NCGA focused on increasing demand

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — National Corn Growers Association President Harold Wolle outlined the organization’s efforts at the Illinois Corn Growers Association’s recent annual meeting.

As NCGA president, he also serves as president of the NCGA Foundation, as an executive committee member of NCGA’s Allied Industry Council and as the association’s delegate to the U.S. Grains Council.

Wolle, of Madelia, Minnesota, is a member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Ag Advisory Committee and serves as the liaison to the Agriculture Markets Advisory Council and the Renewable Fuels Association.

Wolle also took time for an interview with AgriNews.

Could you give some background about your farming operation?

Wolle: I’m a fifth-generation family farmer in south-central Minnesota. This year, we celebrated the 140th year of the farm being in our family.

I’m largely down the path of transitioning the operation to my son, Matthew. He lets me drive his equipment in the spring and the fall and it works well. Matt raises corn and soybeans on 1,800 acres.

What are some of the issues that NCGA are focusing on?

Wolle: One of our top priorities at NCGA is increasing the demand for corn. I like to say there are four buckets of demand for corn — ethanol, livestock feed, exports and new uses — and we’re active in all four of those areas.

In ethanol, we need to get year-round E15, we need to get the Next Generation Fuels Act passed and we need to work on ethanol for sustainable aviation fuel.

In the livestock industry, what I worry about are the diseases that are out there. We need to keep those foreign diseases out of this country and develop vaccines for all the diseases that could wreak havoc with our livestock industries.

The No. 1 issue with exports is Mexico, the leading export destination for U.S. corn. The U.S. trade office has established a dispute settlement panel under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement regarding certain Mexican measures concerning biotech corn.

The United States is challenging measures set in Mexico’s Feb. 13, 2023 decree, specifically the ban on use of biotech corn in tortillas or dough, and the instruction to Mexican government agencies to gradually ban the use of biotech corn in all products for human consumption and for animal feed. The United States exported nearly 608 million bushels of corn to Mexico in 2022. What is the status now?

Wolle: The members of the panel have been set and I’m hopeful that in the spring of 2024 they’ll come to a resolution of this issue. Right now, I believe white corn for human consumption is currently under the ban.

The Next Generation Fuels Act would phase in higher gasoline octane levels through the greater use of ethanol beginning with a 95 Research Octane Number standard for automobile model year 2028 and increasing to 98 RON by model year 2033. For a new vehicle to receive certification from an automaker, the bill would require the automobile to operate with an E25 blend for model year 2028 and an E30 blend for model year 2033 onwards. The bill would also require fuel retailers to carry these higher blend fuels. What is the status of the Next Generation Fuels Act?

Wolle: It’s been introduced in both chambers of Congress. We have a significant number of co-sponsors, but we are continuing to seek out and get more co-sponsors. That’s how you get you legislation referred in committee is by the number of co-sponsors that you have for that piece of legislation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand estimates last month projected ending corn stocks of 2.156 billion bushels. In NCGA’s efforts to promote new uses, does it team up with universities and the industries in research and development efforts?

Wolle: We are so blessed in this country that we can produce more corn than what we consume. So, new uses are very important. Corn is a marvelous feedstock. All sorts of things can be made from corn.

Our individual states do a lot of funding of research with their universities. NCGA holds a new uses contest every year and then provides a grant to the winners of those.

A variety of businesses come through with their new ideas that they’re trying to establish and bring to market.