NCGA's
Tolman Presents Future of Agriculture to SEMO Students (10-20-05)
National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) CEO Rick Tolman presented
a perspective on the future of agriculture to some of the future
farmers and leaders of agribusiness at a Southeast Missouri State
(SEMO) agriculture seminar in Cape Girardeau, Mo., on Wednesday.
The Agriculture Department at SEMO invited
Tolman to give a presentation on any aspect of agriculture to students
in the program. Several students are first-year in the agriculture
program, and some are majoring in ag business. Tolman chose to
focus on NCGA’s Future
Structure of Agriculture Task Force findings and the future structure
of grain production and marketing, how farmers need to look at value-added
avenues for products and how they need to develop better ways of
marketing those products.
“The seminar was a great opportunity to speak to some of the
future leaders in agriculture about where we see agriculture heading,” Tolman
said. “As the Future Structure of Agriculture Task Force Report
indicates, some of agriculture’s greatest opportunities lie
in moving up the value chain and in developing value-added products. And,
part of doing requires growers to think outside of the box for ways
to market those goods and make the public aware of the products and
their usefulness.”
Tolman said the students were very intrigued by products made from
corn. He brought T-shirts, cups and a Sony Walkman made from corn.
“Some students did not know we can make those and other nontraditional
products from corn,” Tolman said. “And that’s where
marketing and awareness come in to play. NCGA and farmers need to
continue to get the word out about the many ways corn can and is
being used.”
Tolman said another topic covered was renewable energy and the future
of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.