Pam Johnson
More than half the 200 members of Congress and senators that the National Corn Growers Association visited this week on Capitol Hill are confused about where the farm bill stands, but most House members want a comprehensive bill, NCGA President Pam Johnson told The Hagstrom Report today at the conclusion of the group’s Corn Congress.

“Everyone is confused about the paper process, who hands what to whom,” Johnson said, adding that members said they are getting different answers about where the bill stands.

But Johnson, from Floyd, Iowa, said “a majority” of the House members that NCGA contacted said “we need this bill back together,” and thanked NCGA for taking the position that the bill should include the nutrition title that authorizes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps.


Garry Niemeyer
Garry Niemeyer, the outgoing NCGA chairman from Auburn, Ill., told the 200 corn growers in a final speech, “We need not only corn farmers to call their congressmen and senator, but everybody in agriculture to call.” He added that his wife and granddaughters were not there for his remarks because they were still on Capitol visiting congressional offices.

The corn growers will continue lobbying for passage of the farm bill, Johnson said. She also noted that corn exports fell last year in the drought and said that the farm bill is also needed to continue U.S. export development offices. Without the farm bill, those offices would close, she said.

Johnson said the corn farmers had asked members of Congress support the Renewable Fuels Standard, which sets the mandate for corn ethanol in the fuel supply. About half said they would support it, a quarter said no, and a quarter said they were not sure, said Martin Barbre, a Carmi, Ill., grower who is the incoming NCGA president.

Johnson said the level of support for the RFS was lower than expected, but that NCGA members had not limited their contacts to the Corn Belt and that they viewed visits with legislators from California and other states where the RFS is not so popular as the start of a conversation.