ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, U.S. — National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President, Chip Bowling, was presented with the 2015 Dr. James R Miller Award by the Maryland Grain Producers Association (MGPA) at the Maryland Commodity Classic on July 23. Established in 1988, this award annually recognizes a professional for his or her contributions to the grain industry.

  
“Chip is a leader who never says no, always gets the job done, seeks ways to find a solution, always looks to make a friend not an enemy, and promotes agriculture in a positive way,” said MGPA President, Donnie Tennyson.  “He is passionate about explaining the value of agriculture and our issues in a way that is effective and credible, which has earned him the respect of farmers from Nebraska to Virginia and all fields in between.”

Bowling is a seventh-generation farmer from Newburg, Maryland, U.S., 50 miles south of the nation’s capital. His family had been tobacco farmers since before the Civil War. Today, Bowling grows corn, wheat, barley and grain sorghum on 1,700 acres in Charles County.

Bowling has served the farm community at the state and local levels, including president of MGPA, committee chairman for the Farm Service Agency, director for the Charles County Farm Bureau and the Charles County Economic Development Board. He attended the 2008 National Corn Growers Association Leadership Program and joined the first class of the Advanced Leadership Program.

In addition to serving as NCGA president, Bowling currently holds the office of president of the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center. He also represents NCGA as the association’s delegate to the U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Committee. He has also served on NCGA’s CornPAC Committee, Finance Committee, Public Policy Action Team, Ethanol Action Team and Mycotoxin Task Force.

An eager advocate who has never passed on an opportunity to speak out for his fellow farmers, Bowling often makes the one-hour drive from his farm to Capitol Hill to represent farmers, and hosts delegations from EPA, USDA and others to his farm to see first-hand what farmers do to provide safe, affordable, food, feed and fuel for the consumer, NCGA said. He is as comfortable discussing a Mississippi locks and dams issue as he is about an environmental issue in the Chesapeake Bay watershed or a crop insurance amendment for Texas. Bowling believes strongly that improving conditions growing corn anywhere in the country is good for all corn farmers.  Bowling has spoken on many national issues including crop insurance, Farm Bill Programs, estate tax, Columbian Free Trade, and the Renewable Fuels Standard. 

 “I am very honored to receive this recognition, but I wouldn’t be able to accomplish all of this without the help of so many others,” Bowling said.