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Farmers and Ranchers Prepare for Key Food Dialogues Next Week
 As our nation's fall harvest gets under way in earnest, the attention of many growers and their counterparts in the livestock and poultry industry will be briefly focused on a national town hall taking place in four venues across the country on Sept. 22, from New York City to Northern California, as well as online. Included among the speakers at the New York City segment The Food Dialogues, convened by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), will be Bart Schott, president of the National Corn Growers Association and a farmer from North Dakota.
"As someone who will be coming from a town of just over 400 people to a city of more than 8 million, I'm looking forward to telling my story and hearing the concerns and questions people have about today's agriculture," Schott said. "Corn farmers have a great story to tell, especially this year, when we've met adversity with resilience to bring in what is expected to be the third largest crop ever."
To date, USFRA has secured several high-profile participants that include Claire Shipman, television journalist and senior national correspondent at ABC's "Good Morning America," who will moderate the event from Washington, and Chef John Besh, who will moderate from New York. Additional participants include Max Armstrong of Farm Progress Companies and Jane Wells of CNBC.
For the whole story,click here.
NCGA Unveils Proposal for 2012 Farm Bill
NCGA unveiled the Agriculture Disaster Assistance Program, a commodity title proposal for the 2012 farm bill that will modify and replace the existing Average Crop Revenue Election Program and provide a more effective and responsive safety net for growers.
"Responding to a charge by our voting delegates to investigate transitioning direct payments into programs that allow producers the ability to mitigate risk, our grower-led Public Policy Action Team developed a crop-specific, revenue-based risk management tool that provides a safety net when growers are facing a loss," said NCGA President Bart Schott. "We are focusing on simplification and faster delivery of assistance when it is needed."
ADAP builds on the existing structure of ACRE and is designed to address the need for simplification and elimination of overlapping coverage with individual crop insurance. Changes include the use of harvest prices and crop reporting districts to set the crop revenue guarantee and would establish a guarantee based on the five-year Olympic average of revenue.
For the whole story, click here.
Despite Adverse Weather, Corn Production Remains Strong
The United States is still on track to produce the third largest corn crop on record, estimated to total 12.5 billion bushels of corn, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture reports released this Monday. Despite U.S. corn farmers facing several major weather events that negatively impacted much of the production acreage, causing national average yield estimates to drop to 148.1 bushels per acre, the world corn stocks projection has increased, more than offsetting the reduction projected for the country.
"We have heard from many of our peers across the country about what's going on in their fields and their expectations come harvest, and we have seen first-hand some of the problems of a very difficult year in important areas of the Corn Belt," said NCGA President Bart Schott, a grower from Kulm, N.D. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost all or some of their crops this year. Even as many farmers struggle to rebuild, we know that the resilient, independent spirit of the American farmer will prevail."
This spring, rain and flooding delayed planting in much of the Corn Belt while flooding and blown levies along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers caused growers to lose planted acres. In Texas and much of the South, scorching heat and drought devastated the crop while abnormally high temperatures in July and August impacted a large area of the Corn Belt to a lesser extent. As harvest approached, many farms along the Atlantic Seaboard were devastated as Hurricane Irene pounded the operations with strong winds and heavy rain. On top of all this, hail and high winds impacted thousands of acres in the Midwest during the growing season.
For the whole story, click here.
NCGA: We Don't Need to Choose Between Using Corn for Feed or Fuel
 As the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry held a hearing examining the availability of feed and its effect on the livestock industry, NCGA submitted a statement for the record that reminded critics we don't need to choose between using corn for feed or fuel.
"Corn fuels nations around the world, as a food ingredient, a feedstock, a fuel, a fiber, an ingredient in building materials and beyond," NCGA's statement said. "It is possibly the most versatile crop in the world, and demand is at an all-time high."
Many areas of the country saw a more difficult than average growing year for corn with record heat, floods and drought plaguing the Corn Belt. But even still, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the United States is on track to produce the third largest corn crop in history with a 12.5 billion bushel harvest. This is up substantially from even 10 years ago when production totaled only 9.5 billion bushels. In addition, the use of distillers grains, a high-protein livestock feed, has displaced almost 1.2 billion bushels of corn for livestock rations this year alone.
For the whole story, click here.
To read NCGA's full statement, click here.
Training Champions: NCGA Launches Second Advanced Leadership Program Class
 While harvest progresses throughout much of the Corn Belt, a select group of growers are ramping up their efforts to become the most effective leaders possible through a NCGA training program.
NCGA's Advanced Leadership Training Program, sponsored by Syngenta, launched its second class this week in Greensboro, N.C. The session helps qualified and motivated candidates finely hone their leadership skills and prepared them to lead the industry forward.
"Advanced Leadership training is providing an excellent opportunity to hone skills with media and interpersonal communications," said Paul Taylor, a grower from Esmond, Ill. "It has been great so far, and we're eager for more."
For the whole story,click here.
Now Accepting Applications! Scholarships for College Ag Students Available
 NCGA and BASF Corporation will again award five $1,000 scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students pursuing a degree in an agriculture-related field during the 2012-13 school year.
"NCGA understands that, to remain successful as an industry, it must focus on agricultural education and fighting the rural 'brain drain'," said Brandon Hunnicutt, NCGA's Grower Services Action Team Chair. "This program is an important component of NCGA's commitment to fostering youth in agriculture and to the future of our rural communities. It is an investment in the future of our industry."
Applicants for the NCGA Academic Excellence in Agriculture Scholarship Program must be entering at least their second undergraduate year or any year of graduate study, and they, or a parent or legal guardian, must be an NCGA member.
For the whole story, click here.
Congress Gets Back to Business As Usual in Washington
As summer draws to a close, members of Congress have returned to Washington after their month-long District work period. With only a few short months left until the end of the year, the legislative calendar will be extremely busy for members and their staff.
"Immediately upon return from August recess, Congress was faced with two problems," NCGA Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett said. "They must fund the federal government by the end of the month, and focus on providing the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction with tax and budget cut proposals to meet the new committee's mandate."
As Congress and the Administration prepare and position themselves for the final months of 2011, NCGA believes that, outside of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction and funding in the Federal Government in 2012, the focus will be jobs, Doggett said. He also noted that on top of working with the so-called "Super Committee," the House and Senate also have their own legislative agendas to handle before the end of the year.
For the whole story, click here.
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Field Notes opened the farm gate this spring and provided followers with an inside look at the activities of several farmers from a variety of geographical areas. Tuesday evening, we caught up with Illinois grower Tom Martin to see talk about his perceptions of harvest following Monday's release of revised U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates of crop condition, yield and acreage.
