Ag Policy Blog

Kenneth Hartman Jr., a fifth-generation Illinois farmer, has taken over as president of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) with a lot on farmers' policy agenda as commodity groups push to get a farm bill done before year's end.

Hartman raises corn, soybeans and wheat on his farm about 25 miles south of the St. Louis area in southwestern Illinois.

His year as vice president was frustrating as Congress extended the 2018 farm bill with hopes of completing a bill before now. Instead, eyes will be on the lame-duck session after the election. A new farm bill will have to compete for attention with other agenda items in a short window, such as funding the government for fiscal year 2025.

"They kind of kicked the can down the road for a year and we definitely don't want to do that again," Hartman said. "We definitely need to get a farm bill done. We want to get it done by year's end."

In September, farm groups made a push to draw attention to the challenges in the agricultural economy to stress the need for lawmakers to reach a deal.

"We have low prices, high input costs, fertilizer's up, especially nitrogen from last year. Labor costs are up, interest rates are up, machinery costs are up so we definitely feel like we need to get a farm bill done."

NCGA wants to see higher coverage levels for crop insurance offered and boosts to premium support. The House Agriculture Committee's bill does that along with increasing reference prices for commodities.

With 2023-24 grain stocks or carryover up 29% for both corn and soybeans from last year – and high supplies coming in now with harvest – Hartman said programs that increase export and biofuel demand are both a priority.

"We need to create markets right now, if it's higher blends of ethanol or if it's trade," he said.

The House farm bill also doubles spending for the Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development Program (MAP and FMD). Hartman said corn growers would also like to see the U.S. begin negotiating trade agreements again.

"We got a good agreement with USMCA, but that's the last one we've had. So, we need to move on and get to work on trade agreements with India or work on trade agreements with some other Asian countries because there is opportunity there for corn and ethanol."

On ethanol, NCGA would like to see Congress take up a bill to allow for nationwide 15% blends. Right now, only eight Midwest states will be allowed to blend E15 year-round next year, but Hartman said there would be a lot more ethanol demand if consumers nationally could buy E15 without worries over EPA vapor waivers for summer months. There's also the prospect of moving to use even higher blends if Congress would act.

"We've been working on the Next Generation Fuels Act that goes to 20%, 25% ethanol certification for fuels with higher blends," Hartman said, adding that ethanol needs policies that will level the playing field at fuel stations. "The Next Generation Fuels Act would fix a lot of these things."

Like others in biofuels and corn production, there's also a lot of attention right now on how the Treasury Department will issue tax guidance for the 45-Z Clean Fuels Tax Credit. The guidance will have a lot to do with how ethanol plants ramp up production for both Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and other state low-carbon fuel standards. The early 40-B tax credit guidance required farmers to bundle no-till, green fertilizer and cover crops to qualify.

"We're definitely hoping with the 45-Z that they come out with better criteria than they did for the 40-B. SAF is a huge market. We're looking at a 50-billion-gallon market in the future. It's a few years about we need to have things set up for ethanol-to-jet."

Hartman added it's difficult for farmers to simply convert or add practices to how they farm without some period of adjustment.

"There are a lot of farmers probably doing one or two of those practices, but they may not be doing all three at the same time," Hartman said. He added, "I've been no-tilling for 20-some years, but I remember that I had some challenges as far as no-tilling because of equipment, because of chemicals we use for weed control. With time that changed because we got newer equipment and we've got chemicals that we're better and now we're no-tilling almost all of our crops."

Hartman replaces Minnesota farmer Harold Wolle who now becomes chairman of NCGA.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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