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Iowa Ag News Headlines |
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ICGA Members Take Priorities to D.C. During Corn Congress
Iowa Ag Connection - 07/24/2017
Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) farmer-leaders convened in Washington, D.C. this past week with other corn farmers from across the country to advocate for key agricultural issues as part of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Corn
Congress meeting. The Iowa delegation, including ICGA directors, grassroots members, the Iowa Corn Collegiate Advisory Team (CAT) and the Iowa Corn Leadership Enhancement and Development (I-LEAD) Class 8 visited 50 Congressional offices, many
of which represented areas outside the Corn Belt because it is important that all member of Congress understand the importance of American agriculture. These Capitol Hill meetings focused on:
- Expanding consumer access to higher blends of ethanol
- Funding for critical trade promotion and export programs (MAP and FMD)
- Agricultural priorities for the renegotiation of NAFTA
"Corn is a widely universal topic; it touches almost every area of everyone's life," said Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA) President Kurt Hora, a farmer from Washington. "This year, we had the opportunity to talk with non-Iowa, non-corn states on the
Hill and we had a lot of great conversations. I appreciate all of the offices and staffers that took the time to meet with us on our issues. ICGA and NCGA work hard to keep a strong voice on the Hill."
Iowa Corn farmer-leaders on Monday and Tuesday participated in NCGA Action teams to help set the direction of many key programs and activities. On Wednesday, farmers attending Corn Congress heard from Mexican Ambassador Gerónimo Gutierrez
about the prospects of modernizing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Ambassador Gutierrez expressed a strong desire to continue strengthening agricultural trade between the U.S. and Mexico.
In addition to meetings on the Hill, ICGA delegates debated their priorities for the upcoming Farm Bill and approved national policy resolutions. NCGA Director Bob Bowman also received recognition for his service as a retiring director of the board.
"We're advocating for a fully funded Farm Bill that will help meet farmers priorities with crop insurance and funding for export programs," said Hora. "The Federal Crop Insurance programs were written in a way to provide a basic level of risk protection to help
offset bad economic times and severe weather. We're seeing its importance again this year as areas in the Midwest struggle with weather."
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