WASHINGTON, March 9, 2016 - The Big Easy played host to
farmers last week as a record crowd of producers and exhibitors traveled to New
Orleans for the biggest Commodity Classic in the event’s history.
The gathering brings together the National Corn Growers
Association, the American Soybean Association, the National Association of
Wheat Growers, the National Sorghum Producers, and, for the first time, the
Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Almost 9,800 attended, about 4,600 of
them producers; both figures were records.
This year’s event was relatively quiet for new policy
positions because some of the main issues the groups would typically address –
a farm bill, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and management of the RFS, to name
a few – have seen substantial action since last year’s event in Phoenix. With
just a few exceptions, producers focused more on prices than policy.
“A big issue for us is $3.50 corn, and we need to make sure
demand is up,” Chip Bowling, president of the National Corn Growers
Association, told Agri-Pulse. He said
there “really is nothing new”
for issues before his group, which is focusing on
proper implementation and governance of existing programs.
The major policy issue getting attention was the biotech labeling
proposal in the Senate. Groups took
turns speaking favorably of a proposal by Senate Agriculture Committee
chair Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, which could see action this week or next. Also on
the biotech front, groups – particularly the American Soybean Association – repeated
calls for improving the approval process for biotech traits in foreign markets,
especially China and the EU. And there’s also what seems to be an uphill battle
for TPP passage.
Here’s a breakdown of the issues addressed by the
organizations:
Corn Growers
push for increased production, demand
Promoting voluntary nutrient management programs (NMPs),
increasing ethanol use, and improving consumer attitudes about technology in
production agriculture should be the top priorities for the National Corn Growers
Association, according to results of the Corn Congress held at Commodity
Classic.
Some 106 delegates from corn-growing states voted Saturday
after hearing from CEO Chris Novak on the state of the association and from
chairs of various committees on their work and priorities.
The delegates voted on priorities within three overarching
categories: Enhancing Productivity and Environmental Sustainability; Increasing
Demand; and Strengthening Customer and Consumer Trust.
The promotion of voluntary NMPs, one of five goals included
in the Sustainability category, finished just ahead of the goal of promoting
soil health and water quality initiatives.
Not surprisingly, the number-one goal in the “Increase Demand” category was to boost the amount of ethanol used by 2020 to 4 billion gallons. Tied for second place were goals to improve infrastructure and increase exports of corn and corn products. (The delegates voted on other goals within that category. What they voted on is here; the results are here.
In the Customer and Consumer Trust category, delegates said
that after improving customer attitudes about technology in production
agriculture (such as the use of GMOs, crop inputs, and precision farming), the
most important goal is to expand relationships with new partners, including environmental
and public health groups, to advance NCGA’s work with ethanol.
Novak also said corn growers need to push to get the
Trans-Pacific Partnership approved, not just because expanded trade is good for
corn growers, but because it would reduce tariffs on U.S. beef exports, giving
the cattle industry – and feed demand – a boost.
And echoing prominent proponents such as Agriculture
Secretary Tom Vilsack, Novak said that without TPP, “we’ll never strike a free
trade deal with Europe,” referring to the still-being-negotiated Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
between the U.S. and the European Union.
Soybean
discussion heavy on biotech, trade
A Senate debate on GMO labeling “is the tipping point for biotechnology
in the agricultural sector,” American Soybean Association Chairman Wade Cowan
told reporters at the Classic, echoing sentiments from other ASA leaders.
Cowan said producers need to “rock the Hill” with their
calls for national, voluntary GMO labeling. He even provided a toll-free number
(1-866-464-6633) for advocates to call to get advice on messaging and best
practices for reaching out to their senators on the issue. In an interview with
Agri-Pulse, ASA President Richard
Wilkins called it ASA’s “front page issue.”
While existing ASA policy already deals with GMO labeling,
the group took action on other biotech issues, specifically low-level presence
trade barriers. After a good deal of discussion and massaging of language, the
delegates voted to encourage work by USDA and its foreign agriculture and trade
counterparts to institute a LLP policy with a specific acceptable threshold.
Meanwhile, for the first time, ASA voted to officially oppose
splitting farm and nutrition provisions in future farm bills. Wilkins told Agri-Pulse that the two provisions need
to stay together in one bill, because a split farm bill be would very difficult
“if not improbable or impossible.”
ASA also voted to reinstate language in its policy document
that speaks against co-location of Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) staff with their state offices. North Dakota growers expressed
frustration that conservation groups like Ducks Unlimited were sharing offices
with NRCS officials, but Iowa welcomed the help. The group also voted to change
language that would shift from looking to increase protein levels in soybeans
to instead finding ways to “enhance the nutritional bundle” of the crop.
Wheat looking
to increase production, improve technology
The wheat industry is fighting a prolonged decline in acres,
including a projected
drop of 6.7 percent in this year’s plantings. To combat this slippage, the
National Association of Wheat Growers is instituting a national yield contest
similar to a competition run annually by the National Corn Growers Association.
Brett Blankenship, NAWG’s immediate past president, told reporters he hopes the
contest will be “a shot in the arm” for wheat production. “The first step is to
stop the decline in acres,” he said. “Until we learn how to grow 300 bushel
wheat, we’re not going to replace corn acres, but with a 20 percent yield gain
in wheat . . . we’ll be able to reverse the trend.”
Blankenship also wants to focus on improvements in seed
technologies such as the potential for GMO wheat or varieties from “new breeding
techniques shy of GMO.” The Washington farmer spoke in favor of advancements in
wheat genetics, but when asked if he would grow biotech wheat on his own
property, Blankenship said that “would be a marketing decision more than an
agronomic one.” He pointed to the high amount of Washington wheat that is
exported to markets that are “sensitive” to biotechnology.
NAWG board members voted to formally support voluntary GMO
labeling, specifically through notification such as a QR code or a point of
contact for consumers to learn more about the biotech ingredients in their
food. The group also voted in favor of “immediate congressional ratification”
of the TPP as well as encouraging the Labor Department and other regulatory
agencies to eliminate excess regulations that might hinder use of the H2A visa
program for agricultural labor.
Association of
Equipment Manufacturers pushes rural broadband
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers, a new sponsor of
Commodity Classic this year, said the group is pushing for nationwide wi-fi
coverage. “It’s important that fields have wireless coverage,” said Nick
Tindall, AEM’s director of government affairs. “Data will boost agriculture
more than mechanization has in the past 100 years.”
AEM has also developed a standard to control fugitive dust.
“Every pneumatic air planter is adherent to that standard,” which awaits
approval by the International Organization for Standardization, Tindall said.
“EPA has been monitoring our progress on all those fronts. They’ve been very
pleased with the steps we’ve taken voluntarily” and so have not proposed any
regulations.
AEM Senior Vice President Charlie O’Brien said members have
adjusted to the downturn in the ag economy. “I think there’s a recognition that
this is a trough we’re going through,” he said. “I think the members right now
are feeling OK with the level they’re at and have planned accordingly.”
O’Brien shared the association’s “Infrastructure
Vision 2050 Challenge,” a crowd-sourcing competition to stir awareness and
raise ideas for improving the infrastructure. It plans to pay out $150,000 in
prizes to people who help identify and solve infrastructure challenges. “We
want people to share personal experiences” of problems with roads, bridges and
other parts of infrastructure, O’Brien said.
Sorghum growers
voice concerns about pesticide regulation
Representatives of the National Sorghum Producers said
they’re concerned about increased EPA efforts to regulate pesticides. In
particular, they pointed to the loss of sulfoxaflor, the active ingredient in
Dow AgroSciences’ Transform, due
to a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision last year.
The Texas Department of Agriculture has requested a Section
18 exemption to use the product this year to control sugarcane aphids on up to
3 million acres of sorghum.
NSP also hailed the introduction of a new product, DuPont’s
Zest, the first new herbicide technology focused solely on sorghum, which will
provide growers with over-the-top grass control for the first time. Advanta US
is currently producing seeds with the non-GMO trait. Field trials will take
place this year.
#30
For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
