IN THIS ISSUE:

• Commodity Classic Offers A 'Sound Opportunity' and Valuable Experience
  for Growers
• NCGA Presses Congress for Farm Bill Action Before Easter
• NCGA Applauds Energy Provisions Included in Senate Energy Tax Bill
• NCGA Talks Hogs, Harleys and High-Starch Corn at Cattlemen's Conference
• NCGA Nominates 2003 Corn Board Members
• NCGA Reviews Checkoff-Funded Polyols Project

Commodity Classic Offers A 'Sound Opportunity' and Valuable Experience for Growers
Commodity Classic, the premier agricultural event of the year, kicks off next week! Soybean and corn producers who attend 2002 Commodity Classic can learn how to increase efficiency and profitability to improve the bottom line of their farming operations. Commodity Classic, Feb. 21-23, 2002, in Nashville, Tenn., at the Opryland Hotel, is the seventh annual convention and trade show of the NCGA and ASA.

Staff members for both NCGA and ASA will begin arriving Monday to ensure everything is set up in time for the growers' arrival. The trade show features 176 exhibitors representing a wide range of agribusinesses and organizations in more than 600 booths. The seminars will address topics ranging from marketing to new products to the future of agriculture.

For complete details about Commodity Classic in Nashville, Tenn., visit the official web site at http://www.commodityclassic.com/ or call 636-928-3700 and ask for a registration brochure.

NCGA Presses Congress for Farm Bill Action Before Easter
In the wake of the passage of the Senate version of the farm bill on Wednesday, NCGA will be pressing the House and Senate conferees and the Bush administration to agree on a 2002 Farm Bill before planting begins. Now that both chambers have passed their respective versions of farm legislation, the conference committee of House and Senate members must reconcile the considerable policy differences between the bills. For the new farm bill to include the 2002 crop year, the conference must be completed by the beginning of the Congressional Easter recess that begins March 25. Over the next month NCGA plans to work to get responsible legislation before that recess.

NCGA wants the conferees to create a bill that is market oriented, trade friendly, and doesn't distort production. In the NCGA's view, the Senate bill's commitment to commodity programs compares unfavorably to the action taken by the House of Representatives NCGA supports the option to update crop yields for the counter cyclical program (and not for direct fixed payments). But NCGA feels the Senate bill's declining fixed decoupled payments over the first five years undermines progress toward a more balanced, trade compliant farm support program.

NCGA Applauds Energy Provisions Included in Senate Energy Tax Bill
The NCGA is applauding energy provisions included in the Senate Energy Tax Bill. The Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 13, marked-up provisions on energy taxes that will be included in the broader energy legislation expected to be on the Senate Floor over the next few weeks. Key provisions of the bill are a modification of the Small Ethanol Producers Tax Credit and changes in Highway Trust Fund accounting.

On the Small Producer Tax Credit, the provision passed by the Committee would allow the ten-cent-per-gallon small producer tax credit to be passed through to members of farmer-owner cooperatives producing ethanol. In addition, the definition of a small ethanol producer has been increased from 30 million gallons per year to 60 million gallons per year in total production.

Changes in Highway Trust Fund accounting will take the portion of gasoline excise taxes collected on ethanol blends and paid to the General Fund of the Treasury for deficit reduction and reallocate those monies to the Highway Trust Fund.

This amounts to 2.5-cents-per-gallon of ethanol-blended fuel. It will also mean an increase in funds used to build roads but will not affect the benefits of the ethanol tax incentive to refiners and blenders using ethanol.

NCGA has supported both of the provisions included in the Senate Finance Committee's mark-up.

NCGA Talks Hogs, Harleys and High-Starch Corn at Cattlemen's Conference
Yes, you read that right. National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) grower leaders and staff were among those who were talking hogs at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. But first understand that the hogs in question were Harley Davidson motorcycles.

NCGA Corn Board member and Minneapolis, Kans., grower John Tibbits and NCGA Livestock Information and Programs Manager Tracy Snider were among those attending the national meeting to hear Ken Schmidt, the former director of communications for Harley Davidson Motor Co. as keynote speaker. The theme for the 2002 convention was "Ride for the Brand" and Schmidt spoke on the importance of understanding your customer and the significance of branding and customer perception.

While attending the meeting Feb. 4-8 in Denver, Colo., Snider participated in the Annual Cattlemen's College production track regarding animal health and performance to evaluate perceived value of corn and co-products to beef producers. Tibbits participated in the marketing track during the Cattlemen's College.

There are many issues taking precedence with beef and veal producers and processors for 2002 and they include bio-security, pre-harvest beef safety, antibiotics use and increasing beef demand in the wake of Sept. 11 and decreased customer spending through restaurateurs. Also, heavy on the minds of NCBA members was the Farm Bill, as well as captive supply. For more livestock information, visit the NCGA website.

DID YOU KNOW??
The Leader Resource Center, provides the latest information and calendars for NCGA members on the topics affecting them daily.

NCGA Nominates 2003 Corn Board Members
The NCGA has announced candidates for the 2003 NCGA Corn Board. Candidates are: Jamie Jamison, Dickerson, Md.; Richard Peterson, Mountain Lake, Minn.; Ron Olson, Waubay, S.D.; Kyle Phillips, Knoxville, Iowa; Ken McCauley, White Cloud, Kan.; Scott Wall, Yuma, Colo.; and Cal Dalton, Pardeeville, Wis.

The Nominating Committee Report, complete with biographical data on each candidate, has been mailed to state organization offices, delegates, alternates and Corn Board members. Corn Board candidates will have an "NCGA Corn Board Candidate" ribbon for their identification badges during Commodity Classic, Feb. 21-23 in Nashville, and will be introduced during the Commodity Classic Corn Congress session. Corn Board elections will be held during the July 22-23, 2002 Corn Congress meeting in Washington, D.C.

Members of the NCGA Nominating Committee are: Lee Klein, Battle Creek, Neb.; Mike Aylesworth, Hebron, Ind.; Wallie Hardie, Fairmount, N.D.; Bob Boeding, Lawler, Iowa; and Garry Niemeyer, Glenarm, Ill.

DID YOU KNOW??
http://www.ncga.com is the premier source for information regarding Biotechnology, Ethanol, Trade, Transportation, Research and Business Development and Farm Bill Policy.

NCGA Reviews Checkoff-Funded Polyols Project
When a product has more than one use, its value increases exponentially. Corn is one of those products. The NCGA currently has several research projects underway to create new markets for corn. Thanks to the funds of 20 corn-grower checkoff states, these projects will allow the more than 300,000 corn growers in the U.S. to gain better profit opportunities for their crop. One of NCGA's programs will develop the use of inorganic catalysts as a vehicle for the conversion of under-utilized sugars resulting from corn processing that may then be separated into chemicals with industrial applications such as polyols. Several polyol-related meetings were held over two days at Michigan State University in Lansing, Mich., recently to review the progess of the programs.

The project was initiated in May 1999 and is now in the final year of a three-year project to determine the commercial feasibility of converting sorbitol (from corn) into glycols.

The target products of polyols are propylene glycol (PG), ethylene glycol (EG) and glycerol. These three substances are higher value chemicals used in the manufacture of many household consumer goods such as anti-freeze, plastic compounds, personal and health care products and food products. The total domestic market for these compounds is approximately 8 billion pounds annually. The value associated with these commodity chemicals varies with market conditions and product quality.

There are several benefits that could result from this project. Not only could corn utilization from this process reach 500 million bushels annually, but also it would significantly reduce our dependence on petroleum and petroleum-based products.

Key participants in the project such as NCGA, Battelle for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Michigan State University and RAM Associates met to confer on recent progress made by each on the project and to finalize agenda and information for the annual DOE review with Mark Paster, DOE, Office of Industrial Technology.

Attendees included: NCGA Vice President of Operations Mike Rohan and NCGA Director of Business Development Richard Glass; Todd Werpy, Battelle; Dennis Miller, Michigan State University; and Bob Mustell, RAM Associates. Other advances in the project include: PNNL work towards large scale continuous processing; Modifications of catalyst bed/supports that led to some process observations for further exploration/evaluation; Excellent, pro-active project support by a supplier of a variety of industrially prepared catalysts that will be key to future scale-up, and Pilot scale testing and reactor work.

Paster presented a seminar to the MSU faculty, staff, and students on the role of the DOE in funding research on renewable resources. He then met with the MSU principal investigators, NCGA, Battelle, and RAM Associates to review of the progress of the project. Rohan also gave an overview of the project and reinforced its high priority with corn growers and the NCGA organization and discussion followed and progress noted in the project. For more information on other checkoff-funded research, visit the NCGA website.

NCGA THIS WEEK

• Feb. 21-23 Commodity Classic, Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tenn.