As farmers work to feed and fuel the world, filling the void left by the war in Ukraine, national corn grower leaders unanimously passed a sense of the Corn Congress today calling on President Biden to maintain grower access to crop inputs.
The vote came during the National Corn Growers Association Corn Congress meeting, which is being held this week in the nation’s capital.
The measure, which is included in its entirety below, notes that “the world is facing skyrocketing fuel prices and potentially devastating food shortages, both of which can be addressed in part by America’s corn farmers, and America’s corn farmers have demonstrated a commitment to environmental sustainability through decades of documented reductions in soil erosion, greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.”
It then asserts that “the ability to address the crises facing our world today in a sustainable manner cannot be achieved without fair access to the inputs necessary to raise a crop each year, including pesticides, fertilizer and biotechnology seeds.”
The vote comes after EPA revised its atrazine registration, a move that could restrict access to a critical crop protection tool that has been well tested and shown to be safe for use.
It also comes after the U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear a case decided by a lower court from California, leaving in place a ruling that supports the claim that glyphosate use causes cancer – even as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly affirmed that the widely sold and well-studied herbicide is not carcinogenic.
Farmers have raised the alarm that a patchwork of regulations related to the farming tool could pop up across the country.
Farmers have also experienced major fertilizer price hikes and shortages over the last year thanks in part to steps taken by the U.S. International Trade Commission to impose tariffs on these products.
Corn Growers also raised these issues with Congress during recent Capitol Hill visits.
Sense of the Corn Congress
Whereas, the world is facing skyrocketing fuel prices and potentially devastating food shortages, both of which can be addressed in part by America’s corn farmers, and;
Whereas, America’s corn farmers have demonstrated a commitment to environmental sustainability through decades of documented reductions in soil erosion, greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, and;
Whereas, the ability to address the crises facing our world today in a sustainable manner cannot be achieved without fair access to the inputs necessary to raise a crop each year, including pesticides, fertilizer and biotechnology seeds, and;
Therefore, we, the assembled voting delegates of the National Corn Growers Association ask President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to direct his administration to support American farmers by enforcing its granted federal authority to govern pesticide use through science-based policies and procedures, and eliminating unnecessary tariffs placed on fertilizers required to raise food and fuel for a world in need.
