Ag Industry News and Events - Page 27

Delegates attending the 2016 National Corn Congress today elected Chris Edgington of Mitchell County and Kevin Ross of Pottawatomie County to the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Board for a three-year term. These two Iowa farmer-leaders will join 2015 elected NCGA Director Bruce Rohwer from O’Brien County.

Agricultural exports help drive the U.S. economy. For instance, exports of U.S. corn and corn products generated $74.7 billion to the U.S. economy in 2014, according to a new analysis by Informa Economics. This is why Congress every year appropriates federal funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program which supports the promotion of corn, corn products as well as value-added U.S. red meat products in international markets. These two Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) programs leverage farmers’ checkoff funds and agribusiness investments to build an active outreach program in more than 50 countries.

STATEMENT FROM PRESIDENT BOB HEMESATH
On behalf of the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA), I would like to thank Congress, especially the entire Iowa delegation (both House and Senate), for their support in the passage of the GMO labeling agreement. We urge President Obama to sign this legislation into law as soon as possible so that there are no negative consequences from Vermont’s labeling law which will hinder interstate commerce, severely disrupt the U.S. farm and food industry, and raise food prices.

Iowans driving flex fuel vehicles received good news this week as  Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed into law a bill extending tax provisions for fuel retailers providing Iowa motorists with homegrown, renewable ethanol and biodiesel.

Senate File 2309 is an act that extends the per gallon income tax benefits for retail stations who choose to offer higher blends of ethanol (E15 and E85) and/or biodiesel (B5 and B11) to their customers at the pump through 2024. This bill passed by the legislature this session, with bipartisan support in both the Iowa House and Iowa Senate.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced last week it will make available $250,000 to match checkoff investments from the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB), Illinois Corn Marketing Board and Nebraska Corn Board for phenotyping research.  This is part of a larger $130 million research initiative announced by USDA to fund research, education, and extension projects. ICPB initiated the a phenotyping research initiative, known as Genomes to Fields, to expand our understanding of interacting effects that corn genetics and crop environments have on corn yields.

While the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement of the proposed Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) moved in a more favorable direction today, we are disappointed that the agency chose to set the 2017 number well below the statute.

As the 2016 Iowa legislative session nears its end, the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) President Bob Hemesath, a farmer from Decorah, says notable progress occurred on many legislative issues positively impacting agriculture.

Even before Iowa farmers received a jump start on planting last week, many within the agricultural industry started placing their bets on what this season may hold. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service predicts that U.S. corn growers will plant 93.6 million acres of corn this year, the first increase in corn planted acreage since 2012 and, if predictions are correct, this year’s crop will be the third largest corn acreage since 1944.

Iowa farmers received a jump start on corn planting last week with a streak of sunny, dry weather days. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service Weekly Crop Progress Report issued on Monday, 13 percent or 13.9 million acres of Iowa’s corn crop has been planted.  A feat significantly ahead of the five-year average of 3 percent planted by mid-April. Rain throughout the state this week hampered some progress although with sunshine in the forecast for this weekend has many farmers remaining optimistic.

Since 1978, Iowa corn growers have elected their peers to serve on the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) to oversee the investment of funds generated by the Iowa corn checkoff. As established by Iowa Code, a portion of the board seats are up for election each year.