In The News

May 19, 2022

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

CommonGround continues to open the farm gate and bring together the women who grow and raise our food with those who buy it. After 12 years, the program’s fresh look reflects the amazing, timely conversations being had today.      Sara Ross, a farmer from Iowa who is also one of the fifteen founding CommonGround volunteers, recently spoke with RFD-TV’s Suzanne Alexander about the program’s purpose, history and evolution. Having grown along with the program, she shared her perspective as a volunteer and celebrated the growth and accomplishments of the women who make this grassroots program so impactful.   “80% of U.S. women make the household grocery shopping decisions,” said Ross. “They have important questions about what to buy in the store, what to feed their family to keep them safe and healthy. As women farmers, we connect with these women. We have the same values and share similar life experiences. We want the women purchasing food in the grocery store to be able to...

Oct 20, 2021

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

This week, CommonGround shared the story of American agriculture at the world’s largest meeting of food and nutrition experts at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE), which was held online this year. With more than 10,000 registered dietitian nutritionists, nutrition science researchers, policymakers and healthcare providers in attendance, CommonGround volunteers attracted enthusiastic attention and engaged in meaningful dialogue that helped this influential audience delve further into how America’s farmers grow and raise the healthy foods they recommend.   “FNCE provides a great venue for us to connect with people who directly impact the food choices of countless others,” said CommonGround volunteer Paula Linthicum, who farms in Laytonsville, Maryland. “The audience is receptive and appreciates the work that we do to provide a direct link to farming.”   The activity, organized by CommonGround MidAtlantic with support from the National Corn Growers Association,...

Aug 19, 2021

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

Women from farms across the country, along with state and national staff, came together last week for this year’s CommonGround Summit. Over the course of two days, attendees participated in experiences that built skills, sparked insights, and fostered ideas that will empower the volunteers in their efforts and energize the program as a whole.   Through presentations from experts and group exercises, participants and honed the skills that they use to share their personal story.  Highlights included a look at Building Bridges on Tricky Topics with Roxi Beck of the Center for Food Integrity (CFI) and a consumer panel featuring a diverse group of local moms, led by Allyson Perry, also of CFI.   The diverse group of local consumer moms shared their concerns and the personal experiences that influence them, in an open, honest manner. As the moderator and volunteers brought forth questions that scratched beneath the surface, the common concerns that bother families everywhere and...

May 4, 2021

Key Issues: Consumer EngagementProduction

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

With entry for the National Corn Growers Association’s National Corn Yield Contest now open, farmers across the country are joining the friendly competition, giving it their best and hoping to top their personal best. NCYC entrants contribute to a pool of shared knowledge that helps all corn farmers in challenging years. So, plant a new seed of thought, shed some light and have some fun.   The premier event of every corn growing season since 1965, the National Corn Yield Contest offers challenges and rewards to each entrant! In 2020, 7,844 growers accepted the challenge, enjoyed the friendly competition with fellow farmers and helped provide information that will lead to future innovations.    This year, to add transparency and visual confirmation to high-yield entries, the contest requires a photo inclusion to be submitted online with the recheck yield results. For the 2021 Entry & Harvest Rule Book, along with information on changes this year and other resources, click...

May 3, 2021

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

This Saturday, key public policy influencers in our nation’s capital met the corn farmers of America’s Heartland in their homes, at the airport, and even while listening to their favorite podcasts as the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) launched a campaign highlighting their incredible sustainability story. By reaching “Inside the Beltway,” this campaign, made possible by a collaboration with state associations and highlighting the authentic stories of corn farmers, is designed to open doors and build trust by highlighting the role farmers play in combatting today’s most pressing environmental issues.   “Even in 2021, corn farming remains, at its heart, a family operation rooted in the earth,” said John Linder, NCGA President and a farmer from Ohio. “In many cases, such as mine, this vocation goes back multiple generations. America’s family farmers take great pride in the past, but we are working to build a future with healthy soil, clean air and clean water. Whether you...

Apr 6, 2021

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

While volunteers from across the country have not been able to meet in person nationally, CommonGround continues to offer opportunities to learn more and hone skills online through a second online training series. This series of three webinars, which launched last week, builds upon the series of learning and networking opportunities offered online over the summer of 2020.   The first session welcomed new volunteers to incredible work being done by more than 200 farm women like them across the country. Through state associations' support and hard work, these women serve as resources for consumers who have questions about how their food is grown.   Additional sessions are planned for April 21 and May 19, featuring Roxi Beck of the Center for Food Integrity to update the pandemic’s impact on consumer food trends and a social storytelling workshop on May 19.   Sharing their personal stories, the volunteers who make up this grassroots movement foster conversations based on shared...

Mar 29, 2021

Key Issues: SustainabilityConsumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

More than 200 high-level innovators in the food and beverage industry explored the challenges and successes they face as they continually strive to become even more sustainable during The Future of Food USA through a panel featuring CommonGround volunteer Kellie Blair, who farms in Iowa, and National Corn Growers Association Corn Board Member Brandon Hunnicutt, who also serves as Chairman of Field to Market in addition to farming in Nebraska. The session, Farmer Perspectives: The Key Sustainability Challenges and Successes from the Ground, shared the farmers’ personal experiences adopting sustainability practices and sparked discussions on how business can support farmers to reach shared goals together.   “We focused on the farmer perspective during our discussion of sustainability on our farms, how business can help, and what successes we have seen.  On our own farm, and the farms of the other panelists, it seems we have some of the same challenges: weather, labor, defining...

Nov 30, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

Bringing the holiday magic alive this season can feel daunting, but the farm women of CommonGround are here to help. On December 10, CommonGround is hosting the next virtual cooking event, walking through creating festive appetizers and cocktails (with kid-friendly alternatives), and farmers will touch on how the ingredients get from the farm to your holiday spread.   Recently, CommonGround hosted its second virtual cooking event, focused on relieving food-related mom guilt and providing support in this holiday season when many moms may be tackling the full Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Led by CommonGround Texas farmer Kalley Howard as our chef and moderated by St. Louis mom and coach Jenn Whitmer, Kalley led the group through a cornbread dressing, turkey brine and honey pecan pie as farmer volunteers shared how the ingredients they farm make it to holiday tables.   Missouri volunteer Addie Yoder discussed GMO foods and farm ownership along with Kalley’s cornbread...

Nov 16, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

CommonGround, a group of women farmers planting seeds of trust through conversations with consumers about the food they grow, celebrates an impressive milestone this month: 10 years of service and impact.   With so many food choices available, the farmers of CommonGround serve as a resource to connect with families about food and farming. The organization’s farmers volunteer their time to share personal experiences, as well as science and research, to help consumers sort through the myths and misinformation surrounding food. What began as a handful of volunteers with a shared goal has flourished, growing into a grassroots movement with more than 200 volunteers across 20 states.   “I’m proud to be part of something so authentic in this crazy world,” said Lauren Biegler, a CommonGround farmer-volunteer from Minnesota. “All the women in the program have such genuine love and pride for their families, farms and the products that come off their farms.”   CommonGround was developed...

Sep 21, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

National Corn Growers Association CEO Jon Doggett participated in the first session of the Farm Journal Foundation (Hunger U) Online University Speaker Series. The virtual event  “Level Setting: The Global Food Value Chain Transformed” featured a panel, moderated by Roger Thurow of the Hunger Solution Institute at Auburn University, which included  Keynote Speaker Dr. Olga Bolden-Tiller, Ag and Environmental Sciences at Tuskegee University and National President-Elect of MANRRS, Western Growers Association President and CEO David Puglia and Director of the Food and Ag Policy Research Institute at University of Missouri Dr. Pat Westhoff.   In addition to thought-provoking conversation, panelists shared their advice with students looking to enter the industry after graduation. Doggett challenged these future leaders to believe in science, get out of their comfort zones and help find ways to get food that might go to waste onto the plate of people in need.   The three-part Town...

Sep 17, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

CommonGround hosted a virtual cooking class for consumers, made possible through St. Paul, Minnesota-based Cooks of Crocus Hill. Last week, more than 50 attendees from across the country welcomed CommonGround into their kitchens to learn about preparing great food from professionals and to find out more about their food from the women who grow it.   Two farmers involved in raising or growing of ingredients spotlighted for each of the three courses, shared their story with influential and interested consumers. Through an interactive discussion, attendees found out not just about cooking but also about farming and how to continue dialogue that is honest and open between the farm and their families.   With participants from California bloggers to DC-based leaders in food non-profits, the impacts of the event will continue to spread on social media over the coming weeks. Keep an eye out!   Thank you so much to all of the awesome state staff and volunteers who came together to...

Jul 16, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

As CommonGround approaches its tenth year of programming, the National Corn Growers Association released a short video celebrating the incredible work being done by more than 200 volunteers across the country. Through the support and hard work of state associations, these women serve as resources for consumers who have questions about how their food is grown.    To view the video and learn more about their story, click here.   Sharing their personal stories, the volunteers who make up this grassroots movement foster conversations based on shared values that help moms off the farm discover that they can feel good about the food they feed their families. America’s farm families provide an amazing array of options but, with so many competing claims, honest questions are understandable. By serving as resources, these women have shared their unique understanding of important topics, such as the difference between organic and conventional crops and how ranchers care for their...

Jul 14, 2020

Key Issues: EthanolSustainabilityTradeAnimal AgricultureBiotechnologyConsumer EngagementHigh-Octane Low-CarbonNew UsesProduction

Author: Mark Lambert

Despite marketing and economic challenges and a pandemic, farmer leaders of National Corn Growers Association continue to advocate and work to improve the lot of the nation’s family corn farmers. Some of the steps being taken are covered in a new  2020 mid-year report  released online today.   “2020 began with reason for optimism in our industry. The signing of the USMCA trade deal, emerging corn purchases by China, a successful challenge to EPA granting RFS waivers and approval of year-round sales of E-15 had us all looking toward an economic rebound. Then the Coronavirus pandemic stunned the world,” said Kevin Ross, NCGA president. Through it all, corn farmers continue to go to work.  They answer the bell, responding by putting us on track to produce an abundant crop once again.”   You can view the report here.    

Jun 30, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

While classrooms have moved into our kitchens for months now, the HungerU, a program platform of the Farm Journal Foundation, has been working to share resources and build relationships that keep issues important to modern agriculture in students’ agendas. By expanding beyond the traditional college-aged audience, the program is finding new ways to build partnerships and utilize online platforms to reach school children. In doing so, farmer investments are being maximized to open even more minds to the importance of modern agricultural tools, such as GMOs, pesticides and gene editing, in farmers’ struggle to feed a growing population.   HungerU was originally designed as an educational and advocacy platform designed to engage universities’ student populations. This fall marks the fourth year of NCGA’s partnership in the program.   To address the need for educational materials parents’ could easily use in their homes and lessons educators could share in the scramble to go...

Jun 11, 2020

Key Issues: Consumer Engagement

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

While CommonGround volunteers across the country may not be hosting large events this summer, they have taken time over the past few months to find opportunities to connect with women in urban and suburban areas for conversations on social media. From building relationships based in common experiences like learning to home school on the fly to sharing the story of farming through COVID-19, these volunteers continue to share the story of American agriculture and bridge the distance from their fields to families’ tables digitally.   You can follow their journey on Facebook at facebook.com/CommonGroundNow.   “I know as a mom, I’m going to make mistakes. I’m going to lose my cool, but at the end of the day, my family’s health and safety are my number one priority. Every parent is doing their absolute best to get through this unprecedented time, and we’re going to get through this together.” Kate Sawyer – Kansas farmer   “My friend and I were talking about the changes in our...

Feb 4, 2020

Key Issues: EthanolSustainabilityTradeAnimal AgricultureBiotechnologyConsumer EngagementFarm PolicyNew UsesProductionResearch

Author: Mark Lambert

The National Corn Growers Association’s Ann ual Report for the 2019 fiscal year is now available online.  The report highlights memorable events and victories accomplished in a year characterized by weather and policy challenges.   “NCGA was in some pretty amazing positions in 2019. From sharing the stage with President Trump to having a beer with the Coors family after the Super Bowl attack on corn sweetener,” said 2019 NCGA First Vice President Kevin Ross from Iowa. “We are constantly prepared to engage, and we are looking for new allies and new conversations to represent corn growers better.”    Through unruly weather, flooding, sluggish markets and trade disruptions, NCGA members kept moving forward together to reach long-term, strategic goals to improve prices and the overall future of the industry. As the year ended NCGA’s grassroots efforts resulted in several major trade victories, a strong support system through the farm bill, and more opportunity for E15 and other...