Headlining the convention program are sessions on future prospects for U.S. and world financial markets and economic recovery, the availability of credit for agricultural operations, rail transportation policy, and other major public policy issues confronting the grain, feed and grain processing industry. The program for the three-day event also will focus on the performance of agricultural futures markets in meeting the risk-management needs of traditional hedgers; climate-change legislation; sustainability initiatives and their impact on U.S. agriculture and the food and feed system; food and feed safety; and major safety and environmental policy issues.
The convention also features a golf tournament to benefit the National Grain and Feed Foundation, established in 1965, as well as an "Ag Village" trade show.
Featured Speakers: The outlook for U.S. and world financial markets, and prospects for economic recovery will be addressed by one of the nation's premier agricultural economists, Michael J. Swanson, senior agricultural economist for Wells Fargo Bank, Chicago, Ill.
Meanwhile, the performance of agricultural futures markets in serving the needs of commercial grain hedgers, as well as the influence that investment capital is having in those markets, will be examined by a three-person panel consisting of Matt Bruns, vice president, corn processing, Archer Daniels Midland Co., Decatur, Ill.; Robert Jones, senior vice president, Fortis Clearing Americas, Chicago, Ill.; and David Lehman, director, commodity research and product development, CME Group, Chicago, Ill.
Another major issue weighing on the economic vitality of U.S. agriculture -- climate-change legislation and the impacts of its cap-and-trade provisions -- will be the focus of Bob Young, chief economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, Washington, D.C. Young also plans to focus on projections for energy and renewable fuels.
Sustainability initiatives being pursued by major U.S. food retailers, such as Wal-Mart, McDonald's and others with links to the food system and their impact on suppliers, including grain, feed and processing companies, will be the subject addressed by Ron Olson, vice president, grain operations, General Mills Inc., Minneapolis, Minn. Olson will discuss what sustainability is, how it potentially will affect agronomic, grain and food-animal production and distribution, and the expectations it will impose on the agricultural, food and feed system.
Other confirmed NGFA convention speakers include:
- Marc Fleischaker, chairman of Arent Fox, the prestigious Washington, D.C., law firm, who will review a "Top 10" list of federal public policy and regulatory issues confronting the grain, feed and processing industry in 2010.
- NGFA Chairman Thomas Coyle, general manager of Chicago & Illinois River Marketing LLC (a division of Nidera Inc.), Chicago, Ill., who will preview industry challenges and report on NGFA accomplishments and future priorities as he completes the second year of his two-year term.
- Peter Wyckoff, a partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Washington, D.C., who will discuss the Environmental Protection Agency's agenda for regulating air emissions and climate change.
- Rail Open Forum: The impact that the economic recovery and restoration of consumer demand will have on the demand for rail service -- both near- and longer-term -- will be the topic addressed by Kevin Kaufman, group vice president for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, Fort Worth, Texas. Meanwhile, Anthony Hatch, rail transportation analyst for ABH Consulting, New York, N.Y., will focus on potential changes in U.S. rail policy and the impacts they could have on carriers and shippers.
- Financing Conditions and Financial Tools Open Forum: A five-person panel will explore the current credit and lending environment for agribusinesses, particularly country elevators, and new over-the-counter financial products being offered to expand access to working capital. Confirmed panelists are: Martha Carpenter Smith, senior vice president, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Kansas City, Mo.; Tom Fernandes, manager of operations, GreenHaven LLC, Atlanta, Ga.; John Fletcher, general manager, Central Missouri AGRIService LLC, Marshall, Mo.; Brent Grecian, commodity derivatives specialist, Wells Fargo Commodity Products, Overland Park, Kan.; and Andrew Ward, associate director, Macquarie Commodities (USA) Inc., New York, N.Y.
Aloha!