After last week’s announcement about the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance and Tom Buis moving from NFU to Growth Energy I thought we now had plenty of organizations promoting not only renewable fuels but corn in particular since it is such an integral part of biofuels production today.
However, we now have another new organization. This time it’s the Corn Farmers Coalition.
When corn prices spiked last year, big food manufacturers and oil companies claimed there wasn’t enough corn to feed everyone and make ethanol.
Now we know that was not true. There was always plenty of corn to make ethanol, not to mention corn to export and to feed ourselves and the cattle, chickens and pigs we raise on corn. And the federal Agriculture Department says there will be plenty of corn to meet demand for the foreseeable future.
So corn farmers from 10 states, including Illinois, and the industry’s trade group — the National Corn Growers Association — formed the Corn Farmers Coalition (CFC) to educate policymakers in Washington.
The coalition today launches a Web site (www.CornFarmersCoalition.org), an advertising campaign and a statistical abstract on America’s biggest crop.
“Washington needs to know that corn farmers are using some of the most advanced technologies on the planet to do more with less — to grow more corn using fewer resources every year,” said Mark K. Lambert, Director of the Corn Farmers Coalition. “American corn farmers, the majority of them small business people, are among the most productive in the world.”
In this week’s program you get to meet Brooke Hoelscher and Megan Ott. They’re the Monsanto Future Ag Journalist Fellowship students who were set up to cover the Commodity Classic on blogs created by Monsanto – 
For animal and meat science students from across the country, the opportunity was available to take part in these legendary training sessions at the American Meat Science Association Student Leadership Conference held on Feb. 23-25, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nev. Five South Dakota State University participants competed in a meat product development contest during the event with chocolate, peanut butter, cinnamon bacon rolls. I know…intense. I had the opportunity to try these bacon rolls, and I can assure you that they were delicious (calorie count aside). Pictured here is SDSU team member, Jarrod Bumsted, with his bacon rolls. 
Everyone at Commodity Classic this year seemed to be impressed that attendance was as good or better than ever, despite the economy.
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.”
and 
The IFAJ/AMS planning committee got together since so many of us ag media types were in town for Commodity Classic. Yesterday the group went to Billy Bob’s and the Stockyards before heading to the upcoming conference hotel, the 
Agritechnica representatives Annette Reichhold (left) and Dr. Malene Conlong were talking with farmers at the Commodity Classic this week about planning a visit to Hanover, Germany for the event November 10-14.
As things slowed down today I got to sit down and visit with Hugh about his new position. It made for a good Commodity Classic week ZimmCast. Hugh is a very good friend and I’m glad for this opportunity he has. He’s be working on obtaining, managing and working with farmer driven organizations, not for profit groups, agricultural associations as well as governmental organizations. This fits right in with the kind of work that he’s been doing which includes working with the United Soybean Board and other checkoff groups.