Building bridges to ‘get things done’: Hartman new NCGA president

WATERLOO, Ill. — A fifth-generation Illinois farmer has taken the helm as president of the National Corn Growers Association.

Kenneth Hartman Jr., who served on Illinois Corn boards for 19 years prior to joining the NCGA leadership team, operates his Monroe County family farm along with his wife, Anita; daughter, Amanda; and mother, Joann. Their two other daughters, Alexis and Ashley, have careers in other fields.

“My theme as president is ‘Building Bridges,’ Hartman said when he assumed the post Oct. 1.

“We need to build on our ties with existing allies while cultivating new relationships with other organizations inside and outside agriculture.

“We also need to continue to reach out to policymakers and other leaders who may not represent rural communities but who benefit indirectly from the work of farmers. I strongly believe that coalition building is one of the most effective ways to get things done.”

Hartman served on the Illinois Corn Marketing Board for nine years, followed by 10 years on the Illinois Corn Growers Association board, including as ICMB chairman and ICGA president, and six years on the NCGA board in a variety of leadership roles. He’s also a member of the Illinois Leadership Council for Ag Education.

In a recent interview with AgriNews, Hartman spoke of his Monroe County roots, the challenges corn farmers face, and his new role as NCGA president. Here’s what he had to say.

On Family Farm

“We used to milk cows until the 1990s. We bred registered Holsteins and sold a lot of breeding stock. We had a bull that we leased to Select Sires and was one of the top bulls in the country.

“My father passed away 15 years ago. My mother, who’s in her 80s, is still involved doing some paperwork for the farm. My wife and I have three daughters. Our oldest daughter graduated from Kansas State and came home and she’s been on the farm the last few years. Hopefully, she’ll eventually take over the farm. Another daughter lives in California and works for Waste Management as an analyst. Our youngest daughter graduated last year from Kansas State and she is in the marketing department of John Deere in Des Moines, Iowa.

“We farm some in the Mississippi River bottoms and some of that’s pretty tough. It had a lot of water on it and we lost some there, but when we get what we call ‘up on the hills’ we’ve got some really good looking crops there. It’s much better than last year when we were in a drought situation. This year, we were in a wet situation. We went from one extreme to the other.”

On Being Involved

“My family has always been the type that’s been involved in different things. My dad was on the local co-op board and served on the Monroe County Fair Board for over 50 years. My grandfather was one of the first ones to start the Soil and Water Conservation District in Monroe County and really involved in that, and was on the first Monroe County Farm Bureau board many years ago.

“My mother was on the National Holstein Association board for 10 years and she’s the only woman ever to be president of the National Holstein Association. She was named Dairy Woman of the Year at the 1997 World Dairy Expo.

“My family has always been the type that believes it’s important to volunteer. It’s important for the next generation to keep things going and advocate for agriculture.

“When we sold the cows years ago, I got involved with Corn Growers and kept working at it.

“I’ve been involved with the Monroe County Farm Bureau for many years and been on the board.

“I was involved with the Corn Growers and then got on some national committees. I then ran for the national board and got elected. I’ve been involved with the NCGA ever since.”

On NCGA Issues

“NCGA just did a strategic plan and the main part of that plan is creating demand. We’ve got a lot of corn out here, so obviously our number one priority is ethanol and we’d like to get the Next Generation Fuel Act passed as soon as we can.

“In the short term, we hope we can get year-round E15. That’s a project we’re working on.

“We also are very strongly concerned with trade. We’ve had some frustrations the last two years. We haven’t had a lot of trade agreements and we want to get something going there.

“We just need to create demand. That’s the big thing.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is very important. I recently attended an SAF conference. They’re talking about a 50 billion gallon market there, but it’s probably more long-term. We definitely have to get things set up policy-wise in Washington, D.C., to make that happen.

“One of our concerns that we’re working on is the Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production tax credit for SAF. They group no-till, cover crops and green fertilizer together, and right now there’s probably only a small percentage that actually do all three. We think it’s something that’s going to grow, but we need to have a credit for each individual one and not all or nothing.

“We’re all about working to have lower carbon intensity scores, sustainability, those are the things we need to do as farmers, but, at the same time, it takes time to get to that point. We’ve done a lot of that in the past when you look at all that we’ve done with precision agriculture and some of the things we’ve done with plant breeding.

“We’re producing more corn, so we need to find places where we can sell it and go with it.”

On New Post

“I’m exciting to be president. We have a lot of challenges right now in agriculture, but challenges bring opportunities and hopefully we can get something done in the next year or so.

“I know we’ve got a big crop, so I hope we can create some demand and get some opportunities for farmers in the countryside.”