The National Grain and Feed Association
...What it Is, Who it Represents and What it Does

The National Grain and Feed Association, founded in 1896, is a broad-based, non-profit trade association that represents and provides services for grain, feed and grain-related commercial businesses.

NGFA members:

• consist of more than 1,000 companies comprising 5,000 facilities.
  
  
• handle more than two-thirds of all U.S. grains and oilseeds utilized in domestic and export markets.
  
  
• encompass all sectors of the industry.
  
  
• represent a balance of small and large companies, including both privately owned and cooperative firms.

NGFA members include:

• country elevators that provide merchandising and farm supply services directly to farmer-customers.
  
  
• terminal elevators that serve as collection and transhipment points for large volumes of grain moving in domestic and export markets.
  
  
• feed mills that manufacture medicated and nonmedicated formula feeds for the livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and pet industries.
  
  
• export elevators that merchandise and ship U.S. grains, oilseeds and processed commodities to foreign customers.
  
  
• cash grain and feed merchandisers who buy and sell grains, oilseeds and grain byproducts.
  
  
• commodity futures brokers and commission merchants who provide hedging services to grain buyers and sellers through the nation’s futures markets.
  
  
• end users of grain and grain products, such as:

  -- grain processors and millers who process raw grain into myriad byproducts -- such as flour, corn meal and syrup, soybean oil and meal, and ethanol -- for human consumption and industrial uses; and

  -- livestock and poultry integrators.

• allied industries, such as banks; railroads; barge lines; grain exchanges; engineering and design/construction firms; insurance companies; computer/software firms; and other companies that supply goods and services to the industry.
  
  
• affiliated associations: The NGFA has 38 affiliated associations, including 36 state and regional associations, whose members include more than 10,000 grain and feed companies nationwide.

Strategic Alliances

The NGFA also has established strategic alliances with two respected organizations to benefit the industry:

• The Pet Food Institute, whose members manufacture 95 percent of total U.S. dog and cat food tonnage, a $12 billion industry. The NGFA works collaboratively with PFI on public policy, issues management, communications and education programs to benefit the feed sector.
  
  
• The Grain Elevator and Processing Society, an international professional society of 2,800 individuals who work in the grain and processing industry. The NGFA works with GEAPS to enhance the efficiency and safety of grain handling operations.
  

NGFA Member Goals

The NGFA works to foster beneficial agricultural growth to provide a healthy environment for production, merchandising, handling, warehousing and processing businesses.

The Association’s most recent Long-Range Plan, adopted in 2002, sets forth seven major goals:

• Preserve the U.S. system for fostering a safe and high-quality food supply responsive to customer needs.
  
  
• Work with others in the grain and animal-based food systems to provide consumers with objective, science-based information concerning food and feed safety to facilitate rational consumer choice in the marketplace.
  
  
• Communicate the value of NGFA membership to the industry to encourage continuous membership growth, long-term company membership and active participation by all industry segments.
  
  
• Pursue proactive, industry-driven programs to protect the safety and health of employees.
  
  
• Strive for enhancements in economic efficiency, productivity and profitability in all sectors of grain and feed-based commerce. Actively pursue competitive and expanding markets for food and agriculture products, unimpeded by barriers to trade.
  
  
• Educate the consuming public on the abundance, diversity, safety and relatively low cost of the U.S. food supply. Educate the government and the public regarding the need to pursue sound and consistent policies on risk management, farm income support, competitive transportation infrastructure, and trade opportunities for the long-term benefit of global and domestic consumers and all participants in U.S. agriculture.
  
  
• Support and provide opportunities for education and professional development for employees of member companies and NGFA staff.

NGFA Services to Members

The NGFA is a full-service organization whose programs, services and products are designed to protect and enhance members’ businesses.

Leadership on Issues

More than 300 top management and industry experts serve on NGFA committees that identify and act on issues and concerns affecting the industry. Through these committees, the industry achieves consensus on issues, pursues mutual goals and resolves shared problems.

Issues in which the NGFA exerts a predominant leadership role include:

• Agricultural Policy: The NGFA urges Congress and the federal government to adopt policies that foster beneficial agricultural growth and rely on competitive markets. The NGFA favors policies that eliminate government acreage-idling programs; retarget the Conservation Reserve Program on truly environmentally sensitive land; increase planting flexibility for farmers; and maintain competitive loan rates.
  
  
• Risk Management/Futures Markets: The NGFA has been in the forefront in advocating changes to improve futures market performance for commercial hedgers. The NGFA also advocates regulatory reforms to permit the industry to provide new risk-management tools that enable farmer-customers to better manage price and production risk.
  
  
• Transportation: The NGFA is the leading agribusiness group influencing national rail and barge policy. It advocates policies that enhance marketplace freedoms for all modes of transportation, with proper safeguards to protect grain shippers, consumers and the public when an adequate competitive environment does not exist. The NGFA also offers contract-based rail arbitration and mediation to resolve disputes between grain, feed and processing companies and railroads that are NGFA members. And it advocates construction to improve the inland waterways system to preserve and enhance its role in providing cost-competitive transport of grain and grain products.
  
  
• Warehousing and Grain Merchandising: The NGFA has spearheaded reforms to the federal warehouse program to enhance its viability and reduce its costs to the industry. The association also represents the interests of commercial grain warehouses at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state warehouse control agencies.
  
  
• Feed: The NGFA has developed the first industrywide feed quality assurance program, and has conducted educational workshops and produced audio-visual training materials. It advocates prudent self-regulation of commercial feed mills for compliance with current good manufacturing practice regulations. And it represents the interests of feed mills in working with the Food and Drug Administration, state feed control officials and international bodies on feed regulatory issues.
  
  
• International Trade: The NGFA advocates U.S. policies that increase access to foreign markets and enhance the competitiveness of U.S. agricultural exports. The NGFA strongly supports aggressive pursuit of free-trade principles under the World Trade Organization, an expanded free trade zone for the Americas, and an end to U.S. agricultural sanctions.
  
  
• Biotechnology: The NGFA supports biotechnology and other scientific and technological innovations that contribute to an adequate, safe and high-quality food supply. It also advocates policies that enable the industry to meet customer preferences and maintain access to the broadest possible array of global customers.
  
  
• Grain Quality and Grain Grading: The NGFA is a proactive participant in grain quality issues considered by Congress and federal agencies. The Association works to preserve the U.S. grain handling system’s reputation as a responsible, reliable and price-competitive supplier of the wide range of qualities sought by domestic and export customers.

Protection in the Markets

The NGFA promotes the highest ethical business conduct. To assist members in their daily business transactions, the NGFA provides:

• Trade Rules: First adopted in 1902, these rules spell out the rights and obligations of buyers and sellers trading grain, feed, barges and barge freight. They are incorporated into the vast majority of commercial contracts. This enables contracts to be shorter and highly standardized, thereby reducing risks and protecting tight margins.
  
  
• Arbitration Rights: NGFA members have exclusive access to the oldest known system of arbitration in North America. Since 1896, NGFA arbitration has resolved trade disputes in a timely, cost-effective way without resorting to litigation.

Safety Operations/Environmental Expertise

The NGFA proactively supports employee safety and health.

• Fire and Explosion Research and Education: This $3.5 million trend-setting research effort, launched in 1978, discovered the causes and ways to reduce the occurrence of grain industry hazards. The results have been shared worldwide through educational forums, publications and videos to save lives and property.
  
  
• Operations Information: The NGFA disseminates technical and operations information and conducts periodic seminars to help managers operate their facilities and equipment more safely and efficiently, thereby protecting employee health and safety.
  
  
• OSHA Rulemakings and Compliance Programs: The NGFA has been in the forefront of efforts to ensure that OSHA safety and health standards are performance-oriented and pass scientific muster. The NGFA also provides information to the industry on how to comply with OSHA standards in a cost-effective manner.
  
  

• EPA Rulemakings: The NGFA has financed research and negotiated with EPA to maintain reasonable regulations on phosphine and on emissions from grain, feed and processing facilities, as well as barge and vessel loading. The NGFA provides information on complying with EPA regulation in a cost-effective manner.

Education/Information for the Industry

The NGFA is a “one-stop shop” for timely, accurate, relevant information members can use to make sound business decisions. Publications and audio/visual materials, as well as conferences and seminars, help managers cope with information overload that strangles operating efficiency.

• Biweekly NGFA Newsletters
  
  
• NGFA E-Alerts convey breaking news via e-mail two to three times weekly.
  
  
• Trading, Trade Rules and Dispute Resolution -- A Guide for Buyers and Sellers.
  
  
• Optimal Grain Marketing: Balancing Risks and Revenue.
  
  
• White Paper on Hybrid Cash Contracts, including sample contracts.
  
  
• Model Feed Quality Assurance Program and videos.
  
  
• Safety training videos on grain bin entry emergency preparedness and fire-and-explosion prevention.
  
  
• Compliance materials on OSHA and EPA standards.
  
  
• Feed and Feeding Digest.
  
  
• Government and Grain.
  
  
• Focus on Industry Issues.
  
  
• Industry InfoLine that keeps members informed about the latest reports and studies affecting their business.
  
  
• Issues & Actions, reporting on NGFA testimony and position statements to government and actions of NGFA committees to protect the industry’s interests.
  
  
• Annual convention.
  
  
• Annual Country Elevator Council meeting.
  
  
• Annual Feed Industry Council meeting.
  
  
• Periodic regional and national seminars on transportation; grain merchandising; and grain facility design, safety and operations issues.
  
  
• Web Site: The NGFA’s web site [www.ngfa.org] provides instant access to the NGFA Newsletter, breaking news, Arbitration Decisions and other valuable information. The NGFA's web site also provides "hot links" to other useful information sources, including Congress, government agencies, and other grain, feed and processing companies.

Fostering the Industry’s Image

The NGFA’s proactive public relations program fosters a greater appreciation of the role its members play as responsible participants in the food chain. The NGFA:

• provides the media with the industry’s perspective on important agricultural, transportation, international trade, feed and other public policy issues.
  
  
• promotes career opportunities in the industry and educates youth, consumers and government leaders about the food chain.
  

The Industry’s Washington Office

The NGFA’s office is the “Washington headquarters” for the industry, working to develop and execute strategies to successfully resolve industry issues. The Association’s 15-member professional staff includes specialists in law, legislative affairs, government relations, engineering, economics and communications. The staff is a liaison between the industry and lawmakers and government officials, and assists member companies in finding information and solving problems.