Farm Compliance

Washington, DC - In a media conference call Thursday afternoon sponsored by the Corn Farmers Coalition, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and others talked about some key issues facing corn farmers, especially the need for higher ethanol blends and the farm bill’s Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program. Representing NCGA on the call was First Vice President Darrin Ihnen. He stressed the need to expand ethanol use for energy security and to provide more of a market for farmers.

“As a corn farmer, let me tell you, we need that new market because with the new generation of biotech seeds and our productivity going through the roof, we’re going to have plenty of bushels to go around,” Ihnen said. “By the end of last year, the U.S. had the capacity to produce more than 10.8 billion gallons of ethanol, displacing more than 7 percent of the total annual gasoline use.”

Ihnen listed a number of growing trends than will affect production agriculture, and talked about the importance of corn ethanol in providing a market to growers and a solution to concerns about energy security and the rural economy. He also stressed the importance of making sure the corn farmers’ voices were heard as the Environmental Protection Agency considers raising the ethanol blend rate. NCGA has set up an Action Alert calling on members and supporters to do just that.

The call also included a presentation from Ross Korves, economic-policy analyst and expert on farm and trade policy at research firm ProExporter Network, who dispelled the idea that growing more corn means using more acres.

“As corn farmers get more productive, so does corn’s environmental impact abate,” Korves said. “More productivity per acre means we produce more corn on the same acres. There is no land use effect because we are simply not using more land.”