The 2017 Commodity Classic was held in San Antonio, Texas, on March 2 – 4. Commodity Classic is America’s largest farmer-led, farmer-focused convention that provides annual meetings for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), American Soybean Association (ASA), the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), the National Sorghum Producers (NSP) and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

The 2017 Commodity Classic was held in San Antonio, Texas, on March 2 – 4. Commodity Classic is America’s largest farmer-led, farmer-focused convention that provides annual meetings for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), American Soybean Association (ASA), the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), the National Sorghum Producers (NSP) and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. The show had more than 9000 attendees. The North Dakota Corn Growers Association (NDCGA) and North Dakota Corn Utilization Council (NDCUC) had delegates at these meetings to work with NCGA and other corn states along with ensuring that the North Dakota Corn priorities related to marketing, promotion, education and policy were relayed and discussed.

Commodity Classic allows for the NCGA and its affiliated state organizations to receive updates on current and future issues affecting corn producers and agriculture in general. The NCGA meetings also allows for states to review and update current NCGA policies and develop priorities for the nearby and long-term future. The main policies and priorities that were of importance to the North Dakota delegation were: retaining and fully funding the crop insurance program, defending the RFS for ethanol, working to fix the ARC-CO program related to county yields, preparing for the 2018 Farm Bill, supporting and growing trade, reduction of federal regulations, and changing to and promotion of farmer friendly conservation and water management programs.

In addition to participating in the various meetings with NCGA, the North Dakota Corn delegation received recognition for the following:

  • Joe Breker, Havana, ND, farmer and former NDCGA board member was awarded NCGA’s Good Steward Recognition award for his decades long work on farming sustainably, working to educate and enhance work on soil health
  • Carson Klosterman, NDCGA President and Jean Henning, ND Corn Finance Director, accepted the NCGA Membership Award for NDCGA’s substantial growth in membership
  • Kevin Skunes, First Vice President of NCGA and NDCGA board member from Arthur, ND, led the NCGA group of delegates in reviewing and updating the NCGA policies. Skunes becomes the President of NCGA on October 1, 2017

The 2018 Commodity Classic will be held in Anaheim, CA, from February 27 – March 1, 2018.