Everyone at Commodity Classic this year seemed to be impressed that attendance was as good or better than ever, despite the economy.

“As I understand it, we are either right at the record or over it, so that is phenomenal,” said National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman. Unofficial numbers I heard were about 4500 total registration with 1500 of those actual corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum farmers.

Rick says he was pleased to see the producer organizations for four different commodities coming together for the first time under one banner. “We’re too small in agriculture to be fighting among our selves,” Rick said. “Things like Commodity Classic bring us together and help us realize how much we have in common.”

Concerns about potential changes to the 2008 Farm Bill surfaced at Commodity Classic this week, as the Obama administration unveiled its budget proposal which calls for cuts in farm program spending. “The farm bill is a five year program and we just went through a whole two years of discussions to get that done and finally we get it signed and it hasn’t even been implemented yet and they’re talking about changing it,” Tolman said. “That’s a principal I think is wrong.”

Listen to an interview with Rick here: cc-09-tolman.mp3

2009 Commodity Classic Photo Album

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