WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — More than 225 people gathered for the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) and U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) business meetings on Jan. 27 through Jan. 29 in Washington, D.C., U.S.
The annual gathering, known as the Wheat Industry Winter Conference, included meetings of all of NAWG’s and USW’s standing committees, two joint committees, both boards in a joint session and in separate sessions. The National Wheat Foundation board of directors also met.
At the conference, the NAWG board approved the following new resolutions:
• NAWG encourages USDA-Risk Management Agency to allow producers the option of having enterprise units cross county and state lines.
• NAWG supports allowing irrigated, limited irrigation and non-irrigated wheat to be insurable within the same insurable unit to be classified as separate enterprise units.
• NAWG urges Congress to ensure that in the implementation of the U.S. Patriot Act, producer and custom harvesters retain their 150-mile exemption from their base of operations.
• NAWG supports the exemption of commercial driver’s licenses and gallon limitation requirements for custom harvesters and farm suppliers transporting input to and from the farm.
• NAWG encourages the Surface Transportation Board to provide for the mediation and arbitration of service and rate disputes.
• NAWG and USW support the inclusion of the ‘WTO-plus’ SPS provisions in the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, and support making these provisions fully enforceable.
The NAWG Board also accepted a membership request from the Michigan Wheat Program, welcoming its 22nd state affiliate.
An audio update from each NAWG committee chairman is available online at www.wheatworld.org/newsroom/audio-updates
The location of the winter meetings is intended to give growers around the country a time to visit staff and members of Congress on Capitol Hill, and most wheat state association representatives took advantage of the opportunity to talk about farm bill, research, trade and environmental regulations.
Wheat growers will next gather at the 2013 Commodity Classic, scheduled for Feb. 27 through March 3 in Kissimmee, Florida, U.S. NAWG’s committees and board meet at Classic, the Association’s annual meeting. USW’s next regular board meeting will be in late June.