IN THIS ISSUE:

• NCGA, ASA, AFBF Concerned About Compliance Infractions
• NCGA Disappointed as Energy Bill with RFS Put on Hold Until 2003
• NCGA Supports New IRM Compliance Assurance Program
• NCGA Continues Focus on River Improvements at MARC 2000 Meeting
• NCGA to Address Pharma-Corn Issue with Symposium
• NCGA's Yoder Provides Testimony to Young Farmers
• NCGA Loses an Ally as Combest Announces Retirement
• NCGA Represented in Meeting Focusing on Corn as a Resource for a Renewable Economy

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[This is Corn Commentary, the weekly newsletter for state and national grower leaders of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) available via the U.S. Postal Service. For complete stories and updated NCGA information, visit www.ncga.com <http://www.ncga.com> or the NCGA Leader Resource Center, www.insidencga.com <http://www.insidencga.com>.]
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NCGA, ASA, AFBF Concerned About Compliance Infractions

NCGA, American Soybean Association (ASA), and American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Wednesday reaffirmed their support for developing pharmaceutical and industrial crops through agricultural biotechnology. The groups expressed confidence that these new technologies can be introduced without jeopardizing the safety of the food supply. The groups' joint statement came following announcement that USDA is investigating possible contamination of crops in Nebraska by field trials of pharmaceutical corn. According to reports, Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS) inspectors have evidence that soybeans harvested on a farm in Nebraska were mixed with residue from volunteer corn (stalks from leftover seed in the field) following a field trial of genetically-altered corn conducted last year. APHIS determined that ProdiGene, the biotech company responsible for the trial, had failed to properly control volunteer corn plants that emerged when the field was planted to soybeans this year.

NCGA noted it has worked closely with regulatory agencies for the past two years in developing its policies and regulations as they relate to testing and production of pharmaceutical proteins in corn.

NCGA Disappointed as Energy Bill with RFS Put on Hold Until 2003

NCGA expressed disappointment that Senate members of the energy conference decided not to make a counteroffer on the national energy bill including a renewable fuels standard (RFS) Wednesday, effectively ending debate on the bill this year.

Senate Republicans and Democrats on the House-Senate energy bill conference decided the differences over substantial issues in the energy legislation were too deep to resolve in the remaining days of the 2002 Congressional session. The RFS calls for gradually increasing ethanol production to 5 billion gallons per year by 2014. The bill had been in conference since July.

NCGA Supports New IRM Compliance Assurance Program

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Agricultural Biotechnology Stewardship Technical Committee (ABSTC) have agreed to a new compliance program to help growers meet the insect resistance management (IRM) requirements for Bt corn established in 1999. NCGA supports the IRM Compliance Assurance Program, which details how registrants of Bt corn are required to monitor, assist and deal with growers who do not follow IRM requirements.

Under the program, growers who do not meet IRM requirements for two consecutive years will be denied access to Bt corn in the third year. The registrations for Bt corn require that growers maintain at least a 20 percent non-Bt corn refuge. Bt cornfields must be located within ½ mile (preferably ¼ mile) of their refuge cornfields. Within certain corn/cotton areas of the South, growers are required to plant at least a 50 percent non-Bt corn refuge.

Under the IRM Compliance Assurance Program, registrants will evaluate the extent to which growers are adhering to the IRM requirements and ensure that those who do not are brought back into compliance. With the implementation of the program, growers who are not in compliance in a given year will be issued a warning and must make the necessary changes to comply during the next growing season. Other details of the program include:

• Bt corn growers are required to sign a stewardship agreement before accessing Bt technologies and to reaffirm that pledge annually
• Dealers, seed company representatives, as well as the registrants are obligated to ensure growers are informed of the IRM requirements or they could lose their authority to sell Bt products
• Bt corn registrants also are required to sponsor an annual survey, conducted by a third party, to measure the degree of adherence to IRM requirements

NCGA to Address Pharma-Corn Issue with Symposium

Biotechnology has been a controversial topic for years and the latest issue to garner attention is the production of pharmaceutical and industrial proteins in corn. NCGA has been working with both industry and the federal government on regulations and business practices revolving around the testing of this new technology. To further provide education on this issue, NCGA is conducting a symposium on the topic Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 18-19 at the Loews L'Enfant Hotel in Washington, D.C. The meeting is designed to allow for the sharing of technical and regulatory information revolving around the potential benefits for consumers and agriculture and global grain marketability concerns.

NCGA's Yoder Provides Testimony to Young Farmers

NCGA President Fred Yoder addressed the disappearance of the family-run farm Wednesday during a presentation at the Farm Credit Administration public meeting in Kansas City, Mo. Yoder focused on the need of young, beginning, and small (YBS) farmers to have access to credit. "If we are to maintain a strong and viable future for U.S. agriculture," said the Plain City, Ohio, corn grower, "our young and beginning farmers will need better access to credit to meet the rising capital requirements for building successful commercial operations." During the presentation, Yoder discussed NCGA's Future Structure of Agriculture Task Force and their report on how changes in the corn industry would impact family farmers in the first 10 years of the 21st century. Yoder closed by saying NCGA is concerned by the General Accounting Office's findings on the "disappointing level of Farm Credit System (FCS) participation in activities dedicated to the YBS mission. Unless FCS is held to a higher standard of compliance and embraces more innovative policies," Yoder concluded, "we are not likely to see a greater level of special services for the very farmers who can benefit most from these programs."

NCGA Continues Focus on River Improvements at MARC 2000 Meeting

Efforts by NCGA to push for lock and dam improvements on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers as well as efforts to keep the Missouri River navigable were detailed during the Midwest Area River Coalition (MARC) 2000 meeting in St. Louis. Representing NCGA at the meeting were CEO Rick Tolman, who is also the vice-chairman of MARC 2000, Director of Production and Economics Paul Bertels, and Director of Public Policy Hayden Milberg. Tolman provided keynote remarks, while Bertels and Milberg sat on panels over the two-day meeting, addressing concerns from the audience. Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), a longtime supporter of lock and dam modernization, spoke at a dinner Nov. 7. The Mississippi River is a vital transportation link to move inputs and bulk products. More than 60 percent of U.S. corn destined for export markets moves on the Mississippi River by barge. Every year, more than 1.2 billion bushels of corn travel down the Mississippi River, bound for New Orleans. Another topic of interest during the meeting was the Missouri River and the continuing possibility of a 'spring-rise' situation. NCGA has been opposed to any change resulting in spring rise since increasing water releases would flood or decrease drainage on thousands of acres in the Missouri River bottoms. It is also proposed that increased spring flows would be offset in the late summer by a 'split navigation season.'

This action has the possibility of ending navigation on the Missouri River, not just during harvest to transport crops, but year round.

NCGA Loses an Ally as Combest Announces Retirement

NCGA lost an important ally in Congress Tuesday as House Agriculture Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) announced Tuesday he would resign from Congress, effective May 31, for personal reasons. Combest was one of the primary architects and supporters of the 2002 farm bill.

In his announcement, Combest thanked his constituents and said he wanted to provide enough notice for candidates to prepare for a special election to replace him.

With Combest's decision, the agriculture committees in both chambers will see new leaders next year. Rep. Thad Cochran (R-MS) was expected to succeed Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Once an employee at an Agriculture Department county office in the Texas Panhandle, Combest steered two major bills through the committee -- an overhaul of the federally subsidized crop insurance program in 2000 and this year's farm bill. Both expanded federal support of agriculture.

NCGA Represented in Meeting Focusing on Corn as a Resource for a Renewable Economy

Nathan Danielson, research and development manager for NCGA, represented the corn growers organization at the American Institute for Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting held in Indianapolis, Ind. Nov. 3-6, where the focus was on chemicals from renewable compounds. NCGA also participated in the corn stover pretreatment meeting segment of the AIChE event, where the focus was on the conversion of corn stover to ethanol. Stover is what remains of the corn stalks after harvesting. "Currently," said Danielson, "pretreatment is one of the most cost intensive steps in the ethanol production process. A lot of good research is being directed towards making this process economically viable. I believe, however, that it will be some time before ethanol from stover becomes a reality. In order to continue the successes that ethanol has achieved, we need to position corn as the feedstock of choice for the renewable economy."

NCGA THIS WEEK

• Nov. 17-18 NCGA Director of Public Policy Betsy Croker will attend the Regional Stakeholder Workshop in LaCrosse, Wis.
• Nov. 17-18 NCGA Vice President of Public Policy Brian Stockman and NCGA Commodity Classic Planning Committee member Greg Guenther will be in New Orleans attending a Commodity Classic strategy meeting
• Nov. 17-18 NCGA President Fred Yoder, the NCGA Biotech Working Group, Director of Development Tom Slunecka, and Director of Public Policy Hayden Milberg are attending a Pharma and Industrial Corn Summit in Washington, D.C.
• Nov. 18-19 Yoder, NCGA CEO Rick Tolman, and Slunecka will be in Washington, D.C., attending an agriculture commodity coalition summit meeting
• Nov. 20-22 Stockman, NCGA Membership Manager Byron Keelin, and Membership and Customer Service Coordinator Mike Shelby will be in Las Vegas, attending 2002 Association Membership Recruitment Kickoff Meeting
  

© 2002 National Corn Growers Association

ST. LOUIS OFFICE

WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE