Message from the OCGA president:

If you grow corn, the Ohio Corn Growers Association (OCGA) is YOUR trade organization.

OCGA has achieved a multitude of great accomplishments. By working together, we have passed the Ohio Biofuels Bill allocating $1 million to increase the number of E85 pumps in Ohio; and we were successful in securing close to $6 million dollars in funds in the state budget to promote the use of and infrastructure for alternative fuels such as corn ethanol.

Through the years, OCGA has worked with the Ohio EPA to speed up the ethanol plant permitting process. In 2008, seven ethanol plants will be operational in Ohio, which constitutes hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in Ohio and new markets for our corn growers.

We’ve worked for many years to bring ethanol production to Ohio and in 2008 you will benefit from this new market for corn. Ohio corn growers have stepped up to the plate and planted 22 percent more corn in 2007, providing food, feed and fuel for the Buckeye State and beyond.

Working with the National Corn Growers Association, we have worked to get Congress to pass the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Included in this historic bill is an expanded renewable fuels standard (RFS), which requires 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into the nation's fuel supply by 2022.

And, there are future challenges, which include passage of the next farm bill and completion of updating the locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.

None of these future challenges can be taken on alone. There is strength in numbers and we need the help of each and every one of you. I ask that you join over 2,000 other Ohio corn farmers to make our voice even stronger – I ask that you become a member.

Sincerely,
Mark Drewes
President, Ohio Corn Growers Association