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Working for You

Working for You

Each month we provide some key areas where MGGA leaders and staff have been working on your behalf. Here is a sampling of important issues and activities for May 2019:

  • MGGA leaders and staff continue to field requests by national, state and local media seeking farmer perspective on the ongoing tariff and trade disagreements. Thanks especially to President Lyle Benjamin and Past President Michelle Jones who conducted live television interviews with CNN and ABC along with multiple radio and print interviews. Check out their clips on MGGA’s Facebook page, @MontanaGrainGrowersAssociation.
  • National Association of Wheat Growers President Ben Scholz assigned directors to policy committees for the coming year. For Montana, President Lyle Benjamin will serve on the newly combined Environment and Research Committee and will chair the Nominating Committee. MGGA Vice President Vince Mattson will serve on the Domestic and Trade Policy and Operations and Planning Committees.
  • MGGA officers and staff participated in multiple NAWG board, committee and state staff conference calls to provide input on issues including:
    • resignation of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association;
    • follow-up with RMA on a proposed crop insurance option to address quality losses;
    • trade policy negotiations on USMCA, China and Japan;
    • comments to EPA on reducing the glyphosate tolerance for oats from 30 to 0.1 ppm and on proposed label changes to address glyphosate spray drift including ground application changes on release height, droplet size, wind speed and temperature inversions.
  • MGGA leaders attended a workshop presented through the MSU Initiative for Regulation and Applied Economic Analysis. This session focused on the regulation of crop protection technologies and brought together a small group of growers, scientists and policymakers who explored current and emerging issues on the topic with a focus on Montana and regional agriculture, as well as implications for U.S. and global agricultural producers and consumers.