Wesley Spurlock took the lead as President of the National Corn Growers Association‘s Corn Board on Saturday. He spoke about his respect for the past while keeping his eye on the future.

“This year is much like the one we just finished,” Spurlock said. “We are looking at a massive corn crop. It is still being harvested but, even with some rain problems in the Midwest, the yields may be there. So, growing demand remains awfully important to finding a use for the crop that we have.”

NCGA will need to meet this challenge and their new action team structure will ensure they are able to do so.

“Our new action teams work well with our strategic plan,” said Spurlock. “We have three new teams focused on demand: the Ethanol Action Team; the Feed, Food and Industrial Action Team; and the Market Access Action Team. These groups on the demand side will all be working hard to find out where we are and where we need to be.

“We have to work every side of this. We need trade. We need to work for the Trans Pacific Partnership. We need to work with our partners in the livestock industry. We need to work with the ethanol industry to keep that market open. And, we need to keep government regulations from becoming more cumbersome.”

Members are also key to success at NCGA.

“Our grassroots are an essential part of our organization. We have to hear from the bottom all the way up. Members can start in their state associations and speak to them. The states can bring that to the national organization.

“We need the grassroots to go straight to their Representatives and Senators. They have to be active on the political side and the regulatory side. When we ask, it is because we do really need all of our members to come out and voice their opinions so that we can all keep the freedom to farm.”