NCGA Officers Attend USGC Annual Meeting (7-27-06)

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) officers attended the U.S. Grains Council 46th annual meeting in Newport, R.I., this week, spreading the message to USGC delegates that there will be enough corn for all markets.

NCGA President Gerald Tumbleson, First Vice President Ken McCauley, Chairman Leon Corzine and CEO Rick Tolman represented NCGA at the event. Tumbleson said the USGC event is an important meeting for NCGA to attend.

“We have a good relationship with U.S. Grains Council, and we have to work together on several key issues,” said Tumbleson. “One message we brought with us was assuring everyone there will be corn for exports and all of our other markets.”

NCGA recently released the short paper “U.S. Corn Growers: Producing Food AND Fuel,” which examines common myths that the “food versus fuel” fallacy is built upon and demonstrates that U.S. corn growers will continue to be reliable suppliers of both food AND fuel. McCauley said NCGA officers assured USGC delegates corn growers will be able to supply corn to world markets.

“The meeting provided a lot of opportunities to tell our Grains Council partners that there is enough corn to promote for exporting,” he said. “The officers feel that the message is starting to sink in. Now they know they can reassure U.S. customers there will have corn to buy.”

The meeting also discussed several reports from USGC representatives stationed around the world. McCauley said there appears to be strong interest in U.S. corn from several nations, such as Egypt, China and Vietnam. China was one of the hottest topics at the meeting, McCauley said.

“The reports gave us first-hand knowledge of what is happening around the world,” he said. “It’s good to know high-quality U.S. corn is desired throughout the world.”