NCFC Council Elects New Chair, Vice Chair at 86th Annual Meeting; Big Data, Sustainability Among Issues Discussed
Members of NCFC have elected Chris Policinski, president and CEO of Land O’Lakes Inc., and Carl Casale, president and CEO of CHS Inc., as the new chairman and vice chairman of the organization. Policinski takes over for Bob Engel, CEO of CoBank, who had served as chairman of NCFC for the past two years. The vote came during the 86th NCFC Annual Meeting, which was held the week before last in San Diego, CA. At the same time, the NCFC Council re-elected Chuck Conner as president and Marlis Carson as Treasurer/Secretary.
“I look forward to working with both Chris and Carl in the year ahead to ensure that NCFC continues to grow as a vibrant organization that exceeds the expectations of our membership,” said Conner. “I think that NCFC stands ready to capitalize on the strength that we’ve built up over the past several years under Bob’s leadership. The opportunities going forward are ones that will help add value for our members and prove that co-ops are the essential partner to success in agriculture.”
The NCFC meeting this year brought together a record number of attendees, over 620, from co-ops across the U.S. In the opening general session keynote address, Ken Cukier, the data editor for The Economist magazine, explored the potential, and potential pitfalls, that big data holds for both agriculture and cooperatives; also at the opening session, Laurie Demerrit of the Hartman Group and Kate Siegele of Starbucks discussed consumer and customer perspectives, respectively, on sustainability and its implications for producers. Andy Card, former chief of staff for President George W. Bush, gave his perspective on the current political environment while Terry Barr of CoBank provided his 2015 economic outlook.
Breakout sessions during the Government Affairs Conference, the Legal, Tax & Accounting Conference and the Directors Education Conference drilled deeper on the broad range of issues facing co-ops and their producer members. Presentations from these sessions will be posted on the members-only section of the NCFC web site by Friday, March 6.
Randy Mooney of DFA Named Farmer Co-op Director of the Year
At its annual meeting in San Diego, NCFC announced that Randy Mooney, chairman of Dairy Farmers of America, had been selected as the 2015 Farmer Co-op Director of the Year.
Mooney has served on the DFA board for 15 years and before the formation of DFA served on the Mid America Dairymen board for 10 years. A co-op member of long standing, he has been a champion of cooperatives and has displayed outstanding leadership of both DFA and the dairy sector more generally. Mooney and his wife Jan milk 300 cows on a rotational grazing operation in Rogersville, Missouri, and he also serves on the board of Dairy Management Inc., the Innovation Center for US Dairy, Hilland Dairy, the Missouri State Milk Board and the Nationwide Board Advisory Council.
“Randy is someone who is respected widely across the farmer co-op community and this award is recognition of that fact. On behalf of NCFC and our members, I would like to congratulate him on his achievement,” said NCFC President and CEO Chuck Conner. “Randy’s achievements in the past year stretch far beyond the DFA boardroom or even the farmer co-op community. His tireless dedication, patience and seemingly unending hard work were instrumental in securing meaningful dairy program reform in the farm bill signed into law last year.”
The Farmer Cooperative Director of the Year Award was established to recognize the outstanding achievements of a farmer cooperative director who takes the lead to help their board of directors make decisions vital to their cooperative. To further recognize the winners, the NCFC Education Foundation will also make a contribution to a scholarship fund at the land grant college or university of Mooney’s choosing.
Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report Released
Last week, the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee released its recommendations to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Sylvia Burwell, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary, Tom Vilsack. The full report can be accessed here.
HHS and USDA will consider the Committee’s report, as well as comments from the public as they develop updated guidelines. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are expected to be released this fall.
The report will be open for a public comment period of 45 days after publication in the Federal Register. There will also be an opportunity for oral comments at a public meeting in Bethesda, MD, on Tuesday, March 24, 2015. If you are interested in participating in the meeting, you can register at www.DietaryGuidelines.gov.
NCFC staff continues to analyze the report and encourages you to provide us with your thoughts and feedback regarding the Advisory Committee’s recommendations.
Congress Focused on DHS Funding Bill; Trade, Immigration & GMOs on Horizon
Congress returned to Washington after a 10 day President’s Day recess to begin a work session that will stretch on to Easter. March and April are traditionally the time of year when the budget and appropriations process gets into full swing. This year, however, Congress finds itself dealing with one last piece of unfinished business from 2014—funding the Department of Homeland Security’s operations for the current fiscal year. As you may recall from this past December, while most of the federal government was funded through the end of this fiscal year on September 30, DHS was funded only through the end of February. This was done to show displeasure with the President’s Executive Orders on immigration and to give 115th Congress (in which Republicans control both the House and Senate) to weigh in on the matter.
The House earlier in the year passed a DHS funding bill that rolled back the executive orders; this bill has repeatedly failed to clear the 60 vote threshold needed for consideration in the Senate. With the funding deadline approaching, no permanent resolution appeared in sight. While the Senate passed a “clean” funding bill (without the so-called riders on the immigration executive orders), the House seemed to be moving towards passing another short-term extension of DHS funding, setting up a replay of current events in a month or so.
Looking ahead past the dust up over DHS funding, Congress appears set to move on several issues of interest to farm co-ops and their members over the coming months. On the immigration front, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is set next week to hold mark ups of several bills designed to bolster border security and interior enforcement, which could possibly include a mandatory E-verify bill. Testifying back in early February before the Judiciary Committee on the subject of E-verify, NCFC President & CEO Chuck Conner emphasized that agriculture would be forced to oppose any mandatory E-verify bill that did not also include provisions to address agriculture’s current and future labor needs.
With the talks on the Trans Pacific Partnership appearing to near their conclusion, the Obama Administration has been pushing for Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would allow them to complete a deal and bring it to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Historically, agriculture’s support has been critical to passage of TPA and that appears to hold true in this Congress as well.
Finally, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, NCFC and the other members of the Coalition for Safe and Affordable Food continue to work with members of Congress on the issue of GMO labeling. Look for legislation similar to last year’s bill to be introduced in the coming weeks.
Upcoming Events:
- Spring Executive Council Meeting—April 23-24, 2015—Washington, D.C.
- NCFC Washington Conference—June 22-24, 2015—Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
- LTA Subcommittee Chairs-Vice Chairs Meeting—September 23-25, 2015—The Edgewater, Seattle, WA
- Fall Executive Council Meeting—September 30 & October 1, 2015—Washington, DC
- Government Affairs Meeting—November 11-13—TBD