This year, we have a change in leadership at the NAWG in new CEO Jack Eberspacher. His selection as CEO is part of a long-range planning process put in place emphasizing industry alliances as the basis for growth and profitability within all segments of the wheat industry. Next year, we will be working closely with the NAWG in seeking solutions to unresolved grain trade issues in the international arena. We will also be working for federal crop insurance reform. In fact, we just submitted to the NAWG last week our top crop insurance priorities for the next Congress.
Regulations can affect our profitability just as much as farm income.
Just last month, one of our board members, Richard Magnusson, participated in a meeting with high level officials at the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss concerns about harmonization of chemical regulations and prices in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the registration backlog on crop protection products essential to growers in this region. Last summer, the MAWG was instrumental in obtaining the use of several pesticide tools for farmers, including the use of Achieve on barley in Minnesota, and Folicur on barley and wheat for suppressing scab. To that end, the MAWG held workshops last winter to help growers learn how to use the Internet. This tourney has not only become one of the largest association golf tournaments in the Red River Valley, but an important means of networking for producers and agribusiness. Placing a value on next year's crops is difficult to do this far in advance, and next year's weather is anybody's guess.