- ASA stands beside animal agriculture, which consumes 97% of our soybean meal

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1 ASA Compiled Talking Points February 29, 2016 Commodity Classic New Orleans, La. ANIMAL AG & AQUACULTURE - ASA stands beside animal agriculture, which consumes 97% of our soybean meal - ASA is committed to building a domestic aquaculture industry and supports implementation of the Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Plan, which can serve as the model for building a domestic offshore aquaculture industry. BIODIESEL - ASA is opposed to any legislative efforts to repeal or reduce the RFS for biodiesel. - Soybean farmers support extending the biodiesel tax incentive for 2017 and beyond, and shifting it from a blenders to a production credit. - Continue to build on the increasing RFS biomass-based diesel volume requirements beyond 2017 and optimize the potential to further expand biodiesel demand through robust volume requirements for the overall Advanced Biofuels category of the RFS. - Biodiesel half of which comes from soybean oil is the country s most prevalent advanced biofuel, and is the first and only EPA-designated Advanced Biofuel to reach 1 billion gallons of annual production. We have met or exceeded our volume requirements each and every year. - Soy-based biodiesel uses only the oil portion of the soybean, leaving all of the meal protein available for livestock feed. Biodiesel provides a market for surplus soybean oil, and prevents it from becoming a drag on soybean and soy meal protein production. To the extent that it bolsters or supports soybean demand, it increases soy meal protein supplies, which results in lower costs for livestock feed. Biodiesel also benefits livestock producers by providing the 2nd largest market for rendered animal fats, which is a feedstock for biodiesel production. BIOTECHNOLOGY APPROVALS - Biotechnology is an essential tool in farmers quest to produce enough to meet the needs of 9 billion people by 2050, producing safe and affordable food while placing less of a strain on our natural resources. - Farmers demand a timely, efficient and science-based approvals process for new biotech traits, both domestically at USDA and EPA, and in each of our export markets.

2 - Traits are waiting too long in the approvals pipeline on average longer than three years which negatively impacts our competitiveness, the ability to manage weed resistance, and uninterrupted exports. - A global low-level presence policy that would enable importers to accept shipments with trace amounts of a trait not yet approved in their country is necessary to facilitate trade and innovation domestically as well as internationally. - China s position as a major buyer of U.S. commodities means that the current, arbitrary Chinese approval system is effectively preventing U.S. farmers from adopting the new technologies needed to increase yields, fight pests and weeds, enhance quality and improve environmental performance. - The ability to efficiently and consistently produce and increase production of our crops depends on commercializing new biotech traits that can increase yields, improve quality, and ultimately provide consumers with more affordable and healthy food and fiber. - ASA maintains our policy that our biotech partners must wait to commercialize new traits until those traits have been approved in our major export markets, to reduce the potential for rejection of grain shipments as a result of the detection of unapproved traits. CONSERVATION - ASA believes that conservation programs work best when voluntary and focused on working lands, so that those acres stay in production. This approach fosters greater innovation by farmers because they can meet the program goals in the fashion that works best for them and the specific circumstances on their farms. FOOD SECURITY - As an industry, we are looking to markets that are less developed to support trade in the future. Emerging markets in South Asia and Latin America are offering increased opportunities for soybeans. However, nowhere is there greater need or a bigger potential return on investment in agricultural development assistance than in sub-saharan Africa. - ASA has been working for the last 15 years through the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health, or WISHH, and with the U.S. Soybean Export Council to increase agricultural development in developing and emerging markets. - Economic growth of one percent in agriculture generates a six percent increase in overall economic growth in the poorest countries. - Over the long-term, increasing the productivity of farmers in poor nations will also create new markets for exports of American commodities and food products.

3 - The global middle class is projected to reach 4.9 billion by This transition means greater demand for animal products, processed foods, and higher-value commodities. - Agricultural development supports expanded and mutually beneficial trading relationships. Two prime examples are Japan and South Korea, which have grown from early stages of development in the 1950's to become two of our biggest customers. - One of our chief competitors, Argentina, is benefiting from a similar relationship in Africa, where Argentine investment has led to an increase in soy consumption, and the country has become a major supplier. - We believe that the training, knowledge and technology transfer, and long-term potential for market growth of agricultural development programs will sustain the U.S. soybean industry as a leader in the global farm economy. GMO LABELING - ASA is opposed to any efforts at the local, state or national level to require a warning label on food products that include a genetically modified ingredient. - ASA s goal is to ensure that biotechnology must remain an available and affordable tool for farmers to use, and any policy regarding GMO labeling cannot denigrate or stigmatize biotechnology. - The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act gives consumers better access to accurate information about their food. - A study from the Corn Refiners Association shows that the Vermont labeling law will cost families more than $1,000 in added grocery costs each year. - Anti-GMO activists cherry pick their data when they contend that 90 percent of Americans want GMOs labeled. In fact, when asked unprompted what consumers want to see labeled on food products, Rutgers University found only 7 percent volunteered GMOs. - The companion bill introduced by Chairman Pat Roberts keeps groceries less expensive for Americans by establishing a national standard for GMO labeling and avoiding an unnecessary state-by-state patchwork of conflicting laws. - ASA recognizes that Democratic support is needed to pass the Roberts bill, and encourages a compromise that would secure that support.

4 POLLINATORS - Soybean farmers are invested in improving habitats for pollinators, including honeybees and Monarch butterflies. - ASA opposes the ban of neonicotinoid crop protection products in the absence of any consensus that these products contribute to pollinator decline. PRECISION AG & DATA - ASA supports efforts to expand broadband internet access to more rural areas. - The advent of new technologies creates enormous new quantities of data for farmers. While big data offers new opportunities, privacy and security of that data is a key concern. - Precision agriculture helps U.S. farmers produce more sustainably by using resources more efficiently. - ASA partnered with fellow farm groups and industry to create the Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data to serve as a guide for ag technology providers and farmers to use when entering into any agreement regarding the transfer or use of farm data. - ASA also worked with farm groups and industry to build an agricultural data Transparency Evaluator, which will enable farmers to evaluate commercial products that help farmers use their data. - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) enable farmers to remotely scout crops and select areas for input use only where needed. RISK MANAGEMENT & CROP INSURANCE - ASA firmly opposes any attempt to reopen the farm bill as part of budget discussions, and rejects any attempt to target programs in the farm bill for further spending reductions. - ASA will fight any attempt to cut the crop insurance program, given its critical importance to the farm safety net. - Soybean prices are down 33% from two years ago and 11% from a year ago. - Net farm income is down 56% from two years ago and is projected to down further in That s why we at the American Soybean Association think it is more than ever to protect the crop insurance program and farm income safety net. We are spreading this message loudly on

5 Capitol Hill, and are strongly opposing the Administration s proposed $18 billion cut to crop insurance. - Simply put, farmers need farm and crop insurance programs more than ever, and ASA will do everything we can to protect them. TAXATION - ASA supports extending the biodiesel tax incentive for 2017 and beyond, as well as its transition to a production credit. - ASA supports the higher Section 179 expensing limits that were permanently extended in the tax package enacted in 2015 and the bonus depreciation levels extended through ASA opposes any efforts to increase the estate tax revenues, eliminate stepped-up basis when calculating capital gains, or similar structures that would tax real property or hard assets upon transition from one generation to the next. - Soybean growers support efforts to allow farmers to continue utilizing cash-based accounting, regardless of operation size. TRADE - Each dollar invested in agricultural trade yields $1.27 in economic activity here at home, and very $1 million invested in trade supports 6,600 jobs. - ASA is committed to achieving new market access for U.S. soy and meat in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. - ASA supports the TPP and calls on Congress to pass it as quickly as possible. - The economies within the TPP represent great potential for American soybean exports, primarily in the form of soybean oil, and secondarily because of those markets increasing demand for meat protein that utilizes soybean meal for feed. - TPP represents 40 percent of the global economy. ASA supports it because it will further our access to these markets, boosting American exports and creating jobs here at home. - TPP countries represent 42 percent of U.S. farm exports, and the TPP will grow our farm exports by $4.4 billion each year.

6 - Under a potential TTIP, ASA supports reforming EU policies on biotechnology to make them science-based, and we expect the EU s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) to be resolved to include acceptance of U.S. conservation laws as equivalent to RED sustainability requirements. - ASA supports the normalization of trade relations with Cuba, as a promising market with a growing demand for U.S. soy and meat. - ASA opposes any reduction in funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development program (FMD). TRANSPORTATION - ASA first and foremost supports investment in our port, inland waterways, rail and highway infrastructure as a means to strengthen the competitiveness of American farmers. - ASA supports reauthorization of the Water Resources Reform & Development Act (WRRDA) that accelerates implementation of reforms included in WRRDA of 2014 and improves the potential for major upgrades to locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River System. - ASA supports timely implementation of reforms included in the the Surface Transportation Board reauthorization enacted in 2015 that aim to improve rail oversight and provide a more balanced playing field for shippers with rail rate disputes and service issues. - We support an FY2017 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that fulfills WRRDA commitments for increased funding for projects and operations & maintenance of our ports and inland waterways infrastructure. WATER QUALITY & CONSERVATION - ASA supports congressional efforts to abolish the EPA Corps of Engineers Clean Water Rule, generally known as Waters of the U.S. - We support maintaining science-based processes for consideration of pesticide and environmental issues by EPA. Existing statutes including FIFRA must be followed and consultation with production agriculture stakeholders must be included in any new policy. - Conservation measures are clearly the most effective when farmers are empowered to engage in them by choice, so we continue to support funding for voluntary, incentive-based programs to achieve water quality and environmental goals.