ISSUE 2
MAY 1996

NAWG Adopts Resolutions for 1996

Value-Added, Market Transition Get Support
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Prairie Grains is the
official publication of
the Minnesota
Association of
Wheat Growers,
North Dakota Grain Growers Association,
South Dakota Wheat,
Inc., and the
Minnesota Barley
Growers Association.


 The 1996 National Association of Wheat Growers convention held last February in Reno, Nev., might be best remembered for its biggest no-show: the new farm bill. But its absence gave convention speakers and delegates an opportunity to discuss how the law should be tailored once it arrives.

At the convention, NAWG delegates endorsed the fixed payment, agricultural market transition concept. They agreed that the package will maintain financial stability in the farm sector and provide the best opportunity for U.S. growers to react to global market conditions.

The NAWG also urged in its new resolutions that the new law waive repayment of the l995 advance deficiency payments; implement a non-recourse, 18-month marketing loan set at 100 percent of the five-year average price of wheat; grant total planting and production flexibility; and retain the 1938 and 1949 permanent farm laws or a fall-back law in the event future farm bills are allowed to expire without new legislation.

Further, the commission proposed to review U.S. farm policy once the new law ends should start immediately, the NAWG urged.

NAWG delegates also reaffirmed their view that the Congress must provide regulatory relief for farmers by modifying swampbuster and conservation compliance programs so that penalties match violations, conservation practices are economically feasible and conservation goals are achievable.

The NAWG also resolved to work for international coordination of pesticide regulatory systems, which would reduce current trade inequities and testing duplication, as well as add credibility to each country's pesticide regulations.

Also, the NAWG reaffirmed support of legislation to specifically authorize the "cooperator" foreign market development program. Wheat growers participate in this program through U.S. Wheat Associates, the global wheat market development group whose financial support by U.S. wheat farmers is matched by federal dollars.

USDA Secretary Dan Glickman addressed the NAWG convention, and said that, "as long as I am on the job, there will be no embargoes." He said President Clinton backs him on that point. Glickman also said that trade issues are important and should be a priority for the NAWG. "Increased exports will probably have more affect on the people in this room than farm programs," Glickman told NAWG convention attendees.

Chuck Merja, who grows over 3,500 acres of wheat with his father and two brothers near Sun River, Mont., was elected as the NAWG's 1996 president. Merja, past president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, at one time worked on the technical staff of Hewlett Packard Labs in California and has written software to help farmers analyze their options under past farm programs. Rounding out the 1996 NAWG officer team is Phil McLain, N.C., as vice president and Bill Flory, Idaho, as secretary-treasurer.

Policy resolutions adopted at the state wheat conventions are brought forth for consideration each year for national adoption at the NAWG convention. Proposed resolutions are separated into 15 different committees distinguished by topic such as Farm Programs, Grain Quality, and Conservation.

For a comprehensive list of the 1996 NAWG resolutions, contact the MAWG at 800-242-6118; the North Dakota Grain Growers Association at 800-932-8822; or South Dakota Wheat Inc. at 800-WHEATSD.

The next NAWG convention will be Jan. 15-18, 1997, at Orlando, Fla.

NAWG appoints new value-added ag committee

A new Value-Added Agriculture Committee was added to the NAWG resolutions process this year, and Jerry Nordick, president of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers, served as the committee's first chairman. The committee adopted the following resolutions:

  • A goal of the NAWG is to promote market and government policies conducive to selling American wheat products around the world.
  • NAWG shall support growers with information and communication technology that allows them to remain independent while working together in the value-added marketplace, to produce, process and directly offer the food and non-food products that consumers want.
  • NAWG supports the Alternative Agriculture Research and Commercialization Center (AARC) in its efforts to develop non-traditional value-added products that relate to the wheat industry.

Copyright Prairie
Grains Magazine
May 1996