NCGA Statement on Flooding and Corn Production (6-13-08)

National Corn Growers Association President Ron Litterer, a farmer in Greene, Iowa, has released the following statement on the impact of significant spring rainfall and flooding in the Midwest on our nation’s corn crop.

“We are very concerned about the effects of this season’s rain and flooding on our nation’s corn crop and on farming families -- many of whom we know personally. Our hearts and prayers go out to them as the waters rise.”

“In Iowa in 1993, record rainfall reached well into the summer months and severely affected the crop that year. That is not the long-term forecast for 2008, and there’s still a lot of the growing season left, so we are hopeful the final results will not be as devastating as it was 15 years ago. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently projected our third-largest crop ever at more than 11.7 billion bushels, we know that the final number depends on how the weather holds.”

“Thanks to a large surplus of beginning stocks from the record 2007 harvest, we came in with a good supply. We are watching the skies at home and tracking the updates from Washington while working hard doing what we do best – growing corn to help feed and fuel the world.”