McReynolds is from Woodston, Kan., where he produces primarily wheat and sorghum. He also operates a commercial cow herd, including backgrounding and finishing.

Before becoming a NAWG officer, he served as chairman of NAWG’s environmental policy committee and on NAWG’s domestic policy, nominating and budget committees, as well as on the NAWG/U.S. Wheat Associates Joint Biotechnology Committee.

McReynolds has also held several leadership positions in Kansas, with the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, the Kansas Farm Bureau and many other public service boards and committees looking at local conservation and extension issues. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Kansas State University.

Other members of the 2010 NAWG officer corps elected at Saturday’s meeting include:

• Wayne Hurst, Burley, Idaho, first vice president;
• Erik Younggren, Hallock, Minn., second vice president;
• Bing Von Bergen, Moccasin, Mont., secretary-treasurer; and
• Karl Scronce, Klamath Falls, Ore., immediate past president.

NAWG officers typically “run the chairs” for five years after being selected as secretary-treasurer, though they all must be interviewed and recommended by the NAWG Nominating Committee and approved by the NAWG Board of Directors on an annual basis.

The NAWG Board meeting was held at the end of the 2010 Commodity Classic, held in Anaheim, Calif. For more about wheat activities during the 2010 event, please visit http://www.wheatworld.org/newsroom/news-from-2010-commodity-classic/.

Bios and photos for all NAWG officers are at http://www.wheatworld.org/about-us/contact-us/.

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Classic is the annual convention and trade show of the corn, soybeans, sorghum and wheat industries, and a place for much of the agriculture community to gather and discuss everything from the latest equipment and technology to pressing policy issues.

The National Association of Wheat Growers has been a part of Classic for four years and has its annual policy meetings in conjunction with the convention.

NAWG also is the principle sponsor of the Wheat Industry booth in the Classic trade show, which this year includes NAWG, U.S. Wheat Associates and the Wheat Foods Council and highlights an important wheat product often over looked when discussing a crop that provides 20 percent of the world’s food calories – pasta.

The booth opened Thursday with 500 packages of spaghetti and penne accenting the booth display, each package ready to go home with a booth visitor for future enjoyment. The mountains of pasta were generously donated by the National Pasta Association’s member-company American Italian Pasta Company.

Friday’s general session was headlined by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and grower-leaders of the Commodity Classic sponsoring organizations.

Vilsack talked to the thousands of attendees about expanding trade through commodity promotion programs, feeding the world through biotechnology and the importance of agriculture and rural communities to national security. He reminded the growers in the audience that most citizens don’t have first-hand experience with being deprived of food, and that farmers now feed 150 people each, versus only 20 people each in decades past.

As part of the general session show, NAWG President Karl Scronce of Klamath Falls, Ore., joined moderator Mark Mayfield on stage to discuss wheat priorities, focusing on the importance of a robust trade agenda and research and technology work. He also participated in a roundtable discussion with the other sponsoring association presidents about sustainability in agriculture and how to communicate better with the urban populace.

Earlier in the morning, Vilsack met privately with association grower-leaders and senior staff. The conversation covered a wide range of issues including trade, the dynamics of rural development, nutrition programs, biotechnology and connecting farmers with consumers.

NAWG Foundation and NAWG Board meetings are scheduled for Saturday after most Classic activities end. The NAWG Board is expected to elect new officers, with Jerry McReynolds of Kansas taking the presidency.

For more about happenings at Classic, visit http://www.wheatworld.org/newsroom/news-from-2010-commodity-classic/. This page is a compilation of all wheat news releases, audio and photos from the event.

It would be the first general sign-up since 2006 and will likely take place in late spring or early summer, targeting those acres most useful in the land set-aside program.

The 2008 Farm Bill reduced the cap on CRP acres to 32 million acres. The program is supported by wildlife and environmental groups and, more recently, by those who are concerned about carbon sequestration and climate change.

Last October, Farm Service Agency Administrator Jonathan Coppess testified to a House Agriculture Committee subcommittee that the 2010 fiscal year began with 31 million acres in CRP, down 2.6 million from a year prior.

He said contracts for about 15.3 million acres were set to expire between fiscal years 2010 and 2012, and that between general and continuous sign-ups, the Agency expects to maintain CRP enrollment at around 32 million acres through 2012.

More on the CRP program is available at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/CRP/.

The so-called “falling numbers” test is typically done at elevators to examine wheat quality. It specifically measures the amount of enzyme activity in a wheat kernel which is an early indicator of sprout.

Discounts due to falling numbers are not fully considered in crop insurance, leaving growers unable to recover any portion of that quality loss through risk management products in those years that they experience the quality problem.

NAWG staff and grower-leaders have been talking with the Agency for a number of months about the issue, which particularly affects growers in the Northern Plains and the Pacific Northwest. RMA is working to finalize special provisions for the 2011 crop insurance year, and, in a letter sent Monday, Scronce described the necessity of reexamining how the falling numbers issue is treated.

The letter said, in part:

“RMA has been working closely with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) in order to utilize the falling number discount charts used by that Agency for purposes of administering the commodity loan program. …We urge RMA and FSA will work closely together to make this process as streamlined and comprehensive as possible in order to provide needed consistency for our growers.”

Scronce’s letter is available in full at www.wheatworld.org/riskmanagement.

Vilsack talked about expanding trade through commodity promotion programs, feeding the world through biotechnology and the importance of agriculture and rural communities to national security. He reminded the growers in the audience that most citizens don’t have first-hand experience with being deprived of food, and that farmers now feed 150 people each, versus only 20 people each in decades past.

Commodity Classic is the annual convention and trade show of the U.S. wheat, corn, soybean and sorghum industries, and is also host to NAWG’s annual meeting. Sponsoring organizations include NAWG, the National Corn Growers Association, the American Soybean Association and the National Sorghum Producers.

As part of the general session show, NAWG President Karl Scronce of Klamath Falls, Ore., joined moderator Mark Mayfield on stage to discuss wheat priorities, focusing on the importance of a robust trade agenda and research and technology work. He also participated in a roundtable discussion with the other association presidents about sustainability in agriculture and how to communicate better with the urban populace.

Earlier in the morning, Vilsack met privately with association grower-leaders and senior staff. The conversation covered a wide range of issues including trade, the dynamics of rural development, nutrition programs, biotechnology and connecting farmers with consumers.

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The booth also highlights an important wheat product often over looked when discussing a crop that provides 20 percent of the world’s food calories – pasta.

Along with breads and cakes, pasta is among the most often consumed and most loved wheat products. Both nutritious and delicious, the product dates back to the fourth century BC, though American pasta production ramped up only after World War II, when pasta imports from Italy were banned.

The Wheat Industry booth at Commodity Classic opened Thursday with 500 packages of spaghetti and penne accenting the booth display, each package ready to go home with a booth visitor for future enjoyment.

The mountains of pasta were generously donated by the National Pasta Association’s member-company American Italian Pasta Company.

“Pasta is a fantastic and versatile wheat product, made from the hardest of wheats, durum,” said Lynn Holly, interim director of the Wheat Foods Council. “We were thrilled to work with the Pasta Association members to have their product here at the Classic show.”

The 2010 Classic booth is shared by NAWG, which manages federal policy on behalf of wheat growers and is a sponsoring organization of Commodity Classic; U.S. Wheat Associates, which promotes exports of U.S. wheat in more than 100 countries around the world; and the Wheat Foods Council, which works to educate nutritionists and the consuming public about the importance of wheat foods to a healthy diet. Though the three groups have separate boards, staffs and funding sources, they all represent wheat producers’ interests and work together frequently on communications projects.

Recipes and much more about pasta and other wheat food products are available online at www.wheatfoods.org.

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The pending free trade agreements – and particularly the U.S./Colombia FTA – are crucial to the continued growth of wheat exports and the wheat industry.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that Colombia alone purchased $1.67 billion in U.S. agricultural products in 2008. These sales would be all but lost if the U.S. does not ratify the U.S./Colombia FTA soon. The U.S. wheat industry estimates that imports by loyal Colombian customers have been valued at an average of $165 million per year, but most of those sales will be lost to Canada if it ratifies its own trade agreement with Colombia in the next few months.

“While the U.S. and Colombian millers have long-standing ties and strong customer loyalty, trade diversion will inevitably occur when Canadian wheat enters Colombia at $40 per metric ton less than U.S. wheat as a result of their bilateral agreement,” said USW Chair Janice Mattson. “This is just one example of how a robust trade agenda is critical to U.S. economic growth, to global economic recovery, and to meeting the President’s goal of generating two million new jobs in the next five years.”

The industry was pleased to see the release of the President’s Global Trade Strategy on Monday and looks forward to collaborating with the Administration to help meet its explicitly stated goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years.

According to the President’s strategy, work is underway to resolve pending issues on the Colombia, Korea, and Panama FTAs. The U.S. wheat industry supports the immediate ratification of all pending trade agreements and believes a robust trade agenda would lift economic opportunity for the entire U.S. wheat supply chain from which roughly half of annual production is exported in a typical year.

“We know the climate in Washington right now is tough, but we’re adamant that these agreements get their day before our legislators,” said NAWG President Karl Scronce, a producer from Klamath Falls, Ore. “They will help create and save jobs, which is what everyone needs to focus on right now.”

“Our industry has reason to be proud of the long-standing ties we have built with our customers around the globe,” Mattson said. “Our trade agreements can ease market access barriers and help us build on those ties to create more competitive opportunities.”

Industry leaders were also pleased to see the President’s new trade initiatives in the Asia Pacific region and his goal of seeking a balanced Doha agreement. As Mattson notes, “a balanced global trade agreement should give us significant new market access, eliminate monopoly export state trading, and protect the critical safety net for farmers and ranchers. Long-term it is our best hope for leveling the trade playing field.”

“With trade barriers cleared, U.S. wheat producers can compete more effectively,” Scronce said. “We look forward to working with the President to help clear the road to more open trade that will help increase the job opportunities and income our economy needs so much.”

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Though the 2008 Farm Bill was passed just a year and a half ago and many programs are still in the initial stages of implementation, NAWG and other farm groups have heard the message from Capitol Hill that it’s time to start evaluating successes and opportunities before the next re-write of federal farm policy, which will assuredly face funding hurdles and an ever-growing list of competing priorities and needs.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) told growers at the NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates winter meetings in January that they should begin to consider what they want to see out of the 2012 legislation, even as the 2008 Farm Bill continues to be implemented. In later comments, he suggested that the farm bill process could be considered as soon as 2011, particularly if reconciliation instructions require the existing bill to be opened up for budget cuts.

The NAWG Domestic and Trade Policy Committee and NAWG Environment and Renewable Resources Committee both discussed specific farm bill programs within their committees’ charge at their meetings Wednesday. Both groups will finalize timelines for policy development and coordinate a plan of action before leaving Classic at the end of the week.

“The last farm bill was a tough legislative fight, and we know that the next bill, whenever it happens, will be even more complex,” said NAWG President Karl Scronce, a producer from Klamath Falls, Ore. “We want to start this process now to advocate for programs that work for growers and policy that is responsible and can be broadly supported.”

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Contact:

Melissa George Kessler, NAWG, 202-385-2585, mkessler@wheatworld.org

The case, National Cotton Council of America v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), was decided by the Sixth Circuit Court in January 2009. In effect, the ruling will mean that EPA will almost certainly require producers to obtain National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits or some other type of permits for each and every pesticide application, even if applied within label requirements.

In June, the Sixth Circuit Court ordered a two-year stay of the decision to allow time for EPA and state regulators to implement it properly, but NAWG and other agricultural organizations felt the ruling was wrongly made and requested a rehearing by the entire Sixth Circuit. In August, the Court denied that request for rehearing saying the issues considered were “fully considered”.

Two separate coalitions, led by CropLife America and the American Farm Bureau Federation, later filed petitions for a writ of certiorari from the Supreme Court, asking them to examine the case – a long-shot, since few petitions for cert are accepted each year. This week, the Supreme Court – the court of last resort in the United States – officially denied cert, declining to become involved and letting the Sixth Circuit decision stand.

With judicial options for modifying the Sixth Circuit’s ruling now exhausted, agriculture groups will turn their attention to working with the EPA to formulate regulations under the ruling and working with Members of Congress on any possible legislative clarification.

EPA estimates the ruling will affect approximately 365,000 pesticide applicators that perform 5.6 million pesticide applications annually.

For more on the case and its potential impacts from NAWG counsel, please visit www.wheatworld.org/environmentalissues.

The bill had been anticipated for a number of months, with NAWG and other pro-trade groups urging original co-sponsorship among their constituents’ Members.

Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, H.R. 4645, would take a number of steps to enhance trade with the island country, including:

• requiring agricultural exports to Cuba to meet the same payment requirements as exports to other countries;
• requiring payment when the title of the shipment changes hands;
• eliminating a requirement that payments to U.S. agricultural sellers must pass through banks in third countries – a restriction unique to ag products; and
• lifting restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba, which would facilitate a closer trading relationship and increase demand for high-quality food.

Since passage of the 2000 Trade Sanctions and Reform Act, U.S. farmers have seen $4 billion in sales into the Cuban market, but market potential in Cuba is far from maximized due to the trade restrictions.

With no domestic wheat production, Cuba represents substantial potential for U.S. wheat growers. Cuba’s 11.4 million people consumed an average of 890,000 MT of wheat per year over the past ten years. NAWG and U.S. Wheat have long supported any effort to ease trade restrictions with Cuba, which cost the U.S. wheat industry an estimated $40 million per year.

Between introduction and press time, the bill had gained an additional five co-sponsors. NAWG urges wheat producers whose Members have not signed onto the legislation to encourage them to do so.

In related news, the House Agriculture Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on March 11 to look at trade with Cuba. That hearing was originally scheduled for Feb. 10 but was postponed due to blizzard conditions in Washington, D.C. Jerry McReynolds, who will then be NAWG president and who has traveled to the island nation for trade purposes, will testify on behalf of NAWG and the wheat industry.

More resources on the effort to ease trade restrictions with Cuba are at www.wheatworld.org/trade.

The documents, issued in November, cover labeling requirements, interpretation and restrictions on spray-drift that most in the agriculture community see as not practicable on real-world farm operations.

In part, they would modify the current Worker Protection Standard, which currently prohibits application “in a way that will contact workers or other persons, either directly or through drift” to read “do not apply this product in a manner that results in spray [or dust] drift that could cause an adverse effect to people or any other non-target organism or site”.

CropLife says spray-drift occurs when wind gusts unexpectedly blow small droplets of chemical crop protection products into the air and take them away from their anticipated settling points. A variety of technology is employed to prevent this from happening, but it is largely accepted, including by EPA, that some drift will occur during chemical applications.

The November guidance documents would go beyond laws already in place to regulate chemical crop protection products and empower EPA enforcement officials to impose fines on those found in violation.

Effectively, these guidelines would reduce growers’ access to crop protection products that protect yields and prevent disease and insect infestation, which is particularly disturbing since production will have to increase by an estimated 70 percent by 2050 to feed the world’s growing population.

The comments said, in part:

“We strictly oppose removing the scientifically-based standard of risk assessment in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and replacing with it with a speculative, nonscientific and theoretical standard of zero tolerance. Unlike the FIFRA risk standard set and repeatedly confirmed by Congress, EPA’s proposed spray drift policy adopts a precautionary principle approach and effectively replaces FIFRA’s risk-benefit standard with a new zero-risk standard…

“EPA’s enforcement guidance for the new spray drift FIFRA label language would force states to become assessors of theoretical risks, and applicators to risk lawsuits every time they work. State agencies generally do not have the toxicology endpoints or risk assessments at their fingertips to make these decisions. Major private-sector advances have been made in drift-reduction technology including GPS guided shutoff nozzles, low drift spray tips and product formulations, foaming agents and adjuvants.”

Concern about the spray-drift restrictions is widespread through the agriculture community, and CropLife America, the crop protection product’s trade association, has established an online petition for growers and others to sign regarding the proposals.

The CropLife petition urges EPA to maintain FIFRA’s risk-based standard of “no unreasonable adverse effects” and remove vague and unenforceable terminology from their proposals. The petition also urged EPA to not impose unnecessary buffers and develop risk-based tolerances for non-target areas.

The complete petition and a variety of background information on the spray-drift issue can be found and online on CropLife’s spray drift Web page at http://www.croplifeamerica.org/pesticide-issues/spray-drift. There will also be opportunities to learn more about and sign the petition at the upcoming Commodity Classic.

NAWG’s comments are available online at www.wheatworld.org/environmentalissues.

The Obama order set up an 18-member panel to make recommendations due Dec. 1. The panel will be bipartisan, with Obama appointing Republican and Democratic co-chairs, plus three additional Democrats and one Republican, and each party’s Congressional leaders choosing six from their delegations.

Though Democrats will hold a majority of the commission seats, 14 votes will be needed to approve any recommendation coming out of the panel, meaning neither party could effectively control the commission’s final product.

Importantly, the commission’s recommendations won’t have the force of law, and Congress won’t be required to consider them. Senate’s Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Ranking Member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) had tried to create a commission that would have the authority to recommend actions on which Congress would be required to make an up or down vote, but that plan failed.

Speaking to attendees of the American Association of Crop Insurers convention this week, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) invoked the country’s fiscal situation and indicated he wants to be ready with policy proposals if a reconciliation process requires farm programs be cut – a near certainty if Congress seeks to cut federal spending.

Peterson said he is considering an attempt to pass the 2012 Farm Bill in 2011 under reconciliation and, barring that, plans to be prepared to finalize a new farm bill before the 2008 Farm Bill expires in September of 2012.

Peterson has been encouraging farm groups to begin considering what they would like to see in the next farm bill and has expressed his intention to write a baseline bill.

Congress is set to return next week from President’s Day recess. The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday evening on a cloture motion for a scaled-down jobs bill introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the outcome of which will largely determine the Congressional schedule going forward.

On Tuesday, D.C.-based publication Politico published an op-ed from Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, on the “world food gap,” and innovation needed to meet the dramatic increase in food demand anticipated over the coming decades.

Daschle wrote about the stunning statistics that those in agriculture know all too well: the United Nations estimates food needs to grow by 70 percent by 2050, and more than one billion people are currently suffering from hunger.

He also outlined steps he believes are necessary to rise to this challenge, first urging support for “scientific and technological innovation in agriculture” and specifically saying that efforts to foster such innovation should include “incentivizing and encouraging investment in biotech and broader agricultural research and development.” He also emphasized the need for an open marketplace, collaboration and empowering farmers with available agricultural tools.

Innovation and collaboration were on display in a Wednesday announcement from a coalition of international research centers and Pioneer Hi-Bred, saying they would work together to create new corn varieties for use Africa that utilize fertilizer more efficiently and achieve higher yields even in poor soil.

The collaboration, to be known as the Improved Maize for African Soils (IMAS) project, will be led by international wheat and corn research body CIMMYT and funded with $19.5 million in grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. It will also incorporate work from Pioneer Hi-Bred, a part of DuPont, and two African research agencies.

The Pioneer announcement said the research work will utilize conventional breeding, molecular markers and transgenics approaches, with improvements projected to be available in four years or less, seven to nine years and a decade, respectively. The announcement said varieties developed will be made available royalty-free to seed companies that sell to the region’s smallholder farmers.

Monsanto is also working with the Gates Foundation and international research bodies to improve African corn varieties, making them more resistant to drought, which will also be offered to small-holder farmers royalty free.

Daschle’s full piece is available online at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32980.html.

The Pioneer announcement is outlined at http://www.pioneer.com while more on the Monsanto project is available at http://www.monsanto.com/droughttolerantcorn/WEMA.asp.

In a letter sent Tuesday, the groups said they believe the immediate release of additional guarantees under the GSM-102 program will result in increased U.S. farm exports, boost the farm economy and save jobs in rural America.

Nearly five months into the program’s fiscal year, USDA has released only $1.2 billion of the $5.5 billion in GSM-102 export credit guarantees allowed by Congress in fiscal year 2010. In FY2009, USDA issued $5.3 billion in export credit guarantees, yet demand continues to outstrip supply in the program due to continued economic challenges around the world.

The groups said, in part:

“With credit markets still fragile, many would-be importers of U.S. farm products are awaiting the release of additional GSM guarantees before entering into transactions with U.S. exporters… The same very difficult global credit markets that existed at the time of the release of the $1.2 billion in guarantees persist for many importers.”

The groups also told Vilsack that further utilizing the GSM-102 program would support the Obama Administration’s National Export Initiative, announced in the State of the Union.

The GSM-102 program guarantees credit extended by the private banking sector in the U.S. or by the U.S. exporter to approved foreign banks for purchases of U.S. food and agricultural products by foreign buyers. In order to comply with WTO guidelines, the GSM-102 program was reformed in the 2008 Farm Bill and now operates at no net cost to the federal government.

To read this week’s letter in full, please visit www.wheatworld.org/trade.

The first session, titled, “Climate Change—Are You Sure You Know What You Think You Know?” is scheduled for Friday, March 5, from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m. in Convention Center room 210 A/B.

The session will be led by Laura Sands, a senior associate at The Clark Group, and will cover how the ongoing debate over greenhouse gas legislation and continuing regulatory action is likely to affect agricultural operations. Sands is an experienced voice in the area of climate change and renewable energy, working with nonprofit and business clients on agricultural and bioeconomy initiatives.

The second session will cover fertilizer supply and demand and how the fertilizer market influences growers’ costs. It is set for Saturday, March 6, from 11 a.m. until noon in Convention Center room 210 C/D.

The session will include a panel discussion among Ford West, president of The Fertilizer Institute; Dr. Tracy Blackmer, director of research at the Iowa Soybean Association On-Farm Network; and Alex McGregor, president and chief executive officer of the McGregor Company. The discussion will be moderated by NAWG First Vice President Jerry McReynolds, a producer in Woodston, Kan.

Commodity Classic, the annual convention and trade show of the U.S. wheat, corn, soybean and sorghum industries and NAWG’s annual meeting, will be held March 3 to 6 in Anaheim, Calif.

More information about the convention is available online at www.commodityclassic.com.

More information about wheat activities at the 2010 show is at http://www.wheatworld.org/meetings-events/commodity-classic/.

The House Agriculture Committee had been set to receive testimony Wednesday on the agricultural trade environment with respect to Cuba.

Opening the Cuban market is an important priority for NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates, who represent wheat growers’ trade interests at home and abroad, and NAWG First Vice President Jerry McReynolds, a producer from Kansas, had been scheduled to testify.

Committee staff is currently working to pick a date for a rescheduled hearing.

Another Agriculture Committee hearing, looking at changes to the Commodity Exchange Act in the 2008 Farm Bill, was also postponed. The committees covering agriculture in both chambers have jurisdiction over commodity trading and related items.

A third hearing, scheduled for Thursday by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, was also postponed.

That hearing would have examined the reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board. That process is ongoing; a bill to reauthorize the STB and make needed changes to its powers with regards to rail oversight was approved by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in December.

Agriculture Committee information can be accessed online at http://agriculture.house.gov, while Transportation Committee information can be accessed at http://transportation.house.gov.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have been working toward a bipartisan bill that would tackle a range of issues in addition to employment, including the estate tax, which expired at the end of 2009, and continued funding for surface transportation projects.

However, late in the week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) seemed to discard that concept and filed cloture on a smaller bill, worth about $15 billion, so the Senate could move forward with it after returning on Feb. 22 from a week-long President’s Day recess.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has been pushing for a $1.5 billion disaster package as part of the jobs legislation. Agricultural disaster funding was included in the bipartisan bill but appears to have been jettisoned in the smaller bill Reid is championing.

Lincoln said in a press release Friday that the package, based on legislation she and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) introduced in November, would provide an estimated $1.1 billion in direct payment assistance to producers in counties declared primary disaster areas by USDA. The Lincoln release said these direct payments would be intended to “bridge the gap” until payments are made under the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) program, which was included in the 2008 Farm Bill to cover disaster losses.

The federal government and much of Capitol Hill were closed Monday through Thursday because of the unusual winter weather. The NAWG office closed Wednesday due to blizzard conditions throughout the daylight hours and remained closed Thursday. Transportation in the region has proved difficult for the last week, with some minor and neighborhood roads untouched, and train service reduced or cut off altogether.

Both chambers were out of session on Friday and are scheduled to be out through next week for President’s Day, returning on Feb. 22.

Echoing its efforts in the FY2010 budget process to phase out direct payments and impose further payment limits on producers, the Administration proposed cutting the cap on the direct payment by 25 percent, from $40,000 to $30,000, and proposed reducing adjusted gross income (AGI) payment eligibility limits by $250,000 over three years, bringing non-farm AGI limits from $500,000 to $250,000 and farm AGI limits from $750,000 to $500,000.

These proposals were not surprising based on last year’s concepts, but enactment of either would require both Congressional support that doesn’t seem to exist and reopening the 2008 Farm Bill for debate, something most Members of Congress are loath to do.

Elsewhere in safety net programs, the Obama Administration budget assumed savings from the ongoing renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement, the contract between USDA and crop insurance companies that deliver services to producers.

NAWG has urged both parties to negotiate in good faith to ensure the quality of crop insurance delivery is maintained under the new agreement. NAWG and other groups have also vocally supported reinvesting any savings achieved back into the program to improve coverage and maintain budget baseline that will be essential in the writing of the 2012 Farm Bill.

The proposals for export promotion programs were a mixed bag, with a proposed 20 percent cut, totaling $40 million, to the Market Access Program, accompanied by a proposed increase of $54 million under a new National Export Initiative announced in the State of the Union. As part of that initiative, the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program budget of $34.5 million would be doubled in FY2011 with discretionary money. MAP was a target of the Administration’s proposals last year as well, but was ultimately funded at the authorized level of $200 million, which NAWG and other commodity groups are also urging for this year.

The budget proposal included $429 million for competitive grants through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, the highest ever proposed for the program, which is authorized at $700 million, and a sign that the Administration understands the vital need for stronger investment in agricultural research. However, the budget provided no additional funding for Agricultural Research Service buildings or facilities, though the budget does include $1.75 million to create a capital improvement plan.

Two discretionary conservation programs are zeroed out in the budget, including the line item for Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations and the Resource Conservation and Development Program. A number of mandatory conservation programs would see cuts under the proposal, including the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and the Grassland Reserve Program.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program would see an increase over last year, but still be off $200 million from its 2008 Farm Bill authorization. Other mandatory programs, including the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed program, would see more funding. On the whole, mandatory Natural Resources Conservation Service programs would see an $11 million decrease, while discretionary spending would see a $45 million decrease.

Other budget highlights include $1 billion for the Food Safety and Inspection Service and $1 billion for renewable energy programs. The budget also included $19 million – an increase of 46 percent – to strengthen regulatory oversight of biotech products. Importantly, the budget included an $83 million increase in funds for USDA’s information technology systems, which are woefully out of date and, in some cases, unable to support software to implement producer programs.

As has become common, more than 70 percent of the USDA budget would go to nutrition programs. At a budget briefing Monday, USDA officials estimated that more than 40 million people would access SNAP, the food stamp program, which would see a $10 billion increase in the 2011 budget over 2010 spending.

All of these proposals will be considered by Members of Congress, who have the Constitutional authority to allocate money regardless of what is proposed by the executive branch.

More detailed information about the proposals from USDA is at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=budget2011.xml.

The RFS-2, outlined in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, requires biofuels production to grow from last year’s 11.1 billion gallons to 36 billion gallons in 2022. Of that, 21 billion gallons must come from advanced biofuels and some renewable fuels will be required to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions as compared to gasoline and diesel.

The most notable change made in the final rule from previous versions was Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reconsideration of its calculation of the indirect land use effects of biofuels. Under the final rule, the lifecycle analysis of corn ethanol is considered compliant with the law’s requirement that conventional biofuels reduce GHG emissions by 20 percent from that emitted by gasoline. In a press call, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the change was due to incorporating the effects of co-products into the model used and expanding that model to look at 160 countries versus 40 reviewed in previous versions.

The expanded RFS is intended to provide stability for commercial investors entering a growing industry. Overall, Administration officials estimate increasing renewable fuels will reduce oil use by more than 328 million barrels a year and reduce GHG emissions more than 138 million metric tons a year when fully phased in by 2022.

The Administration also announced on Tuesday a proposed rule for BCAP, which was written into the 2008 Farm Bill to incentivize growers to produce biomass for approved facilities. Much more information about the program and the proposed rule, which is open for public comment for 60 days, is available at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=ener&topic=bcap.

The Administration also announced the release of the Biofuels Interagency Working Group’s first report, which outlines a government strategy for meeting biofuels targets and establishing a commercially-viable biofuels markets. That report is available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/growing_americas_fuels.PDF.

The RFS-2 final rule is at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/renewablefuels/index.htm. An in-depth look at the RFS-2 final rule from the Renewable Fuels Association is available at http://www.ethanolrfa.org/objects/documents/2769/rfs2_rule_summary_brief.pdf.

Peterson and Moran have been working to gain original cosponsors for their bill, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act, for a number of months, supported by agricultural groups like NAWG that see significant opportunity to increase sales to the island country.

The bill would take a number of steps to enhance trade with the country, including:

• requiring agricultural exports to Cuba to meet the same payment requirements as exports to other countries, including requiring payment when the title of the shipment changes hands;
• eliminating a requirement that payments to U.S. agricultural sellers must pass through banks in third countries – a restriction unique to ag products; and
• lifting restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba, which would facilitate a closer trading relationship and increase demand for high-quality food.

Since passage of the 2000 Trade Sanctions and Reform Act, U.S. farmers have seen $4 billion in sales into the Cuban market and Cubans have had an excellent payment record. However, market potential in Cuba is far from maximized due to the trade restrictions, and Cuban buyers have told U.S. wheat industry representatives that pending improvements in trade restrictions, buying from the U.S. is no longer tenable.

NAWG and U.S. Wheat have long supported any effort to ease trade restrictions with Cuba, which cost the U.S. wheat industry an estimated $40 million per year, and NAWG continues to urge all wheat producers and wheat state associations to contact their Members directly and urge them to cosponsor the bill.

On a related note, the House Agriculture Committee has scheduled a hearing to review the Cuba trade issue for next Wednesday, Feb. 10. NAWG First Vice President Jerry McReynolds, who has traveled to the island nation for trade purposes, will testify on behalf of NAWG and the wheat industry. The entire hearing should be Webcast, beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern, at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/audio.html.

For more on Cuba trade and a copy of this week’s letter, visit www.wheatworld.org/trade.

NAWG’s four policy committees and joint NAWG/U.S. Wheat committees on trade and biotechnology met, focusing on information-gathering and reports on pending policy issues from Hill, Administration and other experts in the D.C. area. Committees with charges related to farm bill programs will begin considering policy priorities at their next meetings, in association with Commodity Classic. Reports from the chairmen of all six committees are online at http://www.wheatworld.org/newsroom/audio-gallery/.

The Joint Biotech Committee recommended a resolution ultimately approved by both organizations’ Boards, reading:

“USW/NAWG support the ‘Principles for Collaboration in Wheat Breeding and Biotechnology’ as also supported by the National Wheat Improvement Committee and adopted by the Public Breeder Subcommittee of the Hard White Wheat Improvement Committee, and strongly urge state wheat commissions/wheat breeders/universities with public wheat breading programs to use and further develop these Principles to guide their collaborations and agreements with private industry.”

The NAWG Board took reports from committee chairmen, U.S. Wheat, Wheat Foods Council and officers and processed a number of business items including officially approving the selection of Dana Peterson as the new chief executive officer of the organization.

The NAWG and U.S. Wheat Boards met together in a session Monday. The combined group heard from American Sugarbeet Growers Association Executive Vice President Luther Markwart about the introduction of biotechnology into the sugarbeet crop; from America’s Heartland reporter and producer Jason Shoultz about that program; and from House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who was presented with the 2009 Wheat Leader of the Year Award.

The event is held each year in association with the NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates winter meetings in Washington, and aims to educate policymakers and their staff members about the importance of continued wheat research and funding needs for top industry priorities.

A dozen wheat researchers from around the country, more than 20 growers and representatives from the milling and baking industries participated in the visits.

All the meetings included information about the importance of the wheat crop to food security and our nation’s economy and focused appropriations requests on three key research priorities – combating Ug99 and other rusts; increasing insect resistance; and improving wheat’s milling and baking qualities.

Dr. Jim Peterson, the chairman of NWIC and a wheat breeder at Oregon State University, said the meetings gave the industry a chance to express appreciation for increased Ug99 research support in the FY2009 and FY2010 appropriations cycles and to remind stakeholders that there’s still much to be done.

“Much of what we’re trying to do is go after research for core programs that have been historically important for us,” Peterson said.

“In spite of how tight the budgets are, there seems to be a good understanding that the wheat industry is more complex than just Ug99 and that we’re going to need support for core programs.”

Peterson also said much of the value of these meetings comes from the fact that they represent a coordinated, industry-wide effort.

“There does seem to be an awareness that these programs are valuable, and that effort to raise awareness is as much as part of the meetings as the effort to raise money.”

More information about wheat research priorities is available online at www.wheatworld.org.

Additionally, NWIC has state-specific information to facilitate appropriations requests coming from wheat state associations. Those details are available online at http://cropandsoil.oregonstate.edu/wheat/reports/NWIC/.

He made the comments as part of a wide-ranging discussion at a joint session of the NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates Boards, during which he was presented with the 2009 Wheat Leader of the Year Award, the wheat industry’s highest public service award.

Peterson said everything was on the table for the next round of federal farm policy discussions and that producers should start evaluating priorities now, even as the 2008 Farm Bill is still being implemented.

“You need to start thinking now about what you want in the next farm bill, and that’s part of why I’m starting early, to get you guys engaged,” he said.

Peterson said he wasn’t sure the current safety net programs are adequate given input cost increases and expressed interest in revenue concepts like ACRE, though he noted ACRE is too complicated and would be better if based on county revenue.

He noted the importance of the crop insurance program to the farm safety net and expressed concern about losing baseline through the Administration’s renegotiation of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement. Peterson referenced that he met with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and told him he was “not enamored” with giving up $4 billion in authority needed to write the next farm bill.

He said his goal was to create a safety net that would allow producers to share risk with the government and be able to get financing if production problems occur.

“We should provide the underpinning to let you do what you do best – and that is produce,” he said. “What I’m interested in is having a safety net for agriculture that works.”

Importantly, Peterson also described to growers his efforts to help his fellow Members better understand agriculture and discussed challenges from reform advocates, saying that agriculture’s opponents often try to define what “reform” means.

“We need to be looking at how to make this work better, how to have systems that we can explain to our urban colleagues that make sense to them,” he said. “That’s part of what I want to do over the next year.”

As Chairman, Peterson’s work touches nearly every aspect of agricultural policy and often involves careful negotiations to ensure wide-ranging bills don’t inappropriately affect agricultural production.

In the past year, he has worked intensely on climate change, food safety and derivative legislation, and his continued efforts to bridge the divide between agricultural priorities and Members who aren’t familiar with rural life was a key component in his selection as 2009 Wheat Leader.

“At the end of the day,” Peterson told growers, “I’m in Congress because I want to help production agriculture, producers. That’s why I do it.”

For more information about the Wheat Leader Award, please visit http://www.wheatworld.org/2010/01/house-agriculture-chairman-collin-peterson-named-wheat-leader/

In a passage about creating jobs and maintaining America’s competitiveness that also touched on financial reform, innovation and climate change, Obama said:

“…[W]e need to export more of our goods. Because the more products we make and sell to other countries, the more jobs we support right here in America. So tonight, we set a new goal: We will double our exports over the next five years, an increase that will support two million jobs in America. To help meet this goal, we’re launching a National Export Initiative that will help farmers and small businesses increase their exports, and reform export controls consistent with national security.

“We have to seek new markets aggressively, just as our competitors are. If America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we will lose the chance to create jobs on our shores. But realizing those benefits also means enforcing those agreements so our trading partners play by the rules. And that’s why we’ll continue to shape a Doha trade agreement that opens global markets, and why we will strengthen our trade relations in Asia and with key partners like South Korea and Panama and Colombia.”

Obama did not specifically call for passage of three pending trade agreements – with Colombia, Panama and South Korea – nor did he lay out specifics of how his new Initiative will help increase exports.

Still, the very fact that the trade agenda, which has languished since Obama took office a year ago, made it into the important speech is cause for optimism in the U.S. wheat industry, which typically exports about half of its annual production and is deeply concerned about the loss of up to $90 million in sales to Colombia if the U.S.-Colombia agreement isn’t ratified soon.

Thursday morning, NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates, who work jointly on trade policy on behalf of wheat growers, released a joint statement from their grower-leaders.

“As leaders of an industry dependent on exports for half its sales, we were thrilled to hear that President Obama plans to give trade a more prominent role in his administration’s economic recovery agenda,” said NAWG President Karl Scronce and U.S. Wheat Chair Janice Mattson.

“…We couldn’t agree more, and we believe that an ideal way to kick-start this trade initiative is to finalize the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement…We encourage the Administration to send these agreements to the Hill, and Congress to approve them as soon as possible. We also encourage the Senate to find solutions to the disagreements holding up key trade nominees, without which our country cannot negotiate new agreements in good faith.”

NAWG and U.S. Wheat will continue to work with the Administration and Congress on the Colombia agreement and other key trade priorities, including opening trade with Cuba and achieving a reasonable Doha Round agreement.

The full NAWG and U.S. Wheat statement is available at http://www.wheatworld.org/2010/01/wheat-leaders-applaud-obama%E2%80%99s-emphasis-on-trade-in-state-of-the-union-3/

More about the wheat industry trade agenda is available at www.wheatworld.org/trade or www.uswheat.org/whatWeDo/tradePolicy

The bipartisan letter described the importance of the program and agricultural trade, saying “by boosting access to overseas markets through consumer promotion, market research and technical assistance, MAP benefits American farmers and the nation’s economy while improving our trade balance and creating jobs.”

The 2008 Farm Bill authorized MAP at $200 million per year and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program at $34.5 million per year, levels of funding that were ultimately won in the FY2010 appropriations process.

These two programs stand at the core of market development efforts, with MAP money being used to share the costs of overseas market development and promotional activities with U.S. nonprofit agricultural trade organizations and others, and the FMD funds allowing USDA to partner with nonprofit industry groups to focus on reducing overseas market impediments.

NAWG and other agricultural groups are deeply concerned about the program in the FY2011 process since freezes and in some cases cuts are expected throughout government agencies, and NAWG and wheat state associations encouraged Members to sign the letter going to Vilsack.

The letter came just a day before USDA announced it has made FY2010 export promotion allocations, awarding the full $234.5 million from market development programs to 70 U.S. trade organizations.

U.S. Wheat Associates, the industry’s market development organization that works in more than 100 countries, participates in both the MAP and FMD programs, which match producer check off dollars managed by 19 state wheat commissions. In FY2010, allocations to U.S. Wheat included slightly less than $5.5 million in MAP funding and $3.8 million in FMD funding. Including carryover funds from FY2009, total MAP funds available to U.S. Wheat are $6.72 million and total FMD funds are $5.47 million.

U.S. Wheat announced at wheat industry meetings held this weekend that a new economic analysis of wheat export promotion activities indicates overall average revenue benefit to the entire wheat industry from the combined producer and FAS expenditures was estimated to be an average of about $115 for each dollar spent.

USW commissioned the study with funding from the MAP program. Dr. Harry M. Kaiser, the Gellert Family Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell and director of the Cornell Commodity Promotion Research Program (CCPRP), designed and conducted the research using established methods he and the CCPRP team developed.

The study also showed that for every dollar producers invested in market development from direct assessment to U.S. Wheat and in-kind contributions, $23 comes back in increased net revenue.

For more on the wheat promotion activities study, please visit www.uswheat.org.

A complete copy of the letter sent by Members this week is available at http://hastings.house.gov/media/pdfs/012510-MAP-Vilsack-letter.pdf

As leaders of an industry dependent on exports for half its sales, we were thrilled to hear that President Obama plans to give trade a more prominent role in his administration’s economic recovery agenda.

In his State of the Union address, Mr. Obama said that if America sits on the sidelines while other nations sign trade deals, we would lose the chance to create jobs on our shores. We couldn’t agree more, and we believe that an ideal way to kick-start this trade initiative is to finalize the pending U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement.

Wheat growers from across the country were in Washington, D.C., this week encouraging members of Congress to support this agreement, which is the industry’s top trade priority and key to maintaining more than $90 million in wheat exports to Colombia every year. The Colombia agreement and other pending trade agreements with South Korea and Panama will quickly bring more money home to farmers and small, rural businesses. It will also enhance America’s already strong agricultural exports, estimated at nearly $97 billion in fiscal 2009.

We encourage the Administration to send these agreements to the Hill, and Congress to approve them as soon as possible. We also encourage the Senate to find solutions to the disagreements holding up key trade nominees, without which our country cannot negotiate new agreements in good faith.

We stand ready to work with the Obama Administration and in Congress to demonstrate the value of these agreements and the urgency to get the job done.

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As Chairman, Peterson’s work touches nearly every aspect of agricultural policy. In the past year, he has worked intensely on climate change, food safety and derivative legislation to ensure bills before the House take into account the unique nature of agriculture and the needs of agricultural producers. He has also spearheaded a bill to enhance agricultural trade with Cuba, which is an important priority of the wheat industry. Peterson was previously selected for the Award in 2007 for his efforts to finalize the 2008 Farm Bill, implementation of which is ongoing.

“Chairman Peterson never fails to go to bat for agriculture when push really comes to shove,” said Karl Scronce, NAWG president and a wheat producer from Klamath Falls, Ore. “We are proud to name him our Wheat Leader twice in just three years because he really does embody the agriculture voice on the Hill – and that’s a voice that’s desperately needed.”

He was given the award by Scronce at a joint meeting of the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates Boards of Directors.

“We are proud to give this award to our own representative, and proud that our state has produced one of agriculture’s most notable champions,” said Erik Younggren, NAWG secretary-treasurer and a wheat producer from Hallock, Minn.

At the meeting, Peterson addressed growers about his efforts to help his fellow Members better understand agriculture when passing food safety legislation and looked ahead to challenges related to the 2012 Farm Bill. Peterson said he plans to start with hearings as early as March or April of this year.

“We need to be looking at how to make this work better, how to have systems that we can explain to our urban colleagues that make sense to them,” he said. “That’s part of what I want to do over the next year.”

The Wheat Leader of the Year Award is given annually by NAWG to one Member of Congress based on his or her demonstrated commitment to the well-being and goals of the wheat industry.

Previous Wheat Leaders include Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) (2008 and 2002); Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) (2006); Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) (2005); Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) (2004); Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) (2003); Rep. Larry Combest (R-Texas) (2001); Rep. George Nethercutt (R-Wash.) (2000); and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) (1999).

Representatives from NAWG member-states will distribute other public service awards given by NAWG on behalf of the wheat industry as they visit Hill offices in the coming days.

The Wheat Advocate Award is given annually to Members of Congress who have demonstrated support for the wheat industry above and beyond the norm.

Those receiving the 2009 Wheat Advocate Award include:

• Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
• Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)
• Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.)
• Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.)
• Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho)
• Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
• Rep. Zack Space (D-Ohio)
• Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.)
• Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)

The Friend of Wheat Award is also given annually by NAWG for superior action in support of the goals and policies of the wheat industry. This award is given to Congressional and administrative staff members who have demonstrated support for the wheat industry above and beyond the norm.

The 2009 Friend of Wheat Awards were awarded to:

• Aleta Botts, House Agriculture Committee
• Aaron Popelka, Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.)
• Melissa Porter, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
• John Drake, Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee
• Catharine Ransom, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
• Fitz Elder, Minority Clerk, Senate Appropriations Committee, Agriculture Subcommittee
• Galen Fountain, Senate Appropriations Committee, Agriculture Subcommittee

Recipients of the NAWG awards are approved by the NAWG Board of Directors and the recipient’s state wheat association, when applicable.

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Both organizations will hold a full slate of committee sessions as well as Board meetings at the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in central D.C.

Joint NAWG and U.S. Wheat committees covering trade and biotechnology will also meet over the weekend, and the two Boards of Directors will hold a joint session on Monday to hear reports of mutual interest. The joint session is also scheduled to be addressed by representatives of America’s Heartland, a public TV show about American agriculture, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), who will accept the industry’s 2009 Wheat Leader of the Year Award.

The meetings were preceded by the Wheat Organizations Leaders of the Future (WOLF) training program, targeted at incoming members of the NAWG Board of Directors. The program is generously sponsored each year by Bayer CropScience.

The meetings will be followed by the annual NAWG/National Wheat Improvement Committee fly-in highlighting wheat research funding priorities. A NAWG/NWIC briefing is scheduled for Tuesday morning, with Hill visits set for Tuesday afternoon.

More information about the meetings including dates, times and locations is available online at www.wheatworld.org/meetings-events/joint-winter-meeting/.

Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) wrote in a joint letter signed by 24 other Senators that such cuts, particularly following significant cuts to the crop insurance program in the 2008 Farm Bill, could force some companies out of business and endanger some of the 18,000 jobs crop insurance supports, mostly in rural areas.

The 2008 Farm Bill authorized a renegotiation of the SRA, which is the agreement between the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the crop insurance companies that serve farmers throughout the country.

A first draft of the proposal was released in December, with the goal of finalizing the agreement by April 1 in order to give the companies time to sign it prior to the beginning of the 2011 reinsurance year beginning July 1.

A number of issues are at stake in the process, including the handling of administrative and operating reimbursement rates that, if cut inappropriately, could affect the level of coverage and service producers experience. The SRA process will not affect producer premiums or programs offered, and is not intended to address policy issues such as quality loss factors and actual production history.

The Senators said that the amount of proposed cuts in a first draft released by RMA “came as quite a shock” and reminded RMA that Congress achieved $5.6 billion in savings from the crop insurance program over the ten-year period of 2008-2017 during the 2008 Farm Bill process. They told RMA Administrator Bill Murphy, to whom the letter was addressed, that “[t]hese cuts should be taken into account”.

NAWG and other groups have been urging the Administration and crop insurance companies to continue negotiating in good faith to come out with an arrangement that will achieve the goals of the program.

The full letter from Lincoln and Chambliss is available online at http://ag.senate.gov/site/news.html.

Peterson’s presentation will begin at noon in 1302 Longworth House Office Building, with lunch from Chick-fil-A provided.

While staffers enjoy their lunch, they will hear about the vulnerability of world wheat crops to the emergent stem rust, which was first identified in Uganda in 1999 and has since spread as far as Iran. Ug99 has defeated major resistance genes bred into wheats around the world, and stands at the doorstep of wheat-growing areas in central and west Asia, including India and Pakistan, which account for nearly 20 percent of world production. It is estimated that 75 percent of U.S. wheat varieties are also subject to the disease.

National C-FAR, known formally as the National Coalition for Food and Agricultural Research, is a coalition of organizations dedicated to raising the status and funding of agriculture research. The group sponsors regular Hill seminars to educate staff about often-complex food and agricultural issues that can be tackled with research given proper support, with the hope of prompting an informed and complete discussion on agricultural research funding.

For those who are not able to attend, presentations are posted following the seminars at http://www.ncfar.org/Hill_Seminar_Series.asp.

More information about National C-FAR and the Capitol Hill seminar series can be found at http://www.ncfar.org.

More information about Ug99 is available on NAWG’s Web site at www.wheatworld.org/research.

Peterson was hired just a few weeks ago, and comes to the organization days before NAWG’s annual winter meetings and a month before NAWG’s annual meeting at Commodity Classic.

In an audio interview now available online at www.wheatworld.org/newsroom/audio-gallery/, she discusses her view of top policy priorities facing agriculture; changes she sees for the organization and how it interacts with state associations; and the deep wheat background that led her to the nation’s capital.

To learn more about Peterson, please visit http://www.wheatworld.org/about-us/contact-us/.

Peterson can be reached at NAWG via e-mail at and at NAWG’s main line, 202-547-7800.

The House of Representatives was technically in session this week and did take votes on three resolutions and a bill to name a post office. The Senate remained out of session, to return Tuesday.

Upon returning, the Senate is scheduled to immediately take up a bill to raise the nation’s debt limit. Congress approved an extension of the debt limit before the holidays, but the $290 billion increase is estimated to last only until February. A number of amendments to debt legislation are expected, meaning debate could extend into February as well.

Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration continued talks this week toward a compromise they hope will help avoid a formal conference of pending health care legislation. News reports indicate Leadership would like to have the bill done by the end of the month, but no compromise has yet been inked. The effort to pass a health care bill consumed much of the latter half of 2009.

Importantly to agriculture, the Obama Administration’s FY2011 budget draft is expected out on Feb.1. The FY2010 Obama Administration budget proposed deep cuts to farm safety net programs and were resoundly rejected by Members of Congress. The country’s fiscal situation has only become more tenuous since last year, however, and there are rumors of not only budget cuts but a possible budget reconciliation process to gain savings from programs.

Also, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) gave indication this week that his chamber will attempt to take up energy and climate change legislation this spring, which is likely to prove contentious and time-consuming.

Many in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country before the quake, are dependent on agriculture, though the country as a whole is subject to natural disasters, including tropical storms and earthquakes, and has experienced decades of political unrest.

The immediate need in the devastated country was for cash directed at aid agencies including the Red Cross and the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP). Food, medical supplies and housing were desperately needed, though destroyed infrastructure impeded relief efforts for days after the disaster. The U.S. Air Force helped to reopen the airport to relief services on Friday, and up to 10,000 U.S. troops were expected in Haiti by Monday.

Among the structures destroyed was Haiti’s main flour mill, in the capital Port-au-Prince, which is jointly owned by U.S. companies and the Haitian government. Ports servicing the capital also suffered severe damage, hindering the ability of shipments to arrive there.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said Wednesday that it is sending 14,550 tons of food aid from the Title II prepositioned stocks in Jascinto, Texas. The food will include 7,000 tons of rice, 4,550 tons of corn soy blend and 3,000 tons of vegetable oil. The food will be distributed by WPF and other, private organizations, and should help feed 1.2 million people for two weeks.

Once the immediate crisis has been managed and initial rebuilding needs are assessed, NAWG, U.S. Wheat Associates and others in the wheat chain will work together to provide relief within the industry’s capabilities and, if possible, specialties. Some ways in which the industry could contribute would be to donate wheat or flour, technical assistance during rebuilding efforts or cash.

In the meantime, grower organizations are urging prayers for Haitians and rescue workers and donations to appropriate relief organizations.

The Red Cross has raised millions from a text message campaign asking individuals to text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10. The World Food Programme is taking donations at its site, https://www.wfp.org/donate/haiti. A CNN-compiled list of organizations providing relief services is available at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/.

WOLF is designed as an advanced leadership program for state wheat grower leaders who will soon become part of the NAWG Board of Directors. The program focuses on the responsibilities of Board members, NAWG’s structure and leadership skills. It is put on annually and generously sponsored by Bayer CropScience.

The 2010 sessions will start off with a dinner Thursday night, followed by training sessions all day Friday. Friday night’s activities will include a second dinner and a field trip to see D.C. comedy troupe the Capitol Steps.

2010’s program participants include:

• Jay Griffith, Ohio
• Craig Reeder, Oregon
• Brett Blankenship, Washington
• Clark Kauffman, Idaho
• Gordon Stoner, Montana
• Brad Thykeson, North Dakota
• Randy Traxler, Colorado
• Mark Watchman, Ohio
• Ron Rabou, Wyoming

NAWG and U.S. Wheat meetings begin Saturday morning and run through Monday, to be followed by grower visits to Capitol Hill on Tuesday. For more information about those sessions, please visit http://www.wheatworld.org/meetings-events/joint-winter-meeting/.

Peterson accepted the position this week after an extensive search process undertaken by a committee including NAWG’s officer corps and three leaders from NAWG’s affiliated state associations. The final staffing decision was recommended by the executive Board made up of NAWG’s officers and producers representing NAWG’s member-states.

“We are absolutely delighted to be bringing one of our dynamic state staffers to the national office,” said Karl Scronce, NAWG president and acting chief executive. “Dana is great to work with and showed confidence and poise throughout the interview process. She has ideas and enthusiasm that we need in Washington to help NAWG grow and the wheat industry thrive in a very competitive policy and production environment.”

As a policy and membership specialist at Kansas Wheat since 2001, Peterson has been intimately involved in key issues on the national and state levels for nearly a decade. Her experience includes participation in the last two farm bill debates; the push to increase research funding and give wheat producers access to biotechnology; and the industry’s look at new uses and expanded markets for wheat and wheat byproducts, including cellulosic ethanol.

During her time at Kansas Wheat, Peterson also spent significant time managing federal and state grants for producer risk management education and participating in the budgeting process for a recent $4 million award from the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

“I am thrilled to be coming to NAWG after a fantastic run at Kansas Wheat, where I learned more than I could have imagined about wheat farming and wheat farmers,” Peterson said. “I am cognizant of the realities of the wheat industry and looking forward to getting in the weeds, literally and figuratively, to tackle the issues facing our crop. Wheat is a big part of my life, and I am dedicated to seeing this industry succeed.”

Kansas is frequently the top-producing wheat state and is known as the country’s breadbasket in popular imagination and among Members of Congress. Kansas Wheat, which operates under a cooperative agreement between the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers and the Kansas Wheat Commission, is one of NAWG’s larger affiliated state associations by budget and staffing.

“Dana has been an excellent asset for Kansas Wheat over the past nine years. We will miss her leadership and passion for wheat grower’s advocacy here at the state level, but are very excited to gain her leadership at the national level,” said Justin Gilpin, chief executive officer of Kansas Wheat.

Peterson is a double graduate of Kansas State University, having obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agricultural economics there. She grew up on a farm first homesteaded by her family in 1871, where two of her four brothers are now the seventh-generation producing wheat, grain sorghum and cattle.

More biographical information and a headshot of Peterson are available at http://www.wheatworld.org/about-us/contact-us/dana-peterson/.

Peterson will be available for media interviews on Monday, Jan. 11, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. Members of the media interested in interviewing Peterson – during this time period or some other – should also contact NAWG Communications Director Melissa Kessler.

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Here, three of NAWG’s five sitting officers respond to the question, “What’s the most interesting thing you heard or learned this year while visiting the NAWG state association meetings?”

Karl Scronce from Klamath Falls, Ore., NAWG President

It always amazes me when I travel to the different states how knowledgeable farmers are concerning different issues. Some individuals are so knowledgeable I find a new go-to person – when I need to know something on a particular issue, that is who I call. I look at that as one of NAWG’s valuable assets. Anybody that has survived the tough years in farming has a level of street smarts that can’t be taught in a classroom. They totally understand where our public policy needs to be in ag.

When I traveled to the northern part of the Plains in December with snow on the ground and saw they were still harvesting corn, I thought, how crazy is that! My definition of high risk and those farmers’ definitions are very different. This reinforces to me that we need biotechnology in our wheat varieties. Those areas were meant to grow wheat, but because of the potential higher returns in corn, that is what they grow. I realize I wasn’t around when their wheat crops were growing and head blight was wreaking havoc with potentially good yields. But I am also sure those growers lose profit margin to diseases that could be remedied by advanced breeding and biotech.

Jerry McReynolds from Woodston, Kan., NAWG First Vice President

I think we can always learn a lot by going to state conventions. It’s very important and educational to talk to states, so you never want to pass up that opportunity.

I saw again how state organizations and their members are very in tune with our policy, they’re interested in it, and they’re working at making it better on the state level. I really appreciate what they are doing in the policy area.

Some states have really tremendous Commodity Classic-like programs that are very educational and informative. I was impressed with how some states organize their meetings – they run excellent programs and are doing really good things. I was also impressed with how some states are working together internally. The Colorado commission and association, for example, work together very well.

Many of the producers I talked to told me that harvest was tough and winter is tough. There is concern on climate change and water issues. At that time, health care was a big thing, and there’s concern about our school systems. There’s just a lot of uncertainty. We know as producers that we have to make the bottom line work, so when you translate that back to running a country, we know printing money isn’t the best way.

Erik Younggren from Hallock, Minn., NAWG Secretary-Treasurer

A big thing I noticed at the meetings I attended was grower enthusiasm for biotech and interest in how state universities can work with private tech providers. The states are seeing the value they have built up in developing the germplasm, and tech providers want access to that germplasm. How to make that happen is the topic at hand. Who gets paid what and how? If and when a variety is released with biotech traits, will the germplasm be the biggest component for price or the technology inserted into it?

I also found interesting what Nebraska has done with their mobile bakery. They brought the bakery to the state fair where farmers connected with kids and urbanites that never would have seen such a thing before, hopefully giving them a better appreciation of what we do for them. I wish other states could do the same thing, though it costs a lot of money and personal time to do what they do.

Communication was also on all the agendas. Growers are getting a sense of what the public is seeing about farmers and how what others are saying on Twitter, Facebook and on blogs is influencing what the public thinks about farmers. My hope is growers will be energized to engage in the discussion.

Heartland, a U.S. television program dedicated to connecting rural and urban America, traveled to Egypt and Morocco along with U.S. Wheat and USGC staff in August to understand the vital role U.S. farmers play in feeding the world.

Dave and Sue Roehm, farmers from Leesburg, Ohio, also went on the trip to see for themselves and show Heartland viewers how global their fourth-generation family farm really is.

The Roehms produce soft red winter (SRW) wheat, corn and soybeans. Being from Ohio, they likely saw some of their crops in use in feedlots and bakeries across Morocco and Egypt.

The Ohio Corn Marketing Program sponsored the Roehms’ trip, and several individuals and organizations that import, mill, or process U.S. wheat and corn graciously provided time and effort to make production of the episode possible.

“Everyone we met and worked with made us feel very welcome and we appreciate that very much,” said U.S. Wheat Director of Communications Steve Mercer, who traveled with the Roehms and production crew.

“We believe creating personal connections between our customers and the farm families who produce U.S. wheat is an important part of our trade service work. It is also important that U.S. producers and the public have the chance to learn how U.S. agricultural products are making a difference for their trade partners.”

“This trip was a big revelation to me,” Sue Roehm said about her journey. “It was phenomenal the impact market development programs orchestrated by the Grains Council and U.S. Wheat are having overseas. When I look at our corn and wheat in Ohio, I will have a completely different perspective. My family’s harvest is truly helping improve lives thousands of miles away.”

America’s Heartland episodes, including episode 518 depicting the Egypt and Morocco shoots, are available online at www.americasheartland.org, on RFD-TV and on PBS stations throughout the country, including 19 of the top 25 stations in the U.S. Monsanto and the American Farm Bureau Federation are sponsors of the show, and NAWG serves as a Heartland promotional partner and advisory board member.

U.S. Wheat Associates is the wheat industry’s market development organization working in more than 100 countries with funds from producer checkoff dollars and through cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The overseas episode is directly accessible at http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_518/index.htm#

The Department announced Christmas Eve that the new Supplemental Revenue Assistance program (SURE) is now in place, and eligible producers could sign up beginning Jan. 4.

SURE was established in the 2008 Farm Bill as a new program to supplement crop insurance coverage for producers with whole farm revenue losses. SURE eligibility requires a combination of individual farm loss and state-level loss. Producers must also either have crop insurance or NAP coverage or have obtained a waiver for 2008 crops.

The announcement had been long awaited; NAWG Secretary-Treasurer Erik Younggren testified to Members of the House Agriculture Committee in June that the program should be implemented as soon as possible.

A week after the SURE announcement, on New Year’s Eve, USDA said it has reached an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to establish an electronic information exchange process for verifying compliance with new adjusted gross income (AGI) requirements.

The 2008 Farm Bill set a $500,000 nonfarm average AGI limit for those receiving commodity and disaster program payments; $750,000 farm average AGI limit for those receiving direct payments; and $1 million nonfarm average AGI limit for those receiving conservation programs.

USDA described the electronic process as reviewing data from tax returns, performing a series of calculations and comparing the values it derives with AGI limits in the 2008 Farm Bill. Implementing subagencies will then will receive a record that indicates whether or not the program participant appears to meet the income limits.

USDA said written consent will be required from each producer or payment recipient for this process, and no actual tax data will be included in the report that IRS sends to USDA.

The IRS announcement also included new information about USDA’s rules relating to the definition of “actively engaged” for the purposes of receiving farm program payments.

The actively engaged requirements affect eligibility for direct payments, counter-cyclical payments and ACRE payments.

USDA said that under its amended rules, every stockholder or member of a legal entity like a corporation does not have to contribute labor or management if:

• at least half of the interest in the legal entity is held by stockholders or members who are providing active personal labor or active personal management that altogether qualifies as a significant contribution to the farming operation; AND
• the total direct payments received, both directly and indirectly, by the legal entity and each of the members does not exceed $40,000.

USDA described this change as intended to allow family farming operations, many of which include family members who live off-farm, to meet the requirement.

Producers can find more information about these and other 2008 Farm Bill implementation issues at www.fsa.usda.gov or at their local Farm Service Agency offices.

Surprising many, the House adjourned Wednesday without addressing the estate tax, which is set to expire completely in 2010 and return at higher rates in 2011. NAWG and other agricultural groups have been working to pressure Congress to undertake estate tax reform that instills predictability into the system and takes into account the unique circumstances of family farming operations.

Addressing the nation’s debt limit could also roll into next year. The House passed a bill Wednesday to raise the $12.1 trillion limit by $290 billion, but Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Friday afternoon the Senate might not consider the issue until early January, which would force the Treasury Department to use creative accounting to keep the U.S. solvent.

An omnibus appropriations bill was signed by President Barack Obama this week, finalizing all but one spending bill – the defense measure. The House passed a defense bill by a 395-34 vote on Wednesday before going out of session, and the Senate invoked cloture to end debate on Friday, setting up a vote for Saturday, the day the current continuing resolution expires.

Since it is the final legislative vehicle that must move this year, the bill contains a number of non-defense items, including an extension of surface transportation law that expired Sept. 30; $400 million for food stamp administrative costs; extensions of unemployment and health care benefits for the unemployed; and parts of the Patriot Act.

The legislative issue that’s held up much of the rest of the agenda, particularly in the Senate – health care reform – may or may not be completed before the end of the year, with votes now looking likely on Christmas Eve, a nearly unprecedented event.

An audio update from NAWG’s government affairs staffers Mark Gaede and Cori Wittman looking forward to key issues that NAWG is anticipating in 2010 is available at http://www.wheatworld.org/newsroom/audio-gallery/.

The bill, the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2009, S. 2889, was introduced Wednesday by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) after months of work by key Members, Committee staff and coalition partners like NAWG.

The historic legislation – the first rail reform bill since the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980 – represents a balanced compromise to address the needs of both the shipping community and the railroads.

A key component of the bill is a rechartered, more proactive and accessible STB. If finalized, ag producers can expect a more responsive and accessible board and new shipper-friendly elements like an office of customer advocate and ombudsman program and an arbitration mechanism that is designed to be timely, cost effective and accessible to producers.

The bill was originally cosponsored by Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).

NAWG applauded the Committee’s action and Rockefeller’s leadership in a press release sent immediately after the mark-up.

“We’ve been working on rail competition legislation for many years, and this is an issue that is vital to our members,” said NAWG President Karl Scronce in the release. “We appreciate all the work done by Chairman Rockefeller and his staff to date and look forward to helping to push this one to the finish line.”

NAWG helped spearhead a letter supporting the bill’s introduction, sent Wednesday by 16 agriculture organizations to the cosponsors.

“Nearly 30 years have passed since passage of the Staggers Act, and our nation needs new rail transportation policy to reflect the reality of the marketplace in the 21st century for both railroads and the shipping communities,” the groups said. “We applaud your work and that of your staff members in developing a fair and reasonable compromise on a bipartisan basis that balances the needs of the agriculture shipping community with the needs of the railroads.”

The full letter and more information about NAWG’s work on rail policy are available at www.wheatworld.org/transportation.

Talking in Copenhagen at a summit of world leaders charged with coming to an agreement on the issue of global warming mitigation, Vilsack said other, “more current” studies, like that done by the University of Tennessee, might be better predictors of land-use changes under a cap-and-trade program than USDA analysis.

The official USDA analysis says 59 million acres of pasture and cropland could become forest under a cap-and-trade protocol. Many in the agriculture industry have questioned this figure and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) model upon which the USDA analysis is based.

Vilsack released a clarifying statement on Friday, saying that, based on conversations with USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber and other staff, he doesn’t “believe the results related to afforestation forecast by the [model] are necessarily an accurate depiction of the impacts of climate legislation. The model could be updated to better reflect current legislative proposals.”

On Thursday, Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) asked Vilsack to have USDA consult with EPA on problems with the economic model and report back to their Committees. Vilsack said in his Friday statement that he had directed staff to work with EPA to review the model assumptions and update it as needed.

A stream of more official announcements also came out of the Department of Agriculture during the summit.

On Tuesday, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spoke at a keynote event about creating opportunities for rural economies with clean energy investments. Later, USDA announced an agreement with the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2010 through the promotion of anaerobic digesters and research.

On Wednesday, Vilsack participated in the announcement of an international research effort on climate change, and USDA announced the U.S. would contribute $1 billion to a $3.5 billion international fund aimed at reversing deforestation in developing counties.

On Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the U.S. would lead an effort to establish a $100 billion per year climate aid fund for developing countries by the year 2020.

The summit was set to end Friday, but, as of press time, negotiations continued with no announcements about a binding accord.

Nobody knows better than wheat farmers the process of planting, watering (or praying for rain), fertilizing, weeding and anticipating the coming harvest. While each step is necessary, there is a period of waiting between each one.

The concept is not unique to farming – the apostle Paul referred to planting seeds, having Apollos water them and relying on God for the growth. It’s also true in the world of wheat organizations: many people make contributions along the way to the strategic goals of the industry, and very frequently those who plant the seeds are no longer directly involved when they mature into a harvestable crop.

NAWG’s path toward its strategic goals has been similar. It began with a vision from wheat growers nearly 60 years ago that unifying their voices and energies nationally would provide benefits to producers across the country. Since that time, many growers have volunteered their time, resources, talents and leadership to make the wheat story a successful one.

During my time as NAWG’s chief executive, I’ve had the privilege of working with a number of outstanding people in the officer chairs, on the Board of Directors and staff in NAWG’s Washington office. I’ve also been able to work with many fine people affiliated with U.S. Wheat Associates, the Wheat Foods Council, WETEC and state organizations.

And, as we’ve expanded our work beyond simply the interests of wheat growers, we’ve developed very strong partnerships with the North American Millers’ Association, the American Bakers Association, the National Wheat Improvement Committee and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and National Institute for Food & Agriculture, all of which will hopefully continue into the coming years.

One of the chapters from my time at NAWG that I’m most pleased with is the movement toward introducing new technology in wheat. Very deliberate efforts on the part first of growers and then others in the value chain have led to fruitful work on new technology, with all sectors of the industry coming together to seek solutions and share perspectives through the Wheat Summit process. The collaboration has also reached across international lines to link up with producers in Canada and Australia for work toward mutually beneficial solutions. Customers have been and will continue to be a key part of that conversation.

As NAWG continues to address key national policy issues for wheat growers, it will be important to build on the foundations already laid and maintain momentum. Much work has gone into our platforms on biotechnology, rail policy, domestic farm programs, research appropriations and climate change policy, as well as our relationships with allied organizations, the Commodity Classic, the NAWG Foundation and industry partners, to name a few. In a world where agriculture makes up a smaller and smaller share of the population, wheat growers must seek strategic alliances wherever possible to expand our reach.

Having grown up on a wheat farm and worked for more than 20 years in wheat and barley organizations, I have a deep affection for this industry and wish it and its members every success for the future. The many friendships I have in this business are treasures I will carry with me as I move on, and I have great faith in the grower leadership of the organization to select a new executive to take NAWG to the next level.

My parting request to the membership is that you continue to provide the necessary time, resources, talents and leadership to enable NAWG’s success in the years to come.

- Coppock, NAWG’s CEO since 2001, will leave the organization at the end of the year and become the new chief executive officer and president at the Agricultural Retailers Association.

The Committee approved the bill, S. 2889, by a voice vote. The bill would reauthorize the Surface Transportation Board (STB), which regulates the nation’s rail system, and make a number of needed reforms that will improve competitive conditions and transparency in the rail industry and provide improved mechanisms for challenging rail rates.

The bill was introduced Wednesday by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) after months of work by key Members, Committee staff and coalition partners like NAWG. It was originally cosponsored by four other Members working toward rail policy that balances the needs of shippers and railroads, Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).

“We’ve been working on rail competition legislation for many years, and this is an issue that is vital to our members,” said NAWG President Karl Scronce, a wheat producer from Klamath Falls, Ore. “We appreciate all the work done by Chairman Rockefeller and his staff to date and look forward to helping to push this one to the finish line.”

NAWG helped spearhead a letter supporting the bill’s introduction sent Wednesday by 16 agriculture organizations to the cosponsors.

“As industries that are dependent on a well-functioning rail system that is both efficient and competitive, we fully support the introduction of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act of 2009,” the groups said.

“Nearly 30 years have passed since passage of the Staggers Act, and our nation needs new rail transportation policy to reflect the reality of the marketplace in the 21st century for both railroads and the shipping communities. We applaud your work and that of your staff members in developing a fair and reasonable compromise on a bipartisan basis that balances the needs of the agriculture shipping community with the needs of the railroads.”

Many wheat growers continue to face significant issues with both rail rates and service, and NAWG staff works with Members of Congress, rail companies and coalition partners to seek relief and resolution to these issues and others related to rail captivity and capacity.

The full letter and more information about NAWG’s work in the area of rail policy are available at www.wheatworld.org/transportation.

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While the finding itself will not impose regulations, it will empower the Agency to move forward with regulations on GHG emissions from vehicles – regulations that most observers believe that it will eventually expand to other emissions, including those from farms.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2007’s Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency that if EPA found certain GHGs endanger public health, they would be subject to regulation under Title V of the Clean Air Act. The EPA first issued a draft finding in April, beginning the bureaucratic process of regulation under the Court’s order.

The EPA’s announcement this week came immediately before two weeks of international talks on the issue of climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, and sparked widespread optimism among those looking to impose GHG reductions that it would empower the U.S. to negotiate.

The endangerment finding process also spurred interest in completing climate change legislation that passed the House this summer but has stalled in the Senate. Jackson said repeatedly in media interviews on Monday that she and the Administration prefer a legislative solution to the issue of GHG emissions versus simply regulating them from the executive branch.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) released a framework this week for a compromise. It called for a 17 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and a cap-and-trade-like system, but provided few further details. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) also released a framework bill intended to be a cap-and-trade alternative.

Still others have pledged to fight the endangerment finding in court. For instance, the Competitive Enterprise Institute announced it will file suit in federal court to overturn the endangerment finding on the grounds that EPA has ignored major scientific issues.

For more on the endangerment finding, visit the EPA’s Web site at http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html.

Both the House and Senate are considering bills that would reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Program under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and codify a May 2009 executive order, giving EPA and other federal agencies broad and undefined new authorities and putting court-ordered Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) into statute.

Though the Agriculture Committees in each chamber do not have jurisdiction over the Chesapeake Bay Program reauthorization process, agriculture is a major industry in the region and the Committees have shown interest in overseeing any regulations that can impact ag operations.

The Subcommittee heard testimony from officials representing USDA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as representatives from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the Virginia Farm Bureau, Perdue and the Upper Susquehanna Coalition.

At the hearing, Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) questioned both the USDA and EPA representatives about the proposals and noted that regulations imposed in one region will likely move to the entire country over time.

Goodlatte also had two agriculture coalition letters sent to Subcommittee leadership this week read into the hearing’s record.

Those letters, both of which included NAWG’s signature, reflected serious concerns in the industry about the process by which the new regulations would be put into place and what they could mean for the agricultural production in the region. The letters urged Agriculture Committee Members to support reauthorization of the Chesapeake Bay Program without substantive changes in order to devote adequate time and science to develop creative ways for economic recovery and growth to coexist with water quality goals and initiatives.

Goodlatte and other Subcommittee Members also noted that the 2008 Farm Bill included significant resources to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay by reducing runoff and improving water quality and urged their colleagues to hold off on further regulation until those provisions could be fully implemented.

NAWG opposes mandatory TMDLs and will continue to work to modify the existing legislation with Members and coalition partners, particularly the wheat state associations in Virginia and Maryland.

Written testimony from this week’s hearing is available at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.html.

The two letters sent this week by agriculture groups and another sent earlier in the year to the Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee can be viewed at http://www.wheatworld.org/issues/environmentalissues/.

With an official unemployment rate of 10 percent, jobs are on the mind of every American politician.

Heading into President Barack Obama’s jobs summit last week, more than 150 U.S. manufacturers, companies and agricultural interests that make up the Alliance to Keep U.S. Jobs urged him to resolve a longstanding dispute with Mexico on cross-border trucking.

Mexico announced the tariffs on almost 90 American products after language in the FY2009 omnibus spending bill, approved earlier this year, ended a pilot program allowing Mexican trucks on U.S. roads.

The Alliance said these tariffs are now resulting in as many as 25,000 jobs being threatened or lost due to reduced exports to that country.

Late last week, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) wrote an opinion-editorial in the Chicago Tribune that specifically called out the pending agreement with Colombia and the potential loss of market wheat growers could experience without it.

“These free-trade agreements will help make U.S. companies more competitive globally, increase their profitability and allow them to hire new American workers and help grow the economy,” Schock wrote. “Colombia is the eighth largest market in the world for sales of U.S. wheat…However, Colombia has just signed a free-trade agreement with Canada and expects to enter into a similar agreement with the European Union shortly.”

The grower-leaders of NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates submitted a letter to the editor this week in response to Schock’s piece. It read:

“As representatives of U.S. wheat producers who are dependent on export markets for more than half of their annual production, we commend the focus on pending free trade agreements in Rep. Aaron Schock’s Dec. 4 editorial.

“Rep. Schock correctly pointed out that one of these agreements – that with Colombia – has been languishing for more than three years while our industry has become increasingly concerned about lost market share in that country.

“Colombia is the U.S. wheat industry’s largest market in South America, with a market share of nearly 70 percent and sales last year of $225 million. We know that will not be the case next year if Canada approves their free trade agreement with Colombia and ours remains stalled – at which point our market share could fall as low as 30 percent, costing the wheat industry more than $92 million annually.

“That translates to losses in money and jobs along the entire wheat value chain and in the heartland. There is no better economic stimulus and recovery than trade.”

Schock’s full editorial is at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped1204tradedec04,0,6626172.story.

Though content on the show is meant to be relevant for years to come and, therefore, won’t specifically reference the milestone, it is a cause for celebration among sponsors, promotional partners like NAWG and agriculturalists whose story is told weekly by the show.

Heartland, sponsored by Monsanto and the American Farm Bureau Federation, is now available on 19 of the top 25 stations in the U.S. and able to reach viewers in the most urban of urban areas in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.

The fifth season contains 22 episodes that are estimated to reach 44 million viewers through PBS stations and RFD-TV. Each month, tens of thousands more see the show online at www.americasheartland.org, where all new and old episodes are available.

Research done this spring confirmed anecdotal evidence that favorability towards agriculture improved dramatically as a result of seeing the show.

One of two annual meetings of the Heartland Advisory Board was held this week in Washington, D.C. NAWG Director of Communications Melissa Kessler and U.S. Wheat Associates Director of Communications Steve Mercer attended the meeting on behalf of the wheat industry.

A number of wheat-related segments have already aired in season five, including those at http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_508/a_life_plan.htm or http://www.americasheartland.org/episodes/episode_510/heartland_to_home.htm

The tax is set to expire at the first of the year and come back in 2011 at a higher rate. The bill passed Thursday, H.R. 4154, would install permanently 2009’s exemption of $3.5 million per person and the 45 percent tax rate, without an index for inflation.

It is unclear how the politics or timing of this issue will play out in the Senate.

Earlier in the year, the Senate endorsed as part of its budget resolution a proposal from Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) that would include a $5 million exemption and make 35 percent the top rate.

Regardless of whether or not that proposal could again gain support, the health care debate is unlikely to stop for the estate tax or other time-sensitive issues. In light of this, there is some talk of tacking a one-year extension of the tax onto an omnibus appropriations bill to avoid the measure’s expiration.

NAWG and 90 other organizations signed onto a letter sent Monday asking House leaders to consider H.R. 3524, which would exclude farm assets from estate taxes for as long as the property remains as a family agricultural operation.

In the letter, addressed to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), the groups expressed general support for estate tax reform and told them “it is essential that Congress additionally deal with the unique problems that farmers and forest owners face with generational family transition.”

The estate tax has been historically burdensome for family farming operations with the majority of asset value tied up in land. The groups told Pelosi and Boehner that by 2011, one in 10 farm estates would be hit by the tax.

NAWG policy calls for a $10 million maximum on which no estate tax would be paid.

The full letter is online at www.wheatworld.org/issues/othercorrespondence/.

The panel heard primarily from economists from around the country with deep backgrounds in agriculture, including from USDA’s Chief Economist Dr. Joseph Glauber, who testified at both hearings.

Glauber concluded in his second day of testimony that the ability to generate and sell offsets would provide income “which would more than compensate” for lost income due to higher energy prices with projected higher commodity prices.

Glauber’s written testimony provided more detail than previously issued by USDA, including projected sources and revenue of offsets; annual offset revenue by region; national changes in land use; and crop production and price impacts on specific commodities.

For wheat, the scenario considered showed relatively little change in production until after 2045 and somewhat larger changes in price – a projected five cent per bushel drop in 2015 and 15 cent per bushel drop in 2020, but a 14 cent per bushel increase in 2030 and 55 cent per bushel increase in 2050.

Dr. Joe Outlaw from the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University testified that of his group’s 11 representative wheat farms, eight would have higher ending cash reserves under a cap-and-trade scenario relative to the baseline. While 17 of 25 feedgrain or oilseed farms also showed higher ending cash reserves, cotton, dairy and cattle operations did not fare well across the board.

Despite the extensive analysis and testimony, the only firm conclusion was that the real costs or benefits are largely unknown, though there was general agreement that the cost of doing nothing and likely regulation would exceed the cost of legislation.

By way of example, Outlaw testified that his organization has been doing policy analysis for Congress for almost 30 years and has never had to make as many assumptions in order to complete their work.

Opening statements from all witness are at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/statements.html.

The national celebration of plenty is also a reminder that modern-day America has the safest, must abundant and most affordable food supply in the history of the world – a feat made possible by the work of agricultural producers in every state.

Late last week, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation naming the week ending on Thanksgiving each year National Farm-City week.

The proclamation said, in part:

“During National Farm-City Week, we express gratitude for the contributions of our Nation’s farmers and ranchers, and we rededicate ourselves to providing all Americans with access to healthy food, and thus, a healthy future…

“I call on Americans as they gather with their families and friends to reflect on the accomplishments of all who dedicate their lives to promoting our nation’s agricultural abundance and environmental stewardship.”

The American Farm Bureau Federation reported earlier in the month that the cost of items making up a classic Thanksgiving dinner dropped 4 percent this year, making it even more affordable for many families.

AFBF’s 24th annual informal price survey of items found on many Thanksgiving Day dinners table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $42.91 – a $1.70 price decrease from last year’s average of $44.61 and a cost per person of less than most fast food meals.

The AFBF survey was taken by more than 200 volunteer shoppers from 35 states looking for items such as turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and coffee.

AFBF economists say that despite retail price increases during the last year or so, American consumers have enjoyed relatively stable food costs over the years, particularly when adjusted for inflation.

Tuesday night’s AgChat on social networking site Twitter focused on thanking farmers – or #thankafarmer in Twitter-speak.

AgChat is a weekly conversation in which agriculturalists and consumers with Twitter accounts can participate by searching Twitter feeds for #agchat and responding back to questions asked using the #agchat symbol.

The chat was followed by an effort on Wednesday to make #thankafarmer a Twitter “trending topic” – or one of the most talked-about items on the site.

For more on AgChat, please visit http://twitter.com/AgChat or http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67010541510, AgChat’s Facebook page.

For more information on the AFBF Thanksgiving survey, please visit http://www.fb.org/

To read the full National Farm-City Week proclamation, please visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-national-farm-city-week

The agreement was signed by both countries on Nov. 22, 2006 – more than three years ago – but has languished due to a heavy legislative calendar and for other political reasons.

In their letter, led by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), the Members focused on a key issue for Congressional Leadership – jobs.

“For almost two decades, more than 90 percent of Colombian products have enjoyed open and duty-free access to American markets. At the same time, U.S. exports to Colombia face steep tariffs as high as 20 percent,” the letter said. “This inequity has resulted in lost opportunities for American businesses, and lost jobs for Americans.”

NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates are highly supportive of quick action on the Colombia agreement to help preserve U.S. market share in that country.

Colombia is the largest market for U.S. wheat in South America, with a U.S. market share typically around 70 percent and sales last year valued at $225 million. However, leading competitors, notably Canada and Argentina, are poised to take more of the market due in large part to more favorable trade preferences. Wheat from Argentina already enters duty free, and Canada will soon be ratifying a free trade agreement with the country. Colombia is also working on a free trade agreement with the European Union.

In July, U.S. Wheat sponsored a trade team including Colombian wheat buyers and millers who told the media, Obama Administration officials and Hill offices that U.S. wheat sales to their country would likely drop by more than 50 percent if a pending free trade agreement isn’t ratified soon.

A copy of the letter is available at http://hastings.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=1311.

More on the Colombia agreement’s importance to the wheat industry is at www.wheatworld.org/trade.

The groups said the successful roll-out of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), the umbrella organization over AFRI, and increased research funding in FY2010 were important first steps in bringing change to agricultural research efforts.

Still, agricultural research done with competitive grant money is dramatically underfunded. According to NIFA, in the 2007 fiscal year, USDA received proposals requesting more than $772 million, with awards made totaling just over $164 million – just 21 percent of requests.

The groups said, in part:

“Providing $500 million for AFRI in the FY 2011 Budget will not meet this entire need, but will ensure that we continue to address critical issues in agricultural research and extension funding for the coming year. This will also put us on a path to reaching the authorized funding level of $700 million for AFRI by the end of this Farm Bill in 2012…”

NAWG and other signatories also stressed that funding increases for competitive research should not be at the expense of basic research programs at land-grant universities or USDA, many of which are also dramatically underfund.

The full letter is available online at www.wheatworld.org/research.

Commodity Classic is the premier convention and trade show of the U.S. wheat, corn, soybean and sorghum industries. Like in past years, the 2010 event will feature valuable educational sessions, a robust trade show including a large wheat industry presence, entertainment events and important networking opportunities.

Wheat producers and members of the media covering wheat should keep in mind the following:

Commodity Classic is also NAWG’s annual meeting. NAWG will hold committee meetings throughout the day on Wednesday, March 3, before the show officially opens. NAWG’s Board and the Board of the NAWG Foundation will meet in the afternoon of Saturday, March 6, after most show activities have concluded. A full schedule of NAWG activities is available online at http://www.wheatworld.org/meetings-events/commodity-classic/.

All wheat growers and wheat state association representatives who register for Classic should mark that they are members of NAWG on their registration forms. The number of registrants identifying with NAWG affects NAWG’s ability to share in any profits derived from the show, and NAWG staff’s ability to ensure educational opportunities for wheat growers continue to grow at future Classics.

NAWG members registering by Jan. 20 will pay only $190 for convention registration, a savings of $50 over full convention registration costs. The cost for nonmembers before Jan. 20 is $290, meaning that most growers who are not members of their state wheat association could join their state organization and NAWG and participate in Classic for less than registering as a nonmember.

Also this week, members of the media were sent a media advisory with information about how they can register and become credentialed to cover the convention. Any reporters who would like to participate but did not get information this week should contact Melissa George Kessler in the NAWG office at 202-547-7800 or Susan Powers at the National Corn Growers Association at 636-733-9004.

More information about the convention is available online at www.commodityclassic.com, and more information about wheat activities at the 2010 show is at http://www.wheatworld.org/meetings-events/commodity-classic/.

The Consumer Financial Protection Act, H.R. 3126, passed by the Committee last month, establishes a new federal agency that is given broad authority to oversee the provision of credit and financial services to consumers.

The groups noted that the bill does not name Farm Credit specifically, but would still impact the system’s business practices under definitions of such terms as “credit”, “consumer financial product”, “financial activity” and “financial product or service”.

Another bill under consideration by the Financial Services Committee, the Financial Stability Improvement Act, H.R. 3996, would put into place a “wind-down” process for financial institutions that represent a systemic risk to the U.S. economy. That bill also contains no direct references to Farm Credit, but would wrap the system into its jurisdiction through the definitions of key concepts.

Signatories of this week’s letter expressed concern that the Agriculture Committee’s jurisdiction over Farm Credit was being broached through these bills and other efforts at market reform, and urged Members to reject any attempt to have non-agricultural oversight of the Farm Credit System.

“We ask that you take whatever steps are necessary to keep the Farm Credit System out of larger financial institution reform efforts,” they said. “The possible loss of any of your committee’s jurisdiction to other committees – not nearly so familiar with agriculture – would be devastating to our producers.”

To read the full letter, please visit http://www.wheatworld.org/issues/othercorrespondence/.

The bill approved was a Chairman’s mark of a bill authored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that corrected a number of technical issues and made some positive changes, including clarifying compliance with international trade obligations.

At the Committee mark-up, more than a dozen other amendments were offered and withdrawn with an agreement to work on them prior to a floor vote. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) offered three positive amendments related to performance standards, confidentiality and jurisdiction.

Like its House companion, passed in July, the Senate bill, S. 510, would grant the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to oversee everything from food production and processing to distribution and retail, and to ensure that imported food meets U.S. safety standards.

The Senate version approved this week is preferred by NAWG and some other agricultural organizations because it is more science-based, and it has been considered on a bipartisan basis. While most major obstacles have been removed, timing is dependent on the health care debate, which will likely push any floor action into next year.

NAWG and coalition partners have been closely watching the legislative process on this issue, which has gained traction due to a number of high-profile food safety scares in recent years. NAWG staff will continue work with Members and other agriculture groups to monitor the bill and ensure that it remains science- and risk-based as it moves toward a floor vote.

For more on food safety legislation, please visit www.wheatworld.org/foodsafety.

News from Commodity Classic

Get the latest news from the 2010 Commodity Classic

The importance of a continual flow of new technology in wheat production was emphasized at the meeting, at which Coppock presented twice on behalf of U.S. producers.

In a plenary session on Monday, Coppock showed the production and yield trends on a global basis for wheat and made the point that current trajectories will fall far short of the oft-cited need to double production by 2050.

This level of need was projected by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization in 2008, when global wheat production was about 700 million metric tons. Doubling that number by 2050 would require production of 1.4 billion MT in 2050, but current growth in wheat production globally will lead only to a production number of just over 1.0 billion MT. Without some sort of changed paradigm – most likely from new technology – global wheat production will fall 380 million MT below the anticipated need in 2050.

Coppock went into detail on declining production and acreage trends and relatively flat yield curve in United States wheat production, pointing out that these trends will make hitting the target even more difficult from a U.S. perspective.

“Improvements in productivity have always come from new technology,” he said. NAWG’s strategic goal of a 20 percent improvement in yields in the decade leading up to 2018 “will not be achieved by any single technology, but by a combination of technologies that will certainly include biotechnology.”

Coppock was joined on the general session panel by Dominic Dyer, chief executive of the United Kingdom’s Crop Protection Association; Dr. Mark Avery, director of conservation with the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds; and Dr. Julian Little, chairman of the UK Agricultural Biotechnology Council.

The general question posed to the panel was whether agricultural science and technology is the only solution for long term food supply sustainability. Julian Little’s response summed up a majority of the afternoon’s discussion: “Will new technology be the only answer? Probably not. But without it we don’t stand a chance.”

For more about the need for biotechnology in wheat and NAWG’s work on this issue, please visit www.wheatworld.org/biotech.

Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) will be introducing legislation with Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Agriculture Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) to expand agricultural trade to Cuba and are looking for original cosponsors.

Cuba relies on imports for most of its food needs and, between 2000 and 2006, Cuba’s food and agricultural imports nearly doubled. Agricultural producers in the United States are well positioned to benefit from additional trade in Cuba, but current U.S. policy hampers their ability to supply the Cuban market.

The Peterson/Moran legislation would:

• provide a direct payment provision for Cuban buyers, eliminating the need to go through banks in other countries to conduct agricultural trades.
• revise the current “payment of cash in advance” regulation by requiring agricultural exports to Cuba meet the same payment requirements as exports to other countries.
• allow U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba, reducing the bureaucratic red tape currently required for agricultural associations, agribusinesses and others to make agricultural sales in the country.

NAWG and U.S. Wheat have long supported any effort to ease trade restrictions with Cuba, which cost the U.S. wheat industry an estimated $40 million per year, and NAWG asks all interested wheat producers to contact their Members and urge them to sign on to the Peterson/Moran bill.

For a briefing paper on Cuba trade and its impact on the wheat industry, visit www.wheatworld.org/trade.

A letter sent Monday to correspond with a subcommittee hearing on the issue specifically addressed S. 1816, a bill to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay program under the Clean Water Act (CWA). S. 1816 would codify a May 2009 executive order and give EPA and other federal agencies broad and undefined new authorities despite the fact that many reports and most milestones required by the executive order are still being drafted and are not yet public.

For instance, the bill would codify court-ordered Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) while shortening the process for TMDL completion, imposing burdensome regulations and penalties before procedures and practices are defined.

Bill language also significantly expands EPA authority to withhold state funds, withhold current and new permits and supersede state and local programs. The legislation carries strong penalties with short timeframes for correction, leaving no flexibility for agricultural practices like harvest or weather occurrences.

The groups told EPW leaders that, with respect to water quality, agriculture is the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s most effective and efficient land use, but the economic costs imposed by S. 1816 would likely mean many farms would be sold for less-desirable uses like housing developments.

The coalition – made up of NAWG, Maryland Grain Producers Association, New York Corn Growers Association, Virginia Grain Producers Association and National Corn Growers Association – wrote, in part:

“We ask that you carefully consider the broad implications of this legislation for production agriculture and the important role our industry will play in assuring water quality. This legislation subjugates state and local actions to the approval of federal authority through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Our producers and members are concerned about the requirements established by this legislation with little or no consideration to economic impact or future growth.”

The groups argued the efforts to achieve Chesapeake Bay water quality should be cooperative rather than strictly regulatory and encouraged the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Program without substantive changes.

The Chesapeake legislation is one of a number of efforts to clarify or amend the Clean Water Act, with the effect of broadly expanding EPA jurisdiction over agricultural activities.

In January, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down the first U.S. court ruling that pesticide discharge is a point source of pollution subject to additional regulation and permitting under the CWA.

The pending Clean Water Restoration Act would remove the term “navigable” from the definition of the “waters of the United States” in the CWA, clarifying a concept questioned in court many times in recent years, but also dramatically expanding EPA’s regulatory jurisdiction.

The complete letter sent this week can be viewed at http://www.wheatworld.org/issues/environmentalissues/

A Web archive of Monday’s hearing on S. 1816 and other water legislation can be accessed http://www.epw.senate.gov under “Hearings”.

The procedural move used to advance the bill did not allow for amendments and drew criticism not just from panel Republicans, who wanted more analysis before considering the measure, but also moderate Democrats, including EPW Member and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who was the sole “nay” vote Thursday.

It is unclear what will happen to the bill now that it is out of Committee, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the Boxer-Kerry draft will be the basis of climate change legislation considered by the full Senate in coming weeks and months.

On Wednesday, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and five co-sponsors introduced long-awaited legislation that seeks to add an agriculture piece, including an ag offsets program, to the Boxer-Kerry draft.

Stabenow said in a statement that her bill “creates a partnership between our manufacturing and agricultural industries.” Specifically, the bill would put USDA in charge of agriculture and forestry offset programs, provide incentives to early actors, support other ag and forestry actions that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and support climate-related research in agriculture, including research on adaptation to changing weather patterns.

After the Stabenow bill’s introduction, NAWG and five other ag groups wrote the coalition of Senators who have been working on the language to express appreciation for their focus and work on a market based cap-and-trade system.

The letter was addressed to Stabenow and the co-sponsors of the bill, including Baucus, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska).

The organizations strongly emphasized the need for positive economic value from agriculture’s involvement in any climate change regulation.

“An important goal for our industry has been to craft legislation which makes economic sense for the agricultural community, including participation for early actors, an appropriate definition of permanence and contract duration, and a primary role for USDA as the oversight agency,” they said. “It is imperative that legislation be structured in such a way that the value for farmers and ranchers exceeds potential costs. The bill you introduced today is a positive step toward developing a workable and beneficial agricultural offsets program in the U.S.”

Signatories of the letter included NAWG, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, National Milk Producers Federation, National Alfalfa & Forage Association and American Farmland Trust.

NAWG and other agricultural groups have been working for months with Stabenow’s staff and others to craft offsets language that could result in a net economic benefit for farmers, the top priority for the NAWG Board in the climate change legislative debate.

The full legislative text of the Stabenow bill introduced this week is available at http://harkin.senate.gov/documents/pdf/4af1b6c4e464d.pdf.

The commodity group letter is available in full at www.wheatworld.org/climatechange.

Nebraska wheat grower and NAWG Director Scott Osler had also been slated to attend, but a cancelled flight out of North Platte prevented his attendance.

The meeting was organized by Subcommittee Chairman Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and Ranking Member Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and included producer representatives from a number of commodity organizations.

Many of the points raised at the session garnered agreement across the groups in attendance, including a need for more affordable coverage at higher protection levels, the need to address shallow losses, a wish to separate coverage by major farming practices (such as irrigated vs. non-irrigated) and the need for more responsive and market-oriented quality loss adjustment factors. Several of the producers in attendance also commented that the amount of coverage available at affordable prices has not kept up with rising input costs.

Coppock pointed out that crop insurance is a very significant part of the farm safety net for wheat, with 77 percent of wheat acres nationally having some sort of coverage. Coppock also emphasized a number of crop insurance’s important benefits, including that it’s specifically tailored to real farm risks, written in permanent law and understandable and acceptable to the nonfarm public. In addition, crop insurance indemnities are not arbitrarily limited by payment limitations, and crop insurance is compliant with WTO obligations.

Another observer noted that as the process for a 2012 Farm Bill begins to take shape over the next couple of years, agriculture may need to assess the array of farm programs, including the commodity programs, SURE and crop insurance, and decide if it would be better to focus the resources more intently on a smaller number of programs. That notion will be an appetizer on the food-for-thought menu of NAWG’s Domestic and Trade Policy Committee as it begins preparations for the next farm bill over the coming months.

When NAWG and others raised the problem of actual production history (APH) erosion from multiple years of successive crop losses, Boswell specifically asked NAWG to help with the issue by proposing a solution.

Boswell also expressed interest in forming an advisory working group of farmers to help create solutions to the issues raised at the session, with which the groups largely agreed to participate.

The six-day program is a function of the NAWG Foundation and is organized and generously sponsored by Monsanto, with many activities taking place near Monsanto’s headquarters.

Speakers went in-depth on a range of topics in which future wheat leaders should be especially interested – critical issues facing the agriculture industry, the policy process, leadership styles and techniques, new forms of communication on the Internet, and how to work effectively with media in interviews and other interactions.

Participants also heard from members of the Monsanto wheat team about the company’s work in wheat research and toured Monsanto’s facilities.

During the sessions, each grower was charged with finding a handful of ways he or she can reach out to the media and public or work more effectively in their wheat organization. Ideas included leaving comments on news stories, joining Twitter or writing an op-ed.

Growers participating included Brian Eggebrecht of Malta, Mont.; Clark Kauffman of Filer, Idaho; Ryan McCormick of Kremlin, Mont.; Ron Perry of Wendell, N.C.; Hope Pjesky of Goltry, Okla.; Tyson Raymond of Helix, Ore.; Brad Thykeson of Portland, N.D.; Randy Traxler of Otis, Colo.; and Russell Walker of Throckmorton, Texas.

NAWG representatives at WILOT included President Karl Scronce of Klamath Falls, Ore.; Melissa George Kessler, NAWG’s director of communications, who spoke about the wheat industry’s structure and communications coalitions; and Cori Wittman, NAWG’s director of government affairs for farm policy, who talked about the lobbying process.

While in St. Louis, Scronce and Wittman also represented NAWG at the Monsanto Grower Advisory Committee (GAC) meeting that overlapped with WILOT.

The GAC brings together leaders from commodity groups and Monsanto at least once a year to discuss common issues and new opportunities facing the industry.

ome topics discussed at this week’s meeting included the economic situation and how that affects commodity production; the latest in U.S. crop protection options; alliances on the issue of sustainable agriculture; and how the ag community can reach and build trust with the public.

Trade Talk, set for Thursday, allows farm organization leadership to meet with dozens of reporters in just a few hours at a one-day trade show. NAWG and U.S. Wheat typically share booths at Trade Talk and other farm media conventions and will again this year.

NAWG President Karl Scronce of Klamath Falls, Ore., NAWG Immediate Past President David Cleavinger of Wildorado, Tex., and U.S. Wheat Associates Vice Chairman Don Schieber of Ponca City, Okla., will represent their organizations and wheat growers at the event.

Likely topics of conversation will include a number of recent research and biotechnology announcements; the need for a robust trade agenda; declining acres and prices; and ongoing work on farm bill implementation, transportation concerns and crop insurance issues.

In the days before Trade Talk and other NAFB convention activities, the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) will hold its 2009 Trends in Agriculture conference, focused on managing communications in the ever-growing agriculture community.

Cleavinger will speak Tuesday afternoon on a grower panel at the event discussing ways in which he has changed his business to adapt to the modern communications environment. U.S. Wheat Associates Director of Communications Steve Mercer is the chairman of the 2009 Trends in Agriculture program.

For more information about either event or to set up an interview time, please contact Melissa Kessler at NAWG at 202-547-7800 or or Mercer at U.S. Wheat at 202-463-0999.

Sponsored and produced annually by Monsanto in partnership with the NAWG Foundation, this program is targeted at producers who want to become more involved in wheat grower associations.

Sessions will provide in-depth information and training on leadership styles and communication; media interaction; and the wheat industry’s involvement with major farm policy issues. The program, which runs until Friday afternoon, will also include field trips to a Whole Foods store and Monsanto.

Friendships made between growers during program training are another important element of WILOT, since many participants go on to work together in state and national wheat organizations.

The 2009 WILOT class includes:

• Brian Eggebrecht, Malta, Mont.;
• Clark Kauffman, Filer, Idaho;
• Ryan McCormick, Kremlin, Mont.;
• Ron Perry, Wendell, N.C.;
• Hope Pjesky, Goltry, Okla.;
• Tyson Raymond, Helix, Ore.;
• Brad Thykeson, Portland, N.D.;
• Randy Traxler, Otis, Colo.;
• Russell Walker, Throckmorton, Texas;
• Karl Scronce, NAWG; and
• Melissa George Kessler, NAWG

The letter was directed to the Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and included items the groups believe are satisfactory in S. 510, the current legislative draft, as well as items the groups believe should be amended.

As with previous communications on the topic of food safety, the groups emphasized the need for a science- and risk-based approach to any regulation.

Specific recommendations focused on the need to:

• clarify the Food and Drug Administration’s records-access authority, including the addition of confidentiality safeguards;
• adopt more science-based thresholds in provisions addressing hazard analysis;
• incorporate into existing provisions flexibility for FDA to consider warehouses storing grains, oilseeds and other similarly handled, low-risk, raw agricultural commodities when determining regulatory requirements;
• clarify that any performance standards adopted by FDA be promulgated through notice-and-comment rulemaking;
• add provisions creating an indemnification program to compensate individual producers and facilities for monetary losses incurred as a result of erroneous administrative actions or inactions; and
• reexamine the specified timelines and deadlines for implementing various provisions to ensure they are achievable.

Like the House-passed version of food safety legislation approved in July, the Senate version would grant the FDA authority to oversee everything from food production and processing to distribution and retail, and to ensure that imported food meets U.S. safety standards.

After much negotiation, the final House bill largely exempted grain operations – which are considered extremely low-risk – from overly broad records access and traceability standards.

NAWG and coalition partners have been closely watching the legislative process on this issue, which has gained traction due to a number of high-profile food safety scares in recent years.

For more information about this issue and the letter sent this week, please visit www.wheatworld.org/foodsafety.

USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Dallas Tonsager and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics Rajiv Shah testified on their organizations’ work during the first panel.

Tonsager said USDA’s Rural Development work area has funded more than 100 projects worth more than $200 million for biofuels projects from FY2001 to FY2008. He also reported on a number of 2008 Farm Bill programs related to biofuels development including:

• the Biorefinery Assistance Program, which has issued two awards for a total of $105 million in funding, with two additional applications under review;
• the Repowering Assistance Program, which has an application window closing on Nov. 1 that should provide $20 million in funding for biorefineries to replace fossil fuels with renewable biomass; and
• the Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, which provides payments to agricultural producers to expand production of advanced biofuels and should soon issue $30 million to eligible producers who applied in FY2009.

Shah focused on the research challenges posed by the current renewable fuels standard (RFS), which requires 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022, of which 21 billion gallons must be produced from sources other than corn.

Shah says REE is “allocating significant resources from both our intramural and extramural research assets where scientific breakthroughs can make significant contributions to the emerging biofuels industry.”

Shah said recent research has established guidelines for harvesting corn stover residues to protect soil water and carbon levels. He also said USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science have funded seven projects totaling $6.3 million for fundamental research into biomass production.

A second panel included private-sector witnesses who shared their views of the industry’s progress and their companies’ plans.

Craig Shealy, president and CEO of Osage Bio Energy provided an extensive report on its first plant, set to become operational in May 2010. The plant, located in Hopewell, Va., will use barley grown as a double crop behind soybeans as a feedstock. Shealy reported this would bring $100 million in annual revenue into the local farming community and help reverse the trend of declining agricultural acres.

William Roe, the president and CEO of Coskata, Inc., testified that their process can produce 100 gallons of ethanol per dry ton of biomass material. He said cellulosic ethanol can compete directly with oil when it is in the range of $70 to $90 per barrel and provide 96 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions throughout the fuel’s lifecycle.

Susan Ellerbusch, the president of BP Biofuels North America, told the Subcommittee that her company is looking to produce cellulosic biofuels from dedicated energy crops as well as biobutanol and biofuels using Brazilian sugarcane as a feedstock.

All three industry witnesses cited difficulty getting financing – even with the backing of government grants and loans – as a major impediment to moving forward with their projects. The witnesses also addressed inconsistencies in the RFS and the ethanol blend wall they feel need to be corrected for the industry to grow.

NAWG has been deeply involved in efforts to create policies supporting second- and third-generation biofuels, particularly cellulosic ethanol that uses wheat straw or dedicated energy crops as a feedstock. For more on that work, please visit http://www.wheatworld.org/issues/cellulosicethanol/.

Written testimony provided by the witnesses is available on the Committee website at http://agriculture.house.gov/hearings/index.

The Secretaries of Energy, Transportation and Interior testified the first day of hearings along with the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Other witnesses included sitting Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former Senator John Warner (R-Va.) and representatives of interests throughout the economy, including unions, environmental groups, private enterprise, think tanks, transportation advocates, state regulatory agencies, academia, utilities, the Defense Department and even Google.

Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) released a Chairman’s mark of her climate change bill late last week with limited EPA analysis attached. In a move that has already proved contentious, the bill text would allow EPA to continue to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, which the Agency was given the authority to do by the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA.

Like a previous draft, the Chairman’s mark failed to include a robust agricultural piece. NAWG and other agricultural groups are working with the office of Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and others to help create language for an amendment that will include agriculture provisions.

Boxer indicated this week that the bill’s mark-up would begin as early as Tuesday and last a number of days, though it is unclear if Republicans, wary of the draft bill and the time allowed to review it, will accept that timeline or if they will boycott.

The goal of Congressional Leadership has been to substantially complete climate change legislation before an international meeting on the issue in December, but political considerations and a heavy legislative calendar have been impediments, and that now appears unlikely.

The Chairman’s mark is accessible online by visiting http://epw.senate.gov and clicking under “Majority Page,” “Press Releases” and selecting the Oct. 23, 2009, release. Witness lists and Webcast archives from all three hearings this week are also available at http://epw.senate.gov under “Hearings”.

NAWG held meetings of its four policy committees on Wednesday, and members of both organizations met in joint committee meetings covering biotechnology and trade on Wednesday and Thursday.

The two Boards met in a joint session on Thursday afternoon, and the NAWG Board and NAWG Foundation Board met Friday morning.

New or modified resolutions accepted by the NAWG Board included:

• NAWG supports prioritization of research and funding on wheat stem sawfly.
• [NAWG and U.S. Wheat] urge public universities to (1) recognize the producer investment in public germplasm development and (2) also urge public universities to adopt a standardized uniform Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) that includes the ‘Wheat Workers’ Code of Ethics’ for germplasm exchange with public and private third parties.
• NAWG opposes any [Risk Management Agency] rule which restricts the use of any sound and proven agronomic practice.
• NAWG supports any organization or council whose goal is to provide transportation relief for wheat producers.
• NAWG supports a farm to market exemption from interstate commerce regulatory enforcement to allow the movement of wheat from the farm gate to its first point of delivery where title is transferred within the state of origin.
• NAWG supports the timely appointment of state [Farm Service Agency] committees.
• Any effort made by Congress or the Administration to strengthen the country’s food and feed safety systems should be risk-based and reliant on sound science.
• NAWG and U.S. Wheat urge immediate ratification of the U.S./Colombia free trade agreement and will prioritize efforts toward that end.
• While we support enhanced interagency coordination, we insist that the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) continue to focus on agricultural export market development and policy as its primary function.
• While our global partners must comply with their commitments on trade as agreed in the [World Trade Organization], bilateral, regional and other official trade instruments, we encourage the administration to exercise great care in implementing enhanced trade monitoring and enforcement so as not to provoke retaliation that has a negative impact on U.S. agricultural competitiveness.

Resolutions deleted or allowed to expire included:

• NAWG supports including final offer arbitration including pooling in any rail competition bill that moves through Congress. NAWG also supports allowing producers to bring final offer arbitration cases.
• NAWG supports an amendment to the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act to provide a tax exemption for costs associated with expenses necessary to maintain U.S. citizens working overseas through USDA’s Foreign Market Development (FMD) program.
• NAWG encourages each member state organization to identify a minimum of 20 growers, in addition to their state officers, to attend the annual convention. A list of these names should be forwarded to the NAWG office six months prior to the conference to facilitate communication with the growers about the event.

Additionally, the NAWG Board of Directors accepted a bylaw change to empower the NAWG Nominating Committee to elect its own chairman, and the NAWG Foundation Board of Directors accepted a bylaw change to clarify the makeup and role of the Foundation Development Committee.

A couple of notable transitions were also marked at this week’s meetings.

The Snowbird sessions were the first for the Ohio Wheat Growers Association as a NAWG member-state. Ohio wheat organizations joined both NAWG and U.S. Wheat Associates this summer.

A goodbye reception was held Thursday evening for NAWG CEO Daren Coppock, who will move to the Agricultural Retailer’s Association as of Jan. 1, 2010. Coppock has been NAWG’s CEO since 2001.

Audio reports from each NAWG policy committee chairman and joint committee chairman and photos from throughout the week are available at www.wheatworld.org under “Newsroom”.

Available at www.howwheatworks.com, the tool allows participants of all ages to virtually grow, harvest and mill their own kernels to create their desired wheat food.

Each of the program’s four phases – growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle – takes just a few minutes to complete, while the program spans the course of four days. Interactive opportunities include the selection of the type of wheat to be grown and wheat flour to be milled, based on the participant’s preferred wheat food creation.

The program itself incorporates 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information, and the end of each phase includes activity suggestions that will help participants extend the learning experience by preparing wheat-based recipes, exploring wheat grown in their area and viewing harvest videos from America’s Heartland, a public TV show about American agriculture.

For each participant who completes a quiz at the end of the program, the Council and Council members ADM and ConAgra will donate two pounds of flour to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families.

The Council is also offering educational guides at its Web site, www.wheatfoods.org to help group leaders and educators use How Wheat Works with their organizations and classrooms. Activity ideas utilize program content and resources from the Council’s extensive library as well as member and partner materials.

The comments, sent Tuesday, were provided in response to a request in a September Federal Register notice outlining extensive interim guidelines for the pilot program, which was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill.

The groups said, in part:

“Our organizations strongly support the current highly successful U.S. produced in-kind commodity food aid donation programs. U.S. food aid programs are essential for the survival of countless people around the world…Because so many people around the world rely heavily on U.S. food aid assistance, the LRP study must carefully weigh how LRP will affect our ability to deliver nutritious, safe, reliable and recognized food assistance to those in need. These issues are all vitally important to the reputation of the U.S. food aid system and should be thoroughly considered when implementing this pilot study.”

The comments elaborated on issues of nutrition, safety, availability, reliability and recognition that the groups believe should be taken into consideration as FAS moves forward with LRP guidelines and the program.

The groups asserted that the U.S. government and the providers of food aid must ensure that local markets are not distorted and nutrition and safety aren’t compromised in an effort to reduce costs. The groups also expressed concern about the U.S. reputation for providing food aid, which has been developed over many years and could be quickly tarnished if lower-quality food is seen as coming from the U.S.

The full comments are available online at www.wheatworld.org/trade.

It was a privilege for me to take part in the third Wheat Summit session this week in Kansas City.

The Wheat Summit meetings, sponsored by NAWG and the North American Millers’ Association, are unusual forums because they bring together folks from throughout the industry – grower groups like NAWG and U.S. Wheat to end users like bakers – to discuss what our future is going to be and how we get there. These meetings are private – limited to the 80 people in the room – so everyone can feel comfortable being frank about the problems they see down the road and how we envision our roles in fixing them.

The focus of this week’s session was on the future of wheat and our industry, and we talked a lot about research and what role biotechnology will play. There are almost endless exciting opportunities for improvements on the farm and for consumers as more is learned about the wheat genome and developments are made in transgenics as well as intragenics, where resources from wheat’s own genetic material are used.

We continued important, open dialogues about issues like adding value, capturing value, liability, stewardship and methods to pool resources to continue much-needed research now and into the future.

Food safety and choice for customers were two fundamental issues discussed during the Summit meetings. U.S. producers can and will provide consumers around the world with a variety of product options that fit their needs and preferences. We also talked a lot about quality assurance, which is always a focus of our industry.

We were happy to have representatives of Canadian and Australian growers with us at the Wheat Summit meetings. While we are fierce export competitors with both of those countries, their growers are facing many of the same challenges with drought and disease, lack of research funding and acceptance of biotechnology’s inclusion in the crop. Our Canadian and Australian friends were very open and helpful in their discussion of their challenges and successes.

I also attended an associated meeting among university researchers. While we all know and support our local breeders through our check-offs, we don’t often get them together with growers to ask how to work better with private companies, foundations, grower associations and others in the industry. University partners have to get more involved in the business process to be able to take advantage of the possibilities new collaborations with private research can provide.

NAWG has a goal of increasing wheat yields by 20 percent by 2018. That’s a very aggressive goal, but one we’ve set knowing that the industry needs an aggressive goal. Our acres are going down, but our cost of production isn’t, nor is the number of mouths we need to feed.

The question for this week’s meeting and other activities going forward is how do we the growers, industry partners, university representatives and others in the value chain work together to do what’s best for wheat in breeding, licensing and other areas that will move us toward that goal?

I was very encouraged this week to hear public researchers, representatives of private companies that do extensive research, agribusiness and producers agree that we can make it work.

- McReynolds is a wheat producer from Woodston, Kan.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates there are 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger. FAO says 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work on small-scale farms and in rural areas throughout the world. The U.N. has also estimated that 70 percent more food will be needed to feed a population of more than nine billion people by the year 2050.

The 2009 World Food Prize was awarded Thursday to Dr. Gebisa Ejeta, whose work with sorghum hybrids resistant to drought and the devastating Striga weed have enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ejeta received his award as part of the World Food Symposium, a full week of events held in Des Moines, Iowa, to discuss food security issues. Much more about those sessions, including video of speeches from Bill Gates and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, is available at http://www.worldfoodprize.org/symposium/2009.htm

The sessions were attended by representatives from throughout the wheat chain and included discussion on a range of topics, including recent research announcements; steps to take toward a smooth introduction of biotechnology; and the state of research and biotechnology acceptance in Canada and Australia, also major wheat producers. University and private company representatives also held discussions on licensing.

NAWG and the North American Millers’ Association sponsored this week’s meeting. The two groups held the first Wheat Summit in September 2006 to kick-off industry-wide discussions on the competitiveness crisis facing wheat. A follow-up meeting was held in April 2007 to discuss the findings of topical work-groups, and this week’s meeting expanded further in the areas of research and biotechnology.

While Summit meetings are closed to the public and press to encourage frank discussion, NAWG and NAMA held a post-Summit press call on Wednesday and have done a number of interviews on the meeting.

For more about the wheat competitiveness issue and NAWG’s work on it, visit www.wheatworld.org/issues/competitiveness.

This week’s Word on Wheat includes commentary about the recent meeting from NAWG First Vice President Jerry McReynolds.

NAWG and the North American Millers’ Association held the first Wheat Summit in September 2006 to allow representatives of interests ranging from trait providers to grocery stores to talk for the first time about myriad challenges facing domestic wheat production.

Those attendees formed workgroups focused on technology and research, domestic competitiveness, domestic farm policy, and export markets, all of which presented proposals at a second Summit meeting in April 2007.

Next week’s meeting will follow-up on the topics discussed at previous sessions; include analysis of recent announcements related to wheat research and biotechnology; and examine the wheat industries in Australia and Canada, which face some similar competitiveness issues.

While Summit meetings are closed to the public and press to enhance the openness of the discussions, key leaders will be available on a press call following the meeting to discuss take-aways and next steps.

Panelists available on the call will include NAWG CEO Daren Coppock; North American Millers’ Association President Betsy Faga; National Wheat Improvement Committee Chairman Dr. Jim Peterson; Grain Growers of Canada Executive Director Richard Phillips; and Agrifood Awareness Australia Executive Director Paula Fitzgerald.

The call, open to media and other interested parties within the industry, will take place Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 12:30 p.m. Central time.

To obtain call-in information, please e-mail mkessler@wheatworld.org.

In a speech meant to set the tone and priorities for the new agency, Vilsack outlined his vision for addressing some of the world’s major challenges and described the new Institute as a “research ‘start-up’ company” for agricultural research.

He said he wants to see USDA’s research area focus most of its resources on accomplishing “a few, bold outcomes with great power to improve human health and protect our environment,” including in the areas of food security and world hunger; nutrition and ending child obesity; food safety; climate change; and renewable energy.

USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics Dr. Rajiv Shah and newly-appointed NIFA Director Dr. Robert Beachy also spoke, along with representatives of the State Department, Department of Energy, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

NIFA was created in the 2008 Farm Bill to be an agriculture research body similar to the National Institutes of Health and to replace the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES).

A cornerstone of the new agency is the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), a competitive grants program authorized to receive up to $700 million per year in federal funding. Many in the agricultural community and Congress are working to create a plan for the program to actually receive that level of funding, a giant leap forward from the $262.482 million appropriated in the FY2010 process – itself a major increase.

NAWG CEO Daren Coppock attended the launch session, and NAWG and the National Wheat Improvement Committee issued a joint press statement shortly after it was over, saying the organizations “are hopeful that [NIFA’s] inception will spur important new investments in agricultural research.”

“There is plenty of hard work that lies ahead,” said Coppock and NWIC Chairman Dr. Jim Peterson. “In too few years, there will be billions more people to feed on this planet, and our production is threatened every day by weather and emerging disease and insect pests.

“Leadership and money are important parts of these battles. USDA and NIFA have excellent leaders in Under Secretary Raj Shah and Dr. Roger Beachy, the new NIFA director. We were grateful to see a significant boost in funding for competitive grants through the FY2010 appropriations process and especially pleased that the funds did not come at the expense of other important research efforts. However, we know that funding for both core research and competitive grant programs still falls far short compared to the great challenges we now face.”

“Aggressive and coordinated research is vital to the success of our industry and to all those enterprises throughout the economy that depend on our products.”

More information about the new Institute is available online at http://nifa.usda.gov or at a blog posting by Shah, accessible at http://www.usda.gov/blog/usda/entry/usda_launches_national_institute_of