Jon Doggett participated in his first NAFB Trade Talk this year as CEO of the National Corn Growers Association. Doggett is no stranger to farm broadcasters, having served as head of NCGA’s policy efforts in Washington D.C. since 2002 and becoming executive vice president in 2014. But he was just officially named CEO in September. “I thought I was traveling …
Corn Growers Dispute Land Use Petition Claims
Environmental groups filed a petition with EPA this week claiming that “millions of acres of wildlife habitat” have been converted to corn and soybean crops to produce biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard, based on a June report to Congress, which offered no specific conclusions about land use change related to biofuels production. The petition claims that previously uncultivated land …
National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center Celebrates 15 Years
The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) is celebrating 15 years of biofuels research this month. The Illinois Corn Growers Association was instrumental in fostering development of the Center in 2003 and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has worked closely with NCERC since its inception and continues partnering on various projects. NCERC Executive Director John …
Crappie Masters National Championship Winners
The winners of the 2018 Crappie Masters National Championship at Truman Lake in Clinton, MO last week were two 21-year-old Missouri natives, Matthew Rogers and Baylor Mead. For the second consecutive year, the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) sponsored the national fishing tournament, which highlights the use of 10 percent ethanol (E10) in all …
Doggett Named NCGA CEO
Congratulations to Jon Doggett, who has been chosen as the new chief executive officer for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), the fifth CEO in the organization’s 61-year history. Doggett has served in the capacity of NCGA interim CEO since August 1st and as NCGA executive vice president since late 2014. Prior to that, he served as vice president of …
USDA Expands Crop Forecast from Last Month
The 2018 corn, soybean, and cotton crops are all forecast to be two percent larger than USDA predicted in August, in the latest crop production report issued Wednesday. Corn production is now forecast at 14.8 billion bushels, up 2 percent from August and up 2 percent from last year. Based on conditions as of September 1, yields are expected to …
Ethanol and Farm Groups Getting Impatient for Answers
In the wake of repeated promises and assurances from the Trump Administration, but no actions, ethanol stakeholder groups are running out of patience. In a joint letter to President Trump today, the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, National Sorghum Producers, American Coalition for Ethanol, Growth Energy, and Renewable Fuels Association urged the administration to …
New NCGA Officer Talks Top Issues at #FPS18
The National Corn Growers Association leadership team was out in full force last week at the Farm Progress Show, including the new kid on the board, Kevin Ross of Iowa. Ross was elected this summer to become the organization’s first vice president for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, and he is jumping right into the issues head …
Export Panel at #ACEconf18 Explores Tariff Wars
National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) interim CEO Jon Doggett and CHS Director of Global Trading Max Thomasson explored the impact of current trade negotiations and tariff wars on the global market for corn and ethanol during a panel at last week’s American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) conference in Minneapolis. Doggett drove home the point that if it was President Clinton …
Ethanol Stakeholders Submit RFS Comments
Friday was the final day to submit comments to the EPA on proposed 2019 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs) and ethanol stakeholders made sure they had their say. Despite the EPA specifically noting that comments on small refinery exemptions would be “deemed beyond the scope of this rulemaking,” every group commenting had something to say about the …