Weekly Update for
May 21

This week, the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) announced that Ross Bodine will join the organization as Policy Manager on June 1st. In this role, Bodine will support NAWG’s advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and with federal agencies, working to advance federal policy priorities on behalf of U.S. wheat growers. Prior to joining NAWG, Bodine served as a Government Relations Intern with CropLife America, where he supported federal and state advocacy initiatives and helped coordinate the D.C. Agriculture Intern Network. He also brings hands-on research experience from his time as an undergraduate research assistant under Dr. Dean Riechers at the University of Illinois, as well as industry experience through internships with Corteva Agriscience and KWS Wheat. Ross earned his Bachelor of Science in Plant Biotechnology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Read the full press release below.

NAWG wrote to the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure expressing support for the surface transportation reauthorization legislation, the Building Unrivaled Infrastructure and Long-term Development for America’s 250th, or BUILD America 250 Act. The legislation would provide long-term certainty and help strengthen the infrastructure that farmers and rural communities depend on every day. The House T&I Committee is expected to mark up the legislation today, May 21st. Read the full letter below.

Paul Farris, Corteva's U.S. Industry Affairs Policy Lead, stopped by the NAWG office this week to celebrate Pioneer's 100th anniversary by presenting NAWG CEO Sam Kieffer with a commemorative Pioneer sign. In addition, Corteva's Judd O' Connor, Executive Vice President of their seed business unit, sent a letter highlighting the company's commitment to farmer productivity and profitability.  Read Corteva's letter below.

On May 18, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15) and Ranking Member Angie Craig (MN-02) issued the following statement in conjunction with a joint letter sent to President Trump regarding the need to appoint Commissioners to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission: “We encourage President Trump to nominate a full panel of bipartisan Commissioners to join Chairman Selig in implementing the agenda charted for the Commission. Ensuring the Commission is well-equipped as the leading derivatives markets regulator in the world is a bipartisan priority for the members of our Committee. A complete commission will allow the agency to best fulfill its mandate of promoting integrity, resilience, and vibrancy of U.S. derivatives markets and will advance U.S. leadership." Read the full letter below.

WINTER WHEAT Crop condition: An estimated 43% of winter wheat was rated poor to very poor as of May 17, up 25 percentage points from 18% a year ago, according to NASS. Crop development: 71% of winter wheat was headed nationwide as of Sunday. That's 9 percentage points ahead of last year's 62% and 13 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 58%. Top winter-wheat-producer Kansas' crop was 93% headed, 11 points ahead of last year at this time and 21 points ahead of the five-year average. SPRING WHEAT Planting progress: 73% of the crop was planted nationwide as of May 17, 7 percentage points behind last year's pace of 80% and 7 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 66%. Planting in South Dakota and Washington is 96% complete in both states. Crop development: 39% of spring wheat was emerged as of Sunday, 3 percentage points behind last year's pace of 42% and 5 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 34%.

Almost 200 winter wheat growers from 28 states have entered the contest.  The next step for these contestants is to get a supervisor lined up.  There is a supervisor check list in the forms section of the website.  Everyone should review the rules. After harvest, they will need to input their harvest information.  All contestants are encouraged to complete their harvest data even if they don’t think they can win.  The data helps us learn more about the production practices resulting in high yield and high-quality wheat.  October 1 at midnight EDT is the deadline for all harvest data, but they can enter their harvest data as soon as they harvest.  If they need to make any changes to the entry portion of their entries, they will need to contact the contest director, Anne Osborne (aosborne@wheatworld.org) before the deadline.

Spring Wheat growers can put their entries in now or anytime up until the deadline.  Our great partners have vouchers you can use to pay for your entry.