Senior Vice President, Feed
National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA)
The challenges of ending global hunger and food insecurity continue to intensify. Addressing these challenges requires the efficient production and distribution of safe, abundant, affordable, and sustainable supplies of grain, oilseeds, feed, and related products. At the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA), we are dedicated to delivering services and advocating for policies that empower the U.S. grain and feed industry to meet this critical global need.
Since its founding in 1896, the NGFA has represented and served commercial businesses involved in the U.S. grain and feed industry. Although specific industry issues have evolved through the years, the NGFA’s core activities continue to focus on enabling U.S. agriculture to help satisfy the growing global demand for healthy, nutritious foods.
FACILITATING EFFICIENT TRADE
The NGFA is committed to advancing free-market principles and the use of necessary rules and standards that foster and sustain public trust and confidence. To that end, the NGFA has established and actively maintains five sets of Trade Rules to facilitate the purchase and sale of grain and feed products: 1) grain; 2) feed; 3) barge; 4) barge freight; and 5) secondary rail freight. The rules establish and promote a common understanding concerning the rights and responsibilities of buyers and sellers and are incorporated into most U.S. commercial contracts. The trade rules also provide a foundation for resolving disputes through the NGFA Arbitration System, a system created in 1901 and thought to be the oldest private commercial arbitration system in the United States.
PROMOTING INNOVATION
To be resilient and successful, animal agriculture and the feed industry depend on scientific advancement and innovation. That’s why the NGFA has strongly endorsed the Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (IFEED) Act (H.R.6687 and S.1842) introduced into the U.S. Congress in 2023. The bills would establish a new regulatory pathway at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for novel feed additives to make substantiated claims associated with enhancing animal production, safeguarding the environment and enhancing the safety of animal-derived foods. In addition, the NGFA advocated for and strongly supported the FDA’s recent withdrawal of a policy that had prohibited nutritive feed products from making animal production claims unless the product gained approval as a new animal drug.
ENSURING FEED AND FOOD SAFETY
The NGFA focuses on ensuring feed and food safety by supporting overall improvements in the U.S. regulatory framework and advancing industry compliance. In addition, the NGFA promotes systems and programs for feed manufacturers that enhance the safety and quality of feed and food products.
Since 2011, the NGFA has been actively involved with the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance ‒ a broad-based public-private alliance of industry, academia, and government stakeholders ‒ organized to assist the human and animal food industry in understanding and complying with requirements established by the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). As part of its ongoing commitment to the industry, the NGFA continues to offer regular FSMA animal food training courses and recently launched five feed distance learning courses that provide information about FSMA-related requirements.
The NGFA’s efforts also extend to emerging feed safety threats, such as Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), and foreign animal diseases, such as African Swine Fever virus (ASFv). The NGFA is engaged in stakeholder forums to evaluate and address the potential transmission of viruses through feed and promote the use of meaningful biosecurity practices.
ACCESSING GLOBAL MARKETS
Food security depends on the ability to trade and move grain and feed products. As much as 30 percent of all grain and oilseeds and their associated products produced globally move into international trade – a trade that is critically important to farmers, ranchers, food processors and exporters, and consumers across the globe.
The NGFA advocates a proactive U.S. trade agenda focused on expanding market access and fostering the use of science-based health and safety rules to create global opportunities for U.S. products. With the challenges associated with negotiating free trade agreements, the NGFA strongly supports the Agriculture Export Promotion Act of 2023 (H.R. 648) and Expanding Agricultural Exports Act of 2023 (S.176) to increase funding for the U.S Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development Program (FMDP).
The NGFA opposes efforts to strip China of its Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. Revoking PNTR for China would have a substantial impact on U.S. GDP, exports, and prices, as well as the global economy. Significantly, China, Mexico, and Canada account for one out of two dollars of U.S. agricultural exports, according to USDA data.
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
There is a growing focus on reducing carbon emissions within U.S. agriculture and the national economy. Through the Biden administration’s efforts, the United States has set a goal to achieve a 50 percent reduction from 2005 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The U.S. Environmental Protect Agency (EPA) currently attributes about 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to agriculture, emissions primarily generated from animal agriculture (methane) and agricultural soil management (nitrous oxide).
U.S. and global sustainability initiatives have the potential to significantly impact the grain and feed industry over the next decade. As sustainability criteria are standardized and adopted, practices associated with animal agriculture will change and the industry will need to provide nutritional solutions that provide enhanced feed efficiency, safeguards for animal and public health, and environmental benefits.
The feed industry has been engaged in sustainable practices since its inception by recycling safe, nutritional products as feed for animals, and has a great story to tell. Moving forward, the industry will need to be proactive and engaged in stakeholder forums to identify and formalize the indicators and metrics that will shape sustainability into the future.
To better respond to this evolving issue, the NGFA has formally established a Sustainability Committee. The committee currently consists of industry experts who provide recommendations on how the NGFA should address both public and private sustainability initiatives that are relevant to our members. The NGFA also is engaged in stakeholder organizations and forums that are influencing what sustainability means for our industry.
CONCLUSION
By facilitating efficient trade, promoting innovation, ensuring feed and food safety, accessing global markets, and building sustainable goals, the NGFA and its more than 800 member companies are working every day to combat food insecurity and hunger worldwide. These efforts are driven by the commitment of our volunteer industry leaders and the dedication of the people who transform America’s harvest into food, feed and fuel.
