Banner
Friday, May 14, 2010
Support Efforts to Extend Ethanol Tax Credit
 

In order to further legislation introduced by Reps. Pomeroy and Shimkus that would extend VEETC and the secondary tariff, NCGA urges members and backers to voice their support by urging their member of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 4940.  Growers and their allies can contact their representative and express why H.R. 4940, The Renewable Fuels Reinvestment Act, is crucial to the ag industry by utilizing NCGA's letter assistance resource (click here).

About Us

Founded in 1957, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) represents approximately 35,000 dues-paying corn growers and the interests of more than 300,000 farmers who contribute through corn checkoff programs in their states. NCGA and its 48 affiliated state associations and checkoff organizations work together to help protect and advance corn growers' interests.
 
On the Internet:
 
 NCGA Home Page
Visit NCGA's blog
NCGA on Facebook
NCGA on Twitter
NCGA on YouTube
USDA Predicts Record Year for Corn Production
 
The first round of projections for supply and demand for the 2010 corn crop, released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture this morning, estimates record production of U.S. corn this year, at 13.4 billion bushels. The report also projects that acres planted and harvested will rise slightly from last year, with 88.1 million acres planted and 81.8 harvested. Currently, the national average yield is projected to be slightly lower than last year, at 163.5 bushels per acre.
 

This first report for the year projects total U.S. corn use for 2010/11 will be up 2 percent from the current year with higher expected food, seed and industrial use and exports more than offsetting a decline in projected feed and residual use. USDA projects that food, seed and industrial use will be 4 percent higher with a 200 million bushel increase in corn used for ethanol accounting for most of the increase. Corn ethanol use, projected at 4.6 billion bushels, is supported by rising federal biofuels mandates and strong blending incentives that continue to boost ethanol usage.

Exports are projected up 3 percent with larger supplies and lower prices, but rising foreign feed grain supplies, mostly corn, limit export growth in 2010/11. Domestic corn feed and residual use is projected down slightly with a slow recovery in animal numbers and increased use of distiller's grains. U.S. corn ending stocks for 2010/11 are projected up 5 percent to 1.8 billion bushels. The season-average farm price is projected at $3.20 to $3.80 per bushel, compared with the 2009/10 forecast of $3.50 to $3.70 per bushel.

 

Click here for the full supply and demand report.

Click here for Monday's crop progress report.

Click here for graphs showing planting progress and production trends.

Online Tool Helps Growers Assess Sustainability

Corn farmers can analyze their use of natural resources and key crop production inputs using an online tool from Field to Market, The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture. The National Corn Growers Association is an active part of this alliance, whose goal is to find ways to monitor and improve agricultural sustainability.

The Fieldprint Calculator is a free, confidential online tool developed with input from a diverse group of grower organizations, agribusinesses, food companies, economists and conservation groups, to help farmers evaluate natural resource use on their operation compared to industry averages. These measures could help improve production efficiencies and profit potential.

The calculator is available at www.fieldtomarket.org, and illustrates the connection between resource and economic sustainability, so growers can more easily see how their choices impact natural resources, production levels and ultimately the efficiency of their operation.

The calculator also helps growers tell the positive story about environmental improvements being made in production agriculture.

In addition to benchmarking their operation against the industry index, the calculator allows growers to securely save data to compare year-to-year changes, which can help determine the value and impact new practices are having. Ultimately the site will serve as an online community where growers can learn from experiences of other growers, as well as gain expert advice.

For more information, click here.

Grains Council Accpeting A-Team Applications 
 

The application process for membership on the U.S. Grains Council's Advisory Teams is now open and applications will be accepted through Monday, June 7. NCGA is a founding member of the Council, which develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, grain sorghum and related products.

The Council was founded in 1960 and is a private, non-profit corporation with 10 international offices and programs in more than 50 countries. Its unique membership includes producer organizations and agribusinesses with a common interest in developing export markets. Membership funds trigger matching market development funds from the U.S. government and support from cooperating groups in foreign countries to produce an annual development program valued at more than $25 million.

The Council's A-Team members serve a two-year term, renewable without limit at the discretion of the Board of Directors. Current members whose terms expire in 2010 (those appointed to their Team in 2008) must resubmit applications if they wish to continue to serve on an A-Team. A-Team members with expiring terms have already been alerted of the need to reapply in a separate communication.

Interested Council members not currently serving are encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed by the Board of Directors and new A-Team members will be appointed during the board meeting on July 21. An application can be found at the Council's website, www.grains.org, in The GRAIN Center under the "Leader Resources" section, followed by "Board of Delegates." For more information, contact Shannon Schaffer at (202) 326-0607 or via e-mail at [email protected].

NCGA Urges Growers Look into ACRE Program
 
With the June 1 signup for the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program fast approaching, NCGA once again urges growers to review the program and determine if it make sense for their operation. Last week, NCGA cosponsored a webinar with DTN to advise growers how to assess how well this innovative farm safety net protected crop revenue for 2009 and how to discover its potential usefulness in 2010-2012. Guests included Farm Service Agency ACRE expert Brent Orr and Ohio State University economist Carl Zulauf.
 

For those who were unable to participate, the webinar is available for rebroadcast or downloading on the DTN website. Click here to access it.

The ACRE Program, adopted by Congress in the 2008 farm bill, represents a fundamental reform in U.S. farm policy. With rising input costs, greater market volatility and other operational challenges, this program provides an additional risk management tool for producers. While federal crop insurance offers substantial protection for crop failure, ACRE is intended to address less significant losses not adequately covered by insurance or disaster assistance programs.

For additional resources on the ACRE program, visit the NCGA website by clicking here.

South Dakota Running Blender Pump Promotion

Off the Cob LogoDuring a recent meeting that brought state and national staff together, NCGA's "Off the Cob" series caught up with South Dakota Corn Growers Association Executive Director Lisa Richardson for an update on corn related activities in her state.

At that time, Richardson spoke about planting progress which, notably, has increased significantly since the interview. In the May 11 USDA Crop Progress Report, South Dakota planting progress was well ahead of the five year average with 47 percent of total corn acres planted.

Richardson also noted that South Dakota's state blender pump incentive which runs through June 1, 2010. This program, passed by the state legislature, uses stimulus money to provide a $10,000 per pump incentive to install specialized blender pumps. These pumps allow consumers to select the ethanol blend that they wish to put into their automobile.

To learn more about the South Dakota blender pump program, click here.

To listen to the full interview, click on the "Off the Cob" logo above.

NCGA Reviewing New Senate Climate Bill

NCGA President Darrin Ihnen has issued a statement regarding the American Power Act released today by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn).

"The National Corn Growers Association is reviewing the discussion draft of the American Power Act released today by Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman. We have provided input to the Senate over the past several months on provisions pertaining to the agriculture industry and we will continue to offer feedback after we have a chance to review the text of this important piece of legislation.

"NCGA could not support the Waxman-Markey bill on the House side due to the potential adverse economic impacts on corn growers. In light of that, we will once again conduct an analysis of the new Senate version of climate legislation before taking a position on the Kerry-Lieberman proposal. We will also wait for the official analysis from the Environmental Protection Agency in the coming weeks.

"NCGA looks forward to working with the Senate as the bill moves forward."

Click here for more information on the American Power Act.

Explore Advances in  Reactive Distillation
 

CUTC LogoWith the 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference quickly approaching, the time to register is now. As the start date of June 7 draws near, the individual speakers presenting during each technical session will preview the material that they will cover. This week, Dennis Miller, who will present during the New Products and Revenue Streams Technical Session, explains what his presentation, "Reactive Separations for Advanced Biofuels and Chemicals," will address.

"Simply put, the presentation is on making value-added chemicals from corn-based feedstocks, especially esters of organic acids, by reactive distillation," said Miller. "While reactive distillation has been around as a concept for many years, we have worked on it for 10 years at Michigan State, in cooperation with the National Corn Growers Association. But the applications I will cover here are new."

 WWW.CORNCOMMENTARY.COM
This Week's NCGA Blog Highlights
 
Fueling juicy steaks...atrazine loss would impact sweet corn...corn to China is a big deal...the corn outlook is plentiful...and the ethanol bashing fest is becoming transparent to some...
 
Click here for more.