Millers’ association to step-up lobbying for food-aid programs

Millers’ association to step-up lobbying for food-aid programs    The North American Millers’ Association plans to step up it's lobbying on Capitol Hill to ensure the on-going support for international food-aid programs.
   A delegation of the association, led its chairman, John Gillcrist, president of Bartlett Milling Co., and its vice chairman, Guy Shoemaker, president of Horizon Milling, recently returned from Ethiopia. The purpose of the trip was to evaluate how the North American Millers’ Association member products are used in food-aid programs.
   In recent years, some countries in the World Trade Organization have criticized U.S. food-aid programs as a way to dump surplus grain on the world market.
   “The more we can demonstrate that well thought-out food aid programs offer the opportunity for a win-win between U.S. value-added product interests and humanitarian need, the easier it will be to defend those programs,” Gillcrist said.
   The North American Millers’ Association has 45 member companies operating 170 wheat, corn, oat, and rye mills in 38 states. Its membership represents about 95 percent of the total U.S. capacity.