NPDES Legislation Passes Two Key Committees 

On Wednesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a markup of H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011. The bill was approved by a vote of 46 - 8 with Committee Chair John Mica (R-Fla.) and Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-W.V.) both voting in favor of the legislation. The House

Agriculture Committee unanimously passed the legislation a week prior.

H.R. 872 clarifies that National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits are not required when applying pesticides according to their EPA approved label. The bill, which has collected nearly 100 co-sponsors, will now be sent to the House floor for consideration, possibly in the next few weeks.

"We are pleased with the strong bipartisan support this bill has received from both Committees," NCGA President Bart Schott said. "As the current ruling stands, NPDES permits will not provide any additional environmental benefits and the complex new requirements would expose farmers to potential citizen action suits for something as simple as paperwork violations."

In the meantime, the Environmental Protection Agency has requested a six-month extension of the permits deadline to allow operators more time to obtain the permits. Without direct intervention from the Sixth Circuit, the NPDES permitting program will take effect on April 9.

"We appreciate the swift action both Committees in the House of Representatives have taken to pass this legislation," Schott said. "We will continue to work with Members and their staff to pass this legislation on the floor and also hope to work with the Senate on introduction of a companion bill."

NCGA Disappointed in VEETC Repeal Amendment

NCGA President Bart Schott released the following statement in response to Senator Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) amendment to immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit in the small-business program reauthorization bill:

"We are disappointed that Senator Coburn is singling out the ethanol industry in his amendment to immediately repeal the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) while tax credits to the oil and gas industries remained untouched. The American ethanol industry provides and supports 400,000 jobs here in the United States during a time of economic uncertainty. In addition, in the past year alone, ethanol added more than $50 billion to the national Gross Domestic Product and displaced the need for more than 360 million barrels of imported oil, valued at $16 billion.

"If this amendment passes, it could result in the ethanol industry reducing its production volume by 38 percent. That is approximately 4 billion of the 10.75 billion gallons produced in 2009. This loss in ethanol production would result in the shedding of approximately 112,000 jobs in all sectors of the economy. Can we afford that? We strongly urge the Senate to vote against Senator Coburn's amendment."

Governors: Improve Corn-for-Ethanol Reporting

A coalition of 34 U.S. governors from Washington to New York to Texas have called on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to alter the way his department reports the use of corn for ethanol production. They argue that it downplays the growing importance of distillers grains to meet livestock feed demand and provides an inaccurate rhetorical weapon for ethanol opponents.

"In recent days, some pundits have even gone so far as to blame ethanol for the destabilization in Egypt," Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton write in a March 15 letter representing the Governor's Biofuels Coalition. "Unfortunately, USDA's monthly corn supply and demand reports provide support for this sensationalized reporting because they identify "corn demand for ethanol" without immediately noting this is gross demand, and not the net use of the starch portion of the corn kernel. This overstates the use of corn for ethanol by as much as a factor of two or more, and fails to inform the public about what is truly happening in the food and fuel supply chain."

NCGA President Bart Schott agrees with the governors' assessment.

"People are exaggerating the amount of corn that goes into ethanol," Schott said. "While we are proud of the role ethanol plays in creating jobs, improving the environment and growing energy independence, we want to ensure that an accurate representation is made of the important work our growers are doing to meet all needs - for feed and food as well as for fuel."

Schott noted how the ProExporter Network estimates that the ethanol industry will provide the equivalent of approximately 1.2 billion bushels of livestock feed, in the form of dried distillers grains and corn gluten feed.

"The livestock industry, which provides healthy meat for consumers around the globe, remains our top customer," Schott said. "Factoring in the distillers grains means that we're providing 6.1 billion bushels to the livestock industry here, and 2.25 billion to export markets, the bulk of which is for livestock feed."

Click here for the Governors' Biofuels Coalition letter.

Click here for the USDA's latest monthly supply-and-demand report.

2011 Commodity Classic Breaks Attendance Record

The 2011 Commodity Classic surpassed all previous turnout records with a total of 4,826 attendees. Farm families represented more than half of the participants with 2,776 growers, spouses and children, and first-time attendees saw an 80 percent increase over the previous year. The event is the premier convention and trade show of the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers and the National Sorghum Producers.

"2011 Commodity Classic was probably the most successful and upbeat show we've ever had," said Commodity Classic Co-chair Charles Cannatella. "You can see why it's called a premier trade show when you look around the crowd and see the caliber of people there that have come to learn and help guide their organizations in the upcoming years."

This year, two of our country's top agricultural policy leaders in Washington -- Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas -- spoke at the General Session. Those in attendance heard Chairman Lucas frankly discuss the prospects of the 2012 Farm Bill and proclaim that "the EPA assault on production agriculture must stop." Secretary Vilsack acknowledged the incredible advancements made in American agriculture, the importance of biofuels to our national security and the contribution of agricultural exports to the health of our economy.

The General Session also included discussions with commodity group presidents and a motivational performance by comedian Frank Miles. The Evening of Entertainment featured a performance by the chart-topping Little River Band. Other events included association banquets, education sessions and numerous networking opportunities.

Commodity Classic 2012 will be held March 1-3 in Nashville, Tenn.

Training Champions: NCGA Launches Advanced Leadership Training

As many growers prepare for planting, a select group of growers are ramping up their efforts to become the most effective leaders possible through a new NCGA training program. NCGA's Advanced Leadership Training Program, sponsored by Syngenta, completed the second phase of its first cycle last week in Washington, DC. The session helped qualified and motivated candidates finely hone their leadership and lobbying skills and prepared them to lead the industry forward.

During the course, a small group of active grower leaders explored the current political climate while learning to improve their skills in many areas such as dealing with legislators and their staffs, the environmental community, regulators and state and national staff. While there, the five participants met with an array of DC notables including Senate Finance Committee staffer Jim Miller, the Chief of Staff to Cong. Tim Huelskamp (R- Kans.), American Farmland Trust President Jon Scholl and Rick Leach, the president and CEO of the World Food Program.

Miller provided a clear view of the budgetary landscape in DC entering the 2012 Farm Bill discussions. Through his frank assessment, the growers came to understand the variety of challenges that they will face as they help guide association discussions and negotiations on policy stances. Jim Pfaff, Chief of Staff to Cong. Tim Huelskamp, further nuanced the group's understanding of the political climate by providing insight and perspective on the evolving role that the Tea Party plays in American politics.

Visits with Scholl and Leach helped the leaders develop a firm grasp of how groups handling issues such as the environment and food aid interact with growers at the national level. Many attendees were particularly interested to learn that biscuits the World Food Program includes in emergency aid kits include corn sugar. 

Advanced Leadership training aims to help develop top notch state and national leadership that is empowered to share their skill set within the industry and community. It builds upon the "Leadership at Its Best" Program which has helped develop corn industry leadership. Since 1986, NCGA, the state corn associations and, more importantly, the U.S. corn industry, have benefited tremendously from the original Leadership at Its Best program, which provides invaluable media, communications, association management and public policy knowledge and skills to its participants.

Attending Advanced Leadership Training this year are Chad Blindauer (Mitchell, S.D.); Chip Bowling (Newburg, Md.); Anthony Bush (Mt. Gilead, Ohio); Bill Hoffman (Columbus, Wis.); and Pam Johnson (Floyd, Iowa).

States nominate one applicant for the Advanced Leadership Program. State nominees must be a member of NCGA, a graduate of Leadership at Its Best, and about to assume, or on the track to assume, a senior national or state leadership post. A selection committee empanelled by the Grower Serviced Action Team chooses the class. State associations have already received application packets for the next training which are due to NCGA by April 15.