03/08/06 NAWG to join Commodity Classic

Farm and Ranch March 8, 2006 The National Association of Wheat Growers will join the National Association of Corn Growers and the American Soybean Association in making the Commodity Classic their annual convention starting in 2007. The announcement came last week at this year's Commodity Classic held in Anaheim, California. Sherman Reese of Oregon, past president of the National Association of Wheat Growers, said the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill was behind NAWG's decision to join the Commodity Classic. Reese: "We wanted to provide some synergism going into the farm bill. It is hard to get everybody on the same page anyway but it is even harder to get everyone in the same place to get on the same page. By combining with these groups, and we are three major players in the how the farm bill is constructed, gives one leg up in trying to present a unified front to congress and the public in what we want to see in the next farm bill." Reese said there are other advantages in jointly meeting with the corn and soybean groups. Reese: "We have had attendance like everyone else dwindle in the last several years so we are looking at an opportunity to provide an attraction for our growers again. The Commodity Classic does a very good job of bringing in industry in the form of a trade show, they do a very good job of presenting grower education breakouts, We wanted to be a part of that." And Reese says joining the Commodity Classic should help NAWG's bottom line. The 2007 Commodity Classic will be held in Tampa Bay. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.