January 30, 2001

NCGA and OIT applaud Doug Faulkner

In a presentation at the OIT offices honoring Doug, NCGA President Lee Klein said, "Doug has gone beyond the call of duty in his efforts to enhance American agriculture. He has fought hard to give agriculture a seat at the table."

Doug has worked with NCGA since 1996 when the corn growers association approached OIT about working with the Industries of the Future program to help the emerging biobased products industry. Working together, OIT and NCGA developed a vision for the agriculture industry and are currently working on numerous projects to increase the energy and cost efficiencies of agriculture. "With OIT and the Industries of the Future, we found people who were willing to listen to our needs and work with us to address them. It is so refreshing to find someone in government who is truly interested in what industry needs," explained Klein.

One example Klein cited of the effective industry and OIT collaboration was last summer's groundbreaking ceremony in Blair, NE, where Cargill Dow is building the first world-scale manufacturing facility to make plastics and natural synthetic fibers from corn. Klein believes this is a vital new market for corn growers and that it will help ensure that the industry reaches its goal of having crops serve as the feedstock for 10 % of the chemical market. "If we used corn for this feedstock," explained Klein, "we would increase farm income by more than $5 billion per year ($.50 per bushel of corn)."

Klein said he hopes to continue to strengthen his association's relationship with OIT and to establish an industry advisory group for the agriculture vision. "The agriculture vision has been the centerpiece of our relationship and it is just the beginning of our partnership."