 Corn Congress Meeting in Washington, DC.
Everyone interested
in serving on a team or committee will need to submit an application
for next year's service, even if the applicant is already serving.
All application
forms should be completed and returned to Fred Yoder, NCGA President-Elect,
c/o Kathy Baker, email baker@ncga.com,
fax: 636-733-9004 or U.S. mail (address below) by Friday, Aug. 30, 2002.
Nebraska
Corn Growers Provide Push for RFS During Corn Congress
Delegates to Corn Congress were given a copy of an ad NCGA ran in Roll
Call and Congressional Weekly the week of July 22. The ad was made possible
through the generosity of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association. In
addition to assisting NCGA with the ad, the Nebraska Corn Growers provided
funding for buttons. Both the ads and the button promote passage of
the Senate energy bill containing a renewable fuels standard (RFS).
It is efforts like these and the teamwork between NCGA and the state
grower organizations that provides the unified front needed to ensure
the issues affecting the nation's corn growers are made public.
NCGA THIS
WEEK
- Aug. 5-7 NCGA
Corn Board member Bill Horan and Vice President of Public Policy Jon
Doggett will attend the American Sugar Association Sugar Symposium
in Hyatt, N.M.
- Aug. 5-6 NCGA
Vice President of Marketing Brian Stockman will be in Branson, Mo.,
attending a meeting of the Missouri Corn Board
- Aug. 8-9 NCGA
Vice President of Research and Development Richard Glass will be in
Des Moines, attending a meeting of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board
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