From: Mid America CropLife Association To: [email protected] Subject: Mid America CropLife Association NewsUpdate - December 2010 Date: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 12:06:01 PM

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MACA NewsUpdate December 2010

In This Issue DECEMBER - 2010 is coming to a close so it is time to take stock of the things MACA accomplished in 2010. The list HAZMAT VIDEOS includes: QUARTERLY MEETING SUMMARY MACA's Distribution & Environment (D&E) committee STATE NEWS updated "The "Survey Form for Safe Storage of Crop Protection Products" or SACS survey; C.A.N. UPDATE D&E committee also updated the safety program for the MEMBERSHIP MATTERS Department of Transportation (DOT) HAZMAT Training SHORT NOTES Video General Awareness-Function Specific training. It is specific to hazmat chemicals used in the agricultural CALENDAR OF EVENTS arena; Continue to retain the services of Mary Jane Stankiewicz, J.D., Kansas Ag Retailers Association, as water consultant to represent MACA at FWQC and monitors other water issues in the 13 Midwestern states. Reached out to 9,400 "future consumers" via 45 members of the CropLife Ambassador Network (C.A.N.) who made classroom visits to provide scientifically based and accurate information regarding the safety and value of American agricultural food production. 2010 Annual Meeting held September 7-8-9 in West Des Moines, Iowa, provided speakers on timely topics and recognized individuals for their outstanding service. MACA provides a non-political platform for MACA members to network to understand other issues and concern.

The work is not done, rather we continue to build upon the past and look for new opportunities to provide information to benefit the crop protection industry. If you have a suggestion, let President Flakne or me know. Here's wishing you all the best in 2011!

HAZMAT VIDEOS: The DOT HAZMAT Training videos which were update by the MACA Distribution & Environment committee are now on the MACA website and free to any MACA member. The updated safety program may be used for the Department of Transportation (DOT) General Awareness-Function Specific training. It is specific to hazmat chemicals used in the agricultural arena. The video focuses on four areas:

Hazardous Materials General Awareness; Hazardous Materials Shipping Papers; Hazardous Materials Loading, Blocking, Bracing; and Hazardous Materials Emergency

Click here to link to the MACA website. If you do not have the user name or password, please contact the MACA office at [email protected].

MACA MEETING SUMMARY: The Mid America CropLife Association committees met on Wednesday, November 10, 2010, and the Board of Directors met on Thursday, November 11, 2010, at the Marriott St. Louis Airport Hotel. The following actions were taken:

Approved the Secretary and Treasurer's Reports Approved Doug Den Adel, Jacobson Warehouse, to a two year term on the executive committee. Reported the Hazardous Materials videos are completed and posted on the MACA website and available free to any MACA member. Accepted Keith Conrad, Monsanto, resignation from the Board of Directors effective October 1, 2010, due to a change in responsibilities with CropLife America. Approved Wayne Jelinek, Monsanto, to complete the term of Keith Conrad. Approved 2011 budget. Presented the meeting dates for 2011. They are as follows: February 2, 2011 - Committee Meetings, St. Louis, MO February 3, 2011 - Board Meeting, St. Louis, MO Wayne Jelinek, June 8, 2011 - Committee Meetings, St. Louis, MO Monsanto June 9, 2011 - Board Meeting, St. Louis, MO August 5, 2011 - Conference call with Board September 6-7-8, 2011 - MACA Annual Meeting, Hilton Hotel, Bloomington, Minnesota September 8, 2011 - 7:30 a.m., MACA Annual Business Meeting - Bloomington, Minnesota November 9, 2011 - Committee meetings, St. Louis, MO November 10, 2011 - Board meeting, St. Louis, MO Approved Filla & Filla, CPAs to serve as the independent auditors for MACA for the 2010 fiscal year. President Flakne reported he had confirmed all of the committee chairs and vice-chairs for the 2010-2011 year. They include:

Annual Meeting Don Bradley - Chair Doug Goff - Vice Chair Rob Dittmer - Vice Chair/Golf

Crop Production Issues Inci Dannenberg - Chair Phil Harms - Vice Chair

Distribution & Environment Matt Ewers - Chair Jeff Frederick - Vice Chair

Industry Communications Doug Mertens - Chair & Tom Quade - Vice Chair CAN Task Force

Regulatory & Dan Vest - Chair Environmental Issues (REI) Duane Simpson - Vice Chair

STATE NEWS: - "It was an ugly election for Democrats November 2," says Jim Byrum, President, Michigan Agri-Business Association. "It was the most dramatic shift of political power in our lifetimes, and not just at the national, but also state and local levels. The economy and jobs dominated the discussion, but Democrats also suffered from two years of President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and virtually no communication that resonated with the middle class or moderates on their policies." The fatigue of eight years of Governor Jennifer Granholm also weighed heavily, as did the fact that Rick Snyder ran more than 20 points ahead of Virg Bernero, the Democratic nominee for governor. With the Supreme Court back in the hands of the Republicans and the pending reapportionment - or redrawing of all state legislative and congressional districts before the next election - it likely will mean the effects of this election will be felt well into the next decade and beyond. Republicans will draw those district lines to their advantage, and there is no effective means Democrats can challenge them. Republicans won every statewide race, from Snyder as the new, incoming governor to as attorney general and Ruth Johnson as secretary of state. They also won every "state board" slot, from Michigan State University Board of Trustees to the State Board of Education. They also won every Supreme Court and appellate court race. The Michigan House of Representatives shifted from a 67-43 Democratic majority to a 63-47 Republican lead. No Republican incumbents were defeated, but incumbent Democrats Kate Ebli, Deb Kennedy, Mike Huckleberry (current chairman of the House Ag Committee), Terry Brown, Dan Scripps, Judy Nerat, Sarah Roberts and Marty Griffin went down to defeat. In addition, Republicans picked up open seats previously held by Dudley Spade, John Espinoza, Joel Sheltrown, Andy Neuman, Mike Lahti and a few other term-limited Democrats. The Michigan State Senate will be 26 Republicans to just 12 Democrats. This is a so-called "super majority," whereby Democrats won't be able to do anything, as Republicans have a two- thirds majority with just their own members. On the Michigan congressional front, there are even more changes. Democrats and survived challenges, but was defeated by Tim Walburg in a rematch of the race two years ago. There has been a shift in representation in each of the past four elections, with four different people representing that district in the past 10 years. and were elected to fill voids left with the retirements of and Vern Ehlers, and will represent the first district, in a seat vacated by . As for the rest of the year, Byrum says, "We're very busy scheduling planning sessions for next year, getting to know new legislators and working with the new chair of the U.S. Senate Ag Committee on a host of issues."

MINNESOTA - "We witnessed a stunning, historical election outcome in Minnesota," reports Bill Bond, Executive Director, Minnesota Crop Production Retailers (MCPR), "the Minnesota Senate went from 46 Democrats and 21 Republicans to 30 Democrats and 37 Republicans. Republicans have not been in the majority in the Senate since the Conservative caucus was renamed the Republican caucus some 40 years ago. The Minnesota House of Representatives changed from 87 - 47 DFL control to a 72 - 62 Republican majority, pending recounts. The House Agriculture Committee lost 5 of its members, with the most surprising being the defeat of Al Juhnke by Bruce Vogel in the District 13B race. In Minnesota congressional contests, First District Congressman Tim Walz won by a narrow margin and Collin Peterson won by a comfortable margin. The biggest upset came with the defeat of 18 term U.S. House member Jim Oberstar. He served as Chair of the Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure. The new Minnesota Senate and House majority has already selected its leadership. Rep. Kurt Zellers, Maple Grove will be the new Speaker of the House. Rep. Matt Dean, Dellwood, will be the majority leader. The Senate picked Amy Koch, Buffalo, as the new majority leader and Sen. Michelle Fischbach as Senate president. Koch will be the first woman to serve as a Senate majority leader in Minnesota. Republican control of both the Senate and House may have blunted slightly the damage a possible extreme environmental push from Democrat Mark Dayton should he be declared Minnesota's Governor after the recount. Related to the Governor's race, the narrow lead by Democrat Mark Dayton over Republican Tom Emmer generated a state law mandated vote recount. Because the Governor must assemble a new team of agency commissioners and appointed political staff plus polish a budget to submit to the legislature, much discord and polemics can be anticipated. Feasible is the Minnesota constitutional requirement that the current Governor, Tim Pawlenty, shall remain governor until the recount process and the law suits are resolved. Of course, Governor Pawlenty is expected to announce his bid for Republican endorsement as a candidate for U.S. President. As for Rep. Al Juhnke, he could be a viable candidate for MDACommissioner under Mark Dayton as Governor. The CPM Short Course and MCPR Trade Show will be held December 7 -9, 2010 at the Minneapolis Convention Center with record attendance indicated by preregistrations and a sold out Hilton Hotel. MCPR will announce the Stewardship Program which is an industry initiated agronomy audit developed in cooperation with Asmark Institute. MCPR is forecasting 75 to 100 facilities will be audited in 2010-11 and February through March 2011 is focused on gaining the cooperation of the regulatory agencies for this audit program.

NEBRASKA - "State-wide races were very lack-luster in Nebraska," says Alice Licht, Executive Vice President & Lobbyist, Nebraska Agri-Business Association, Inc. "Our Governor and all Constitutional Officers were re-elected, and a former Attorney General, Don Stenberg, easily won election to the State Treasurers Office. Nebraska's three Congressmen were easily re-elected, and will now be in the majority in the House. This bodes well for Congressman Lee Terry, who may land a sub-committee chairmanship on the Energy Committee. Leadership positions may also fall toCongressmen Adrian Smith and Jeff Fortenberry, who both serve on the House Agriculture Committee. Nebraska's Legislature is officially non-partisan, but there are those who still count up the R's and D's, and the Republican's gained one seat, and still hold a majority in the Senate. Almost immediately following Election Day, Governor Dave Heineman announced he would not be seeking the U.S. Senate nomination in two years, which opened the door to announcements by Republican Attorney General Jon Bruning, that he would be seeing that post. An additional announcement came from Former Republican Attorney General and now State Treasurer, Don Stenberg. The seat is currently held by Democrat Senator Ben Nelson, who has not firmly announced his intentions at this point. The Association is gearing up for the 2011 Legislative Session, which promises to be one of continued budget cutting. In Nebraska's over $6.4 billion biennial budget, about $1 billion goes to higher education (University, Community Colleges, and State Colleges), $1 billion in state aid to K- 12, and $1 billion to Medicaid. If major cuts are needed, these areas will be most likely targeted for trimming, which should prove to take up much of the debate in the session, which runs through the end of May. Finally, Nebraska's harvest was one of the best in recent years, with dry weather throughout the month of October, allowing farmers to get their crops in.

ILLINOIS - "llinois picked up four Republican seats in U.S. House and also sent aRepublican, Mark Kirk to the Senate," says Jean Payne, IFCA President (IFCA). While voters made sweeping changes in who we decided to send to Washington, the same voters made very little change in the Illinois General Assembly. Governor Pat Quinn, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton are all back at the helm of a state that is $14 billion in debt. Governor Quinn believes his re-election (with less than 50% of the vote) is a mandate to raise taxes, but the legislators aren't so sure. So far it's looking like the same old solutions to a huge problem as the legislature toys with expanding gambling to increase state revenue. Governor Quinn wants a 1% income tax increase to help fund education, but even that won't begin to touch the structural budget deficit in all other areas. Before the year ends, IFCA will be working to re-write the Illinois Fertilizer Act to privatize our nutrient research program and protect these fees from being swept for other purposes. Regarding regulatory issues, we are waiting for the 2011 pesticide repackaging agreements to come out so that we can further assist retailers with understanding the new PRC regulations. Hopefully the repack agreements will be the foundation upon which retailers can evaluate their PRCs and begin to make decisions about whether they can be retro-fitting, need to be recycling, or they need to purchase new tanks, etc.

CAN: Ambassadors with the CropLife Ambassador Network have been busy. This school year has brought 77 requests totaling approximately 4,300 youth. Spring is our busier time, so CAN is well on its way to break the 10,000 mark by May. Thanks to the dedicated ambassadors who have shared their enthusiasm for agriculture to our youth this fall.

IA: Dave Junge, Keith Campbell, Tom Head, Jim Jenkins, IL: Bill Daters, Tim Thompson, Tom Rutherford, Kevin Kilgus, Kimberly Boston IN: Matt Hirt, Ray Sullivan, Brian Miller, Brian Mattingly, Joel Mattingly, Roger Henderson, Brian Miller, Mark Riehl KS: Amy Gerdes MO: Jane Hanson, Doug Mertens, Tom Quade, Michelle Vigna, Jennifer Springer, Megan Swango ND: Bridgette Readel, Sarah Lovas, Ron Kessel OH: Bill Klein, Dave Case, Al Strohmaier, Chris Williams, Marcie Williams SD: Kent Borstad

There is more to be done and we need more ambassadors! So to help us along, meet AgBert. As FFA has pointed out, "Where would we be without agriculture? Hungry & Naked! AgBert doesn't look too hungry but he sure is naked. Not good for an inhabitant of the North Pole. You can help.

Between now and Dec. 15 for every new Midwest ambassador that signs up with our Network, AgBert will get a piece of warm clothing. In the spirit of Christmas and giving, the new ambassador and the referring ambassador will both receive a gift card to Starbucks to enjoy some warmth of their own. To become an ambassador click here.

We have 24 more openings at this moment. Some are for now and some are for after the New Year. We need help in Omaha, Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Wisconsin and North Dakota. But I welcome new ambassadors from all 13 MACA member states: CO, IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, OH, and WI.

To find out more about CAN visit our website or contact Janet Braun at [email protected] or 800- 625-2767.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS: The invoices for the 2011 were mailed out to the company contacts the end of October. Please look for the invoice and discuss with the decision makers in your company the benefits of MACA membership. A summary of the MACA Initiatives & Achievements for 2009-2010 were included in the letter. To review under MACA History on the Members Only section of the webpage, click here and then login. A special thanks to Mauser Corporation and United Suppliers for being the first to renew their membership. As of November 30, eighteen companies have renewed. SHORT NOTES: The Agribusiness Association of Iowa (AAI) has announced Jeff Schnell as its new Chief Executive Officer. Schnell previously served as the Public Policy Director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA), a position he has held since 1997. Congratulations to Elisha Modisett, Dow AgroSciences, on her recent marriage to Reed Kemp. Look for her golf game to improve as Reed is a golf pro. In November, Gowan Company, LLC has reached an agreement with Dow AgroSciences LLC to acquire the rights to M-Pede® insecticide/fungicide and Scythe® herbicide. An update from Rob Dittmer, DuPont Crop Protection, on his new knee which he had done in early October. It is 6 weeks old and making progress each week. He's working on building up stamina and improving muscle tone. Let's hope Rob continues to improve so he can soon be out and about! To brighten Rob's day you can call him at 720-566-0400 or email [email protected] or send a card to 14012 Crestone Circle, Broomfield, CO 80023. CLA/RISE/BIO Issues Summit was held in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 9 the day before MACA committee meetings. I attended the meeting along many MACA people including Dan Vest - Growmark, David Flakne - MACA President, Jean Payne - IFCA, Steve Taylor - MO-AG, Duane Simpson - Monsanto, Nasser Dean - Bayer CropScience, Mary Jane Stankiewicz - KARA and MACA Water Consultant, Elisha Modisett - Dow AgroSciences, Jim Byrum - Michigan Agri-Business Association, and Michael Naig - Monsanto.

Carl Casale is the new president and chief executive officer for CHS Inc., a leading energy, grains and foods company effective January 1, 2011. Casale, who most recently was executive vice president and chief financial officer for Monsanto Company, will succeed John Johnson who will retire Dec. 31, 2010. In his previous role, Casale was responsible for finance, strategy and information technology resources. Congratulations to Tim Stoehr on his new position with Wilbur Ellis. Tim had previously been with Nufarm. Dave Langemo is no longer with Exacto. If you hearing of any openings for a "well- seasoned" sale and or marketing guy, please contact Dave at 701-232-1728. Gary King, CAE, has announced his retirement as the President and CEO of the Ohio AgriBusiness Association (OABA) effective October 26, 2011.

CALENDAR

Nov. 30 - Dec. 2 - ARA Conference & Expo, Westin Mission Hills Resort, Rancho Mirage, CA. December 7-9 - CPM Short Course and MCPR Trade Show, Minneapolis Convention Center. December 24 - MACA office Closed for Holiday. 2011 January 5-7 - Missouri Agribusiness Association Winter Convention, Lodge of Four Seasons, Lake Ozark, MO. January 11-13 - Wisconsin Crop Management Conference, Alliant Energy Center, Madison, WI January 18-20 - IFCA Convention, Peoria, IL January 19-20 - South Dakota Agri-Business Association and the South Dakota Grain & Feed Association, Sioux Falls Convention Center and the Sheraton Hotel, Sioux Falls, SD February 1-3 - Nebraska Agri-Business Exposition, Qwest Center and Hilton Hotel, Omaha, Nebraskasponsored by the Nebraska Agri-Business Association. Visit www.na-ba.com for more information. February 8-9 - Agribusiness Showcase and Conference, Varied Industries Building, Iowa State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, Iowa. September 6-7-8 - 2011 MACA Annual Meeting, Hilton Hotel, Bloomington, Minnesota

THOUGHT OF THE MONTH: "It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air." - W.T. Ellis

Bonnie McCarvel, Executive Director Mid America CropLife Association 11327 Gravois Road, Suite 201 St. Louis, MO 63128-3657 314-849-9446 [email protected] www.maca.org

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