By DEBORAH BEHRENDS
Illinois Correspondent

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — When she becomes the first female president of the National Corn Growers Assoc. (NCGA) in late 2012, Pam Johnson’s only agenda is to shape policy for the future.

“The biggest challenge all of America is facing is the budget, to prioritize,” she said. “The challenge is to find what the federal government needs to do for food and energy security, not only here in America, but around the world.
“The challenge is to work through policies for the protection and opportunity for growers when times aren’t good. We need to think about long-term needs for food and energy. We need to address the big picture with a long-term view, not just apply knee-jerk reactions.

“I don’t have an agenda. I want to work with the board and the delegates to effect the best policy for corn growers for now and into the future,” Johnson said.

A sixth-generation farmer and nurse, she grows corn and soybeans on a 2,700-acre Floyd, Iowa, farm with her husband and two sons.

“I grew up on a small farm in Iowa with three brothers,” she said. “I’ve been farming full-time in partnership with my husband for 38 years, and now we’re in partnership with our two sons.

“I know there are a lot of women working hard on farms, behind the scenes. I’m hoping I can provide a little bit of a different voice of those farmers.”

The Johnsons also manage a seed business and are members in value-added businesses such as ethanol and biodiesel. Johnson is the board liaison to the NCGA Grower Services Action Team and has served on its Finance Committee and has chaired both the Bylaws Committee and the NCGA Research and Business Development Action Team in her two years on the board.
She will become vice president of the board on Oct. 1, and its president next year. Her election is scheduled for a ratification vote by delegates at the July 13, 2011, Corn Congress in Washington.

In her home state, Johnson has been a director of the Iowa Corn Growers Assoc. for nine years, and is a former chair of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board.
“It’s an honor to be elected an officer, and especially to be the first woman elected to the post, for the National Corn Growers Association. This is an organization whose farmer-leaders and staff members are supremely dedicated to an industry vitally important to our country and our world,” she said.
“I look forward to working with farmer members, state leaders and many partners as NCGA continues its mission as the leading national voice for corn farmers, and as a thought leader when it comes to growing opportunities for American agriculture.”

 “NCGA has a long history of strong leadership, and we had several outstanding candidates from which to choose. I thank all of them for their desire to serve and their dedication to our organization,” said NCGA President Bart Schott.
“As someone who has long been working hard on behalf of corn farmers at the state and national level, Pam will be a welcome addition to the leadership team this fall, and I am sure she will make an excellent president the following year.”
On Oct. 1, Schott, a North Dakota farmer, becomes chair and the current first vice president, Garry Niemeyer of Illinois, becomes NCGA president. Schott and his family raise no-till corn, soybeans and wheat in Kulm, N.D., and he also runs a seed business of sales and small-grain seed.

Niemeyer farms with his wife in Auburn, Ill., where he is a third-generation farmer growing corn and soybeans.