Special Report

Commodity groups set priorities

Corn and soybean growers set their policy for the upcoming year.  And while the commodity organizations are different, their goals are similar.

National Corn Growers Association president Chip Bowling says the nation’s corn farmers identified three major priorities in 2015. “Biofuels, ethanol and preserving the Renewable Fuels Standard, trade and Trade Promotion Authority were at the top of that list,” he says.  “And then environmental policies and regulations come to the very top.”

Bowling tells Brownfield – all of those topics are imperative to preserving a farmers profitability. “We know that prices are down and margins are going to be tight,” he says.  “Trade, biotech, preserving the RFS, regulations all play in our profitability.  We need to use more corn and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Chip Bowling, NCGA President

Wade Cowen, president of the American Soybean Association tells Brownfield soybean producers have similar goals heading into this coming year.  But he says, their major focus is trade.  “The Secretary talked about trade and TPA and we made a commitment to him that when we go to the Hill next month that will be one of our top priorities,” he says.  “We’re going to try and get it done because it is so important to our industry.”

Wade Cowen, ASA President