Who We Are

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 related commercial businesses.  

Its activities focus on enhancing the growth and economic performance of U.S. agriculture.  NGFA member firms:

  • consist of more than 1,000 companies comprising about 6,000 facilities.
  • handle more than 70 percent 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 storage, merchandising and farm supply services to farmer-customers.
  • feed mills that manufacture premixes and complete feeds for the livestock, poultry, aquaculture and pet food 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 products.
  • commodity futures brokers and commission merchants who provide hedging services to grain buyers and sellers through the use of futures markets.
  • end users of grain and grain products, such as:
    • grain processors and millers who process raw grain into myriad products - such as flour, corn meal and syrup, and soybean oil and meal - for human and animal consumption, and industrial uses;
    • livestock and poultry integrators; and
    • biofuels producers, who manufacture fuel ethanol and soy diesel, as well as coproduct ingredients for animal feed.
      • allied industries, such as banks; railroads; barge lines; grain exchanges; biotechnology providers; engineering and design/construction firms; insurance companies; computer/software firms; and other companies that supply goods and services to the industry.
      affiliated associations:  Affiliated with the NGFA are 35 state and regional associations, whose members include more than 10,000 grain and feed companies nationwide. 

     

    NGFA Purpose Statement

    The NGFA is a broad-based organization representing and providing services for grain, feed and all related commercial interests.  Association activities are focused on the growth and economic performance of U.S. agriculture.

     

    Mission Statement

    The NGFA will foster an efficient free-market environment that produces an abundant, safe and high-quality supply of grain, feed and feeding ingredients for domestic and world consumers.  This is accomplished through representation of member interests, and effective education and communication to members, the public and government.

     

    NGFA Member Goals

    The Association's most recent Long-Range Plan, adopted in 2007, sets seven major goals:

    1. Preserve the U.S. system for fostering a safe, high-quality food supply responsive to customer needs.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Pursue proactive, industry-driven programs to protect the safety and health of employees.
    5. 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.
    6. 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, agricultural policy, competitive transportation infrastructure, and trade opportunities for the long-term benefit of global and domestic consumers, and all participants in U.S. agriculture.
    7. Support and provide opportunities for education and professional development for employees of member companies and NGFA staff. 

 

Strategic Alliances

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

  • North American Export Grain Association (NAEGA), established in 1912, whose member companies ship virtually all U.S. bulk grain and oilseed exports.  The NGFA and NAEGA are co-located and coordinate policy and government representation on trade-related issues.


  • Pet Food Institute (PFI), whose members manufacture 98 percent of total U.S. dog and cat food, a  nearly $20 billion industry.  The NGFA works closely with PFI on public policy, issues management, communications and education programs to benefit the feed sector.


  • Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS), established in 1927, an international professional society of 2,500 persons who work in the grain-handling and processing industry.  The NGFA works with GEAPS to enhance the efficiency and safety of facility operations. 

 

NGFA Services to Members

The NGFA is a full-service organization whose programs, services and products protect and enhance members' businesses.

Leadership on Policy Issues

More than 300 top managers and industry experts serve on NGFA committees that identify and act on industry issues and concerns.  Through these committees, the industry achieves consensus on policy, 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 reliance upon competitive markets. The NGFA opposes discredited acreage-idling and supply control programs that encourage foreign production, result in lost U.S. market share and undermine U.S. global competitiveness.  The NGFA also urges changes to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to target truly environmentally sensitive land and enhance water quality.
  • Risk Management/Futures Markets:  The NGFA is the leading advocate of policies designed to ensure futures markets meet the needs of commercial hedgers of grains, oilseeds and grain products.  The NGFA works extensively with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and U.S. futures exchanges to promote efficient price discovery and risk management.
  • Transportation:  The NGFA is the leading agribusiness group influencing national rail and barge policy.  It advocates marketplace freedoms for all modes of transportation, with proper safeguards to protect grain shippers/receivers, agricultural producers and the public when adequate competition does not exist.  The NGFA also offers unique rail arbitration and mediation services to resolve disputes between grain, feed and processing companies, and railroads that are NGFA members.  The NGFA also advocates improvements to the U.S. inland waterways system and ports to preserve and enhance its role in cost-competitive transport of grain and grain products.
  • Grain Storage and Merchandising: The NGFA represents the interest of commercial grain-handling facilities in advocating effective, reasonable and cost-competitive warehouse laws and regulations that protect depositors, while fostering efficient storage and marketing of grains and grain products. As such, the NGFA strongly supports the U.S. Warehouse Act as a competitive alternative to State Grain Warehouse Laws.
  • Food/Feed Safety: The NGFA advocates science- and risk-based policies that further enhance existing private-sector product safety and quality-assurance programs that have contributed to making the U.S. food and feed supply the safest and most abundant in the world.
  • Feed and Animal Agriculture:  The NGFA in 1994 developed the first industry trade association Model Feed Quality Assurance Program, and subsequently has led efforts to encourage adoption of product-safety and quality-assurance principles through educational workshops, videos and web-based distance learning programs. The NGFA plays a leadership role with Congress, the Food and Drug Administration and State Feed Regulatory Agencies in advocating prudent science- and risk-based approaches to feed and feed ingredient product safety. It also interacts with international bodies on feed and feed ingredient 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, as well as bilateral and regional free-trade agreements that foster the goals of global trade liberalization.
  • Biotechnology:  The NGFA supports agricultural biotechnology and other scientific advancements that promote an adequate, safe and high-quality food and feed supply. As a key element of this support, the NGFA believes biotech-enhanced traits should be commercialized only after achieving broad, deep consumer acceptance, as well as authorizations from important U.S. export markets, to enable the industry to meet customer preferences and maintain access to global markets. The NGFA advocates prudent government policies and oversight to guard against the presence of unauthorized or restricted-use biotech-enhanced traits in the commodity stream. It also advocates a responsible and commercially achievable tolerance for the accidental presence of biotech-enhanced traits in commodity shipments.
  • Grain Inspection and Quality:  The NGFA is involved extensively in grain, grain inspection and quality issues considered by Congress and federal agencies.   It 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 foreign customers.  

Protection in Markets

The NGFA promotes the highest ethical business conduct.  To assist members in daily business, 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, and rail freight.  They are incorporated into the vast majority of commercial contracts.  This enables contracts to be more concise, yet cover important trade terms, thereby reducing the risk of trade disputes.
  • 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 and Environmental Expertise

The NGFA proactively advances employee safety and health, facility security, efficient operations and environmental compliance.

  • Employee Safety and Health:  The NGFA produces cutting-edge education and training materials to enhance the safety and health of employees working in the industry. These efforts included ground-breaking fire and explosion research, begun in 1978, that discovered the causes and ways of reducing such hazards in grain-handling facilities -- results that were shared worldwide to save lives and property. The NGFA also interacts extensively with Congress and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). As such, the NGFA has been in the forefront in urging that OSHA safety and health standards be performance-oriented and pass scientific muster, and in developing materials to assist the industry in complying with OSHA requirements in a cost-effective manner.
  • Agroterrorism and Facility Security:  The NGFA develops industry guidance on conducting facility risk-assessments and implementing practical, effective and realistic security plans appropriate for the type of facility.  It also intervenes on legislative and regulatory matters to ensure they are practical and effective for the types, characteristics and operations of facilities being addressed, and that they meet real, versus perceived, risks.
  • Environmental Policy:  The NGFA interacts extensively with the Environmental Protection Agency on regulations that apply to air quality, as well as to fumigants used to protect the safety and quality of stored grains and oilseeds, as well as processed grain products. The NGFA also is engaged in the development of agricultural sustainability policies by U.S. and international bodies.
  • Facility Operations: The NGFA disseminates information and conducts seminars to help managers operate facilities and equipment safely and efficiently.

Communications and Information

The NGFA provides timely, accurate and relevant information to help managers make sound business decisions and avoid information overload that strangles operating efficiency.

  • Biweekly NGFA Newsletters and frequent NGFA E-Alerts disseminated electronically.
  • Specialized conferences and seminars on diverse topics, such as trading, trade rules and dispute resolution; grain contracting and merchandising; transportation; safety, health and environmental compliance; food/feed defense and facility security; and grain-quality management.
  • Internet-based distance learning on feed-quality assurance.
  • DVDs and other audio-visual training materials on practices to enhance employee safety and health.
  • Annual Convention that focuses on key industry policy issues.
  • Annual Country Elevator/Feed Industry Conference that focuses on practical business and market issues.
  • A web site [www.ngfa.org] that provides instant access to exclusive information and education/training programs targeted to the industry, and links to other useful resources.

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 and feed chain.  The NGFA provides the media with the industry's perspective on important public policy issues.  It also educates youth, consumers and government leaders about the industry and the food/feed 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 13-member professional staff includes specialists in grain operations, feed and feed ingredient manufacturing, legislative affairs, government relations, engineering, economics, law and communications.  The NGFA's staff is a liaison between industry and government, and assists member companies in accessing information and solving problems.